William H. Taft
The "Trustbuster"

William Howard Taft, born in 1857 in Cincinnati, was probably America's most reluctant President--he would have rather been a Supreme Court judge, a post he would attain after his stint in the White House.

Taft was graduated with honors from Yale University in 1878 and returned home to study law. He was admitted to the bar two years later and was named to the Superior Court of Ohio in 1887.

Taft held a number of important positions prior to President Theodore Roosevelt deciding not to run for re-election in 1908. At the time, he was Roosevelt's Secretary of War and became a hand-picked successor to the "throne." Taft easily defeated William Jennings Bryan to become the 27th President of the United States. He is best known for breaking up huge corporate "trusts" who overcharged the public for goods and services.

After losing the 1912 election, he taught law at his alma mater until 1921 when President Harding appointed him to the Supreme Court--the only ex-President to hold such an honor.

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