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Written by Chris Binkert

William Howard Taft’s one term as President (1909-1913) was sandwiched between two of the 20^th Century’s mega-star presidencies:  Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) and Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921).

His productive nine years as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1921 – 1930) places him in the unique position of being the only man to have served as both President and Chief Justice.

What you may not know is that the Taft Family was one of the earliest near dynasties in American politics.  Beginning in 1675 and now into their 350^th year, the Tafts have served in office representing seven states, most prominently in Ohio and Rhode Island.  There have been two governors, three US Senators, two Secretaries of War (now Defense), a President of the United States and a Chief Justice of the United States.

Historically, Taft family soldiers fought in the Revolutionary War at Lexington Massachusetts, and George Washington, as President in 1789, stayed at Taft Tavern while on his inaugural trip to New England.

In William Howard’s case, his father, Alphonso Taft, was a founding member of the Republican Party, served as Secretary of War and later Attorney General under President Ulysses Grant, and later was Ambassador to Austria-Hungary and Ambassador to Russia under President Chester Arthur.

Born in Cincinnati in 1857, William Howard was bright and ambitious, being named Solicitor General of the United States (representing the USA at trial) at age 33, Governor General of the Philippines for 3.5 years, and Secretary of War under Theodore Roosevelt for 4.5 years. Taft was Roosevelt’s chosen successor and he saw Taft elected President in 1908.

Unhappy with Taft’s plodding conservatism, Theodore Roosevelt returned from his African safari to challenge Taft for the 1912 GOP nomination. He didn’t count on Taft fighting him for it, and when Taft won the nomination, Roosevelt bolted the party, ran as a rogue Bull Moose third party candidate, effectively handing the presidency to Woodrow Wilson.

But William Howard Taft was just warming up.  He spent the next 8 years teaching law at Yale, his alma mater.  Indeed, his father and all three of his children graduated from Yale. When an opening on the Supreme Court came up, a fellow Ohioan, President Warren Harding, was happy to nominate Taft for Chief Justice.   Taft had always wanted to serve on The Court and had turned down two earlier nominations due to his committed service at the time.

He disliked being President but loved the Supreme Court.  He reorganized how judicial processes work in the country in order to more efficiently handle cases. The Supreme Court building in Washington was Taft’s legacy, having persuaded Congress to build it and move The Court out of the basement of the Capitol.

Taft’s son, Robert A. Taft, became a US Senator from Ohio in 1938 and ran three times for the presidency himself. He never achieved the nomination, losing to Thomas Dewey and Dwight Eisenhower.  He was co-author of the Taft-Hartly Act, restricting the power of labor unions.

For me, having served as a docent at the William Howard Taft National Historic Site, (his boyhood home) in Cincinnati, the Taft’s are a vastly underappreciated national treasure.  William Howard Taft accomplished much in his four years but was poor at public relations and allergic to the press.  As such, his performance as President is usually ranked in the middle by historians.

Incidentally, Taft was key to the creation of the 7^th Inning Stretch in baseball.  Attending a game, the president stood up to stretch his legs, where upon the whole crowd stood up out of respect.

Another enduring legacy of the Taft presidency are the gorgeous cherry trees around the Tidal Basin in Washington, planted by First Lady Helen Taft as a gift from the Emperor of Japan.

While it’s true he was our heaviest President at 340 pounds, it is absolutely not true that he got stuck in a bathtub in the White House.  With medical help, he lost 100 pounds while serving on The Court.

Upon his death in 1930, he became the first of two presidents buried at Arlington National Cemetery, the second of whom is John F. Kennedy.

We have had four well-known family dynasties in American politics:  the Adams (Presidents John and son John Quincy), the Harrisons (Presidents William Henry and grandson Benjamin), the Roosevelts (Presidents Theodore and Cousin Franklin) and the Bushes (Presidents George H.W. and son George W.), with the Kennedys not far behind.

The Tafts have had a great run themselves, creating a near dynasty of their own. With many decades of public service behind them, the Taft Family’s legacy of service continues, with William Howard Taft IV having served as Deputy Secretary of Defense and Legal Counsel in the State Department, while his son, William Howard Taft V, clerked for Samuel Alito prior to Alito’s nomination to The Supreme Court.

Interested in learning more about the presidents? Visit the Carolyn & James Millar Presidential Gallery on the upper level of the Booth Western Art Museum. The gallery features original letters and photographs of every U.S. president. Learn more at www.boothmuseum.org.

Written by Chris Binkert

Franklin Roosevelt and Grover Cleveland did it the most. Andrew Johnson tried to do it but was rejected half the time. Seven presidents never did it at all.  What are we talking about?

The veto.

This potent power is granted to the president by the Constitution as part of the checks and balances designed to keep one branch of government from becoming too dominant. When a president doesn’t like a piece of legislation presented by the Congress for signature, the president can do one of three things within ten days (Sundays excepted): sign it into law, veto it and return it to the Congress with the reasons for the veto, or, if Congress adjourns within the ten day period,  use the ‘pocket veto’ where they neither sign it nor return it, declining to make it a law and effectively killing the bill without actually vetoing it.

Congress has the power to override a veto if two-thirds of members vote to do so. Once overridden, it becomes law.

A Handy Tool

How often has the veto been exercised? To date, 2,590 times, or on average, roughly once a month since the Constitution was ratified in 1789.  1,066 of these were pocket vetoes.

How often has a veto been overridden? 112 times, or just four percent of the vetoes.

Since Franklin Roosevelt was president for 12 years, he had the most vetoes, at 635, only nine of which were overridden. In his eight years as president, Grover Cleveland had 584 vetoes, seven of which were overridden. The unlikeliness of a veto being overridden has made it a powerful tool in the president’s toolkit.

The Veto in Action

George Washington was the first to use the veto in 1792, rejecting an appropriation bill that he felt was unconstitutional. The earliest presidents took many cues from Washington, and use of the veto was one of the cues they followed: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and John Quincy Adams didn’t use the veto at all, since they reserved it for bills they deemed to be unconstitutional (and there were none).

All that changed under Andrew Jackson (1829-1837). Jackson vetoed more bills in his two terms than all the previous presidents combined. Most famously, he vetoed the bill to charter a national bank, which he considered unconstitutional.

The first override of a veto happened in 1845 when Congress rejected President John Tyler’s veto of a bill funding the coast guard. Tyler was very unpopular and had a prickly personality, giving Congress motivation to reject his veto.

In a similar but more dramatic way, President Andrew Johnson, successor to the assassinated Abraham Lincoln, was a hated man, resulting in 52% of his vetoes being overridden. One of those vetoes, concerning the Tenure of Office Act, led directly to his impeachment in 1868. He escaped conviction by the Senate by one vote and avoided being removed from office.

The veto played a role during the difficult Reconstruction period following the Civil War. For example, Andrew Johnson vetoed a bill admitting Nebraska to the Union in 1866. Congress sent him a nearly identical bill in 1867 seeking Nebraska’s admission. Johnson once more vetoed it, asserting that Congress did not have the right to force Nebraska to give blacks the right to vote. This time he was overridden, making Nebraska the 37^th state.

In more recent times, vetoes have created some unusual circumstances for presidents. In 1972, Richard Nixon vetoed the Clean Water Act, despite his creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970. He pursued that inconsistency because the proposed law was, in his opinion, just too expensive. His veto was overridden.

Jimmy Carter suffered humiliation in 1980 as a consequence of his veto of a veteran’s healthcare bill due to its provision of $80 million per year to VA physicians in bonuses. Carter would have preferred that the money go to veterans instead. The veto was unanimously overridden by the Senate, and nearly unanimously overridden by the House of Representatives as well.

In 2000, Bill Clinton vetoed the Death Tax Elimination Act, part of an estate tax overhaul undertaken by Congress. He rejected it because, in his opinion, it would only benefit about 3,000 very wealthy families. Congress could not muster enough votes to override his veto.

Finally, in 2006, George W. Bush vetoed the Stem Cell Research Bill, which would have lifted restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research. Bush said he “would not allow the nation to cross this moral line.” In 2009, seven weeks into his presidency, Barack Obama reversed the Bush veto by Executive Order, allowing such research to proceed with restrictions.

The checks and balances embedded in the Constitution can be a blessing or a curse, depending on which side you are on. For me, the ability to wield the veto is one of the most powerful tools a president has, even if it’s only threatened.

Interested in learning more about the presidents? Visit the Carolyn & James Millar Presidential Gallery on the upper level of the Booth Western Art Museum. The gallery features original letters and photographs of every U.S. president. Learn more at www.boothmuseum.org.