William Howard Taft National Historic Site

William Howard Taft National Historic Site is a memorial to the 27th President of the United States. He is the only president who also served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. From the time of his birth in 1857, until he embarked on a political career that would win him the two highest offices in the nation, William Howard Taft lived here, surrounded by family and what his mother called "inspiration to everything that was good." The house is restored to its appearance during the years Taft lived here as a child and young adult.

Although Taft did not go down in history as a particularly outstanding president, the fruits of his administration are still a part of American life. He backed the constitutional amendment providing for an income tax, worked within a budget, indtroduced "dollar diplomacy," strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission to better regulate transportation and control railroad rate wars, and signed New Mexico and Ariizona into the union. He also inaugurated the presidential tradition of throwing out the first baseball of the season.

Taft was serving as Secretary of War when outgoing President Theodore Roosevelt anointed Secretary Taft as his successor. "My ambition is to become a justice of the Supreme Court," Taft wrote his brother in 1905. "I presume however, there are very few men who would refuse to accept the nomination of the Republican party for the presidency, and I am not an exception." He received the nomination for President in 1908 and won the electoral vote in November two to one. He served one 4 year term and was defeated in his bid for re-election. In 1921 Taft was named by President Warren G. Harding as 10th Chief Justice of the United States, a post which he held until shortly before his death in 1930.