Helen Herron Taft

                    Helen "Nellie" Louise Herron was born June 2, 1861 in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was the fourth child of Judge John Williamson Herron (1827-1912; law partner of Rutherford B. Hayes) and Harriet Collins (1833-1902).  Nellie attended and graduated from Cincinnati College of Music; she taught school for a short period of time before she married.  She and her parents were at the White Houses in 1877 to help President and Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes celebrate their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.  Nellie was obviously comfortable around politicians because both her grandfather (Ela Collins) and her uncle (William Collins) were members of Congress.

                    Nellie met William Howard Taft at a bobsledding party in Cincinnati in 1879 when he was 22 years old and she was 18 years old.  Their first date was in February 1880, but they did not start regular dating until 1882.  He proposed in April 1885, and she waited until May to accept.

                    William and Nellie were married on June 19, 1886, in Cincinnati at her family home.  Reverend D.N.A. Hoge of Zanesville, Ohio, performed the ceremony and Horace Taft, young brother of the groom, was best man.  The newlyweds honeymooned in New York City for one day; then spent four days at Sea Bright, New Jersey, prior to touring Europe for three months.  Upon their return to the states, the couple settled in Cincinnati.

                    Even though William preferred the judiciary, Nellie was supportive of his political career; she welcomed each new step as he moved from state judge, to Solicitor General of the United States to federal circuit court judge.  William was appointed in 1900 to be in charge of the American civil government in the Philippines.  Nellie enjoyed even more travel when William became Secretary of War in 1904; she widened her knowledge of world politics and enlarged her circle of cosmopolitan friends.

                    Nellie and her husband became parents of two sons and a daughter:  Robert Alphonso Taft (1889-1953; political leader), Helen Taft (1891-1987; educator), and Charles Phelps Taft II (1897-1983; civic leader).  

                    Mrs. Taft was the first wife of a president to accompany her husband down Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day.  Mrs. Taft suffered a stroke two months later; she never recovered from the stroke, which impaired her speech.  She was able to entertain moderately with the help of her sisters, and she received guests in the Red Room three afternoons each week.  On June 19, 1911, President and Mrs. Taft entertained 8,000 guests to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary.

                    Mrs. Taft made a lasting contribution when she arranged for 3,000 Japanese cherry trees to be planted in the Washington Tidal Basin.  She was joined by the wife of the Japanese ambassador when she planted the first two saplings on March 27, 1912.  Everyone who has enjoyed the beautiful cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C. has Mrs. Taft to thank for it.

                    One of the major political debates during the Taft Administration was prohibition.  President Taft did not drink alcohol, but he opposed prohibition during his presidency and as Chief Justice; as First Lady, Mrs. Taft served alcohol to her guests.  President Taft wrote letters supporting the objectives of Prohibition in his last years.  As Taft was the only man to serve as both President and Chief Justice, Mrs. Taft became the only woman to be First Lady and wife of a Chief Justice. 

                    Nellie Taft passed away on May 22, 1943, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery next to her husband.

                   

Greatness of Taft

                    I have a difficult time thinking of William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 - March 8, 1930) as "great" because the Sixteenth Amendment (income tax) was passed during his administration; however, he qualifies as being great because he served both as President of the United States and as the Chief Justice of the United States, the only person to have served in both offices.

                    Taft was appointed to serve on the Ohio Superior Court in 1887, as Solicitor General of the United States in 1890, and as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 1891.  President William McKinley appointed him as Governor-General of the Philippines in 1900.  President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him to be Secretary of War in 1904.  Roosevelt handpicked Taft to succeed him as President and appointed him to this office in order to better "groom" him.  "Taft assumed a prominent role in problem solving, assuming on some occasions the role of acting Secretary of State, while declining repeated offers from Roosevelt to serve on the Supreme Court."

                    Taft easily won his bid for the presidency in 1908 largely by riding the popularity of President Theodore Roosevelt, a fellow Republican.  Domestically, Taft "emphasized trust-busting, civil service reform, strengthening the Interstate Commerce Commission, and improving the performance of the postal service" - in addition to passing the income tax law.  His foreign policy included furthering "the economic development of nations in Latin America and Asia through `Dollar Diplomacy'" and "showed masterful decisiveness and restraint in response to revolution in Mexico." 

                    President Taft was very task-oriented; he was "oblivious to the political ramifications of his decisions [and] often alienated his own key constituencies.  He lost his second bid for the presidency in 1912 in a landslide.  After leaving the White House, Taft worked in academia, arbitration, and searching for world peace.  After World War I (1921), President Warren G. Harding appointed Taft as Chief Justice of the United States; he served in this office until just prior to his death in 1930.

                    I found a lot of conservative quotes by President Taft, which can be found at this site.   

                    "A government is for the benefit of all the people."

                    "A system in which we may have an enforced rest from legislation for two years is not bad."

                    "Anti-Semitism is a noxious weed that should be cut out.  It has no place in America."

                    "As the Republican platform says, the welfare of the farmer is vital to that of the whole country."

                    "Don't write so that you can be understood, write so that you can't be misunderstood."

                    "Enthusiasm for a cause sometimes warps judgment."

                    "Failure to accord credit to anyone for what he may have done is a great weakness in any man."

                    "I am in favor of helping the prosperity of all countries because, when we are all prosperous, the trade with each becomes more valuable to the other."

                    "I do not know much about politics, but I am trying to do the best I can with this administration until the time shall come for me to turn it over to somebody else."

                    "I love judges, and I love courts.  They are my ideals, that typify on earth what we shall meet hereafter in heaven under a just God."

                    "No tendency is quite so strong in human nature as the desire to lay down rules of conduct for other people."

                    "Politics makes me sick."

                    "Presidents come and go, but the Supreme Court goes on forever."

                    "Socialism proposes no adequate substitute for the motive of enlightened selfishness that today is at the basis of all human labor and effort, enterprise and new activity."

                    "Substantial progress toward better things can rarely be taken without developing new evils requiring new remedies."

                    "We are all imperfect.  We cannot expect perfect government."

                    "We live in a stage of politics, where legislators seem to regard the passage of laws as much more important than the results of their enforcement."