What accomplishments did Taft have?

Answer 1

William Howard Taft was born in the Mount Auburn section of Cincinnati, Ohio, on September 15, 1857. Taft had two step brothers, two brothers and one sister. Taft's religion was Unitarian. This means a belief in God, but not the divinity of Christ. Taft was an obese child who never let his weight get in the way of sports or an active life. He loved baseball and was a great second basemen. He also was a good power hitter. Taft went to college at Yale College and graduated in 1878. He went on to the University Of Cincinnati College Of Law.

Taft's wife's name was Helen Nellie Herron. Both William and Helen's fathers were distinguished judges. He had two sons Robert Alphonso and Charles Phelps and one daughter Helen Herron Taft. He loved ham like no other. Taft's nickname was "Big Lub" which started at a young age. He then went on a diet, losing 75 pounds in two years. Taft was a good golfer and tennis player as an adult. Taft was an Academic, Supreme Court Justice. Taft stood 6 feet 2 inches tall, had chestnut hair, blue eyes, a rather high soft voice, and wore a great handlebar mustache. In the Philippines in 1901, he nearly died from dengue fever.

On Taft's incarnation day (day took office) he got stuck in the White Houses Bathtub. So the White House attendants had to pry him out. Then they had to order a custom bathtub that was huge. James S. Sherman was Taft's vice president.

Answer 2

Major Domestic Policy: The main reason that Taft was elected was because of the support he received from Roosevelt after he decided not to run for a third term. It was easy to beat William Jennings Bryan because the Republicans had majority over Congress. Despite the support, many controversies surrounded his term. Almost immediately, Representative Payne proposed a low tariff, but by the time the revision done by Congress were done, the tariff had rose many rates. Instead of vetoing it, Taft passed it and called it, "one of the best tariffs passed by the Republicans." Even though Taft's term was surrounded by controversy, he continued to crack down on big business and break up trusts. He passed the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910, which gave more power to the ICC and prevented new rates.

Major Foreign Policy: There were no major foreign events during Taft's presidency. Europe wasn't far from a major war, but there were no major events there. Therefore, Taft focused on domestic issues. Taft did practice Dollar Diplomacy, which was a foreign policy adopted by the United States to further its aims in East Asia and Latin America through economic power and loans granted to other countries.

Major Supreme Court Cases:

 Standard Oil Co. of NJ vs. United States (1909): The Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil violated the Sherman Act, but the Sherman Act was amended so that only "unreasonable" contracts would violate the law.

 ICC b. Illinois Central Railroad Company (1909): The Supreme Court ruled that they would only review cases where orders violated the Constitution.

 Coyle vs. Smith (1910): The Supreme Court ruled that Oklahoma had the right to locate its seat of government, or it's capital, and that Congress has no right to regulate that.

 Gompers vs. Buck's Stove & Range Company (1910): The Supreme Court refused to reexamine the validity of an injunction made by Samuel Gompers against certain companies because a lower court issued the injunction. However, the convictions were reversed when the lower court treated the case as criminal, when it was actually civil.

 Bailey vs. Alabama (1910): The Supreme Court ruled that an Alabama law that convicted Bailey after he quit his job and did not return the $15 in advance that he received was a violation of the Thirteenth Amendment.

Intellectual and Social Developments:

 First automobile assembly line is built by Henry Ford

 NAACP is formed in 1910

 Women are allowed to vote in Western states

 WWI brings about an end to European migration

 Urban liberalism is common

Answer 3

• 16th amendment
• treaty with Britain and France
• believed to be one of the foremost advocates for world peace and arbitration