William Howard Taft

In honor of President's Day last week, I thought I would put together a post about a president that I admittedly knew very little about before we had a chance to visit his home last August.

On the last day of our vacation, as we drove home we made a stop in Cincinnati at the home where William Howard Taft was born and raised. It is the light yellow house in the back left of the photo.

William Howard Taft is the only person to ever serve as both the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the President of the United States. His entire family was quite influential in politics and education, many of them serving as outstanding leaders in their fields. This historic site gives a lot of insight not only on President Taft's story, but also on several of his family members. His wife had a lot of poilitical ambition, not necessarily the desire to be a political force herself, but she was definitely a driving force in his career.

There were a lot of momentos in the home, the above are some of my favorites. The top left corner shows a hand painted gourd given to Taft by the Guatemalan government, kind of a different gift?! The top right photo shows a cartoon representation of his two roles as President and Chief Justice. The bottom photo shows how in the 1912 election, a cartoonist humorously illustrated Taft's evolution into the ideal Republican candidate for President.

Photos from the Taft Study. And that photo of the cute little girl in the dress ~ it's President Taft as toddler. Apparently it used to be a totally normal thing to dress a baby boy like this for photographs.

The nursery in the Taft home.

And the parlor.

The girls clearly had no problem making themselves comfortable in the former president's home.


This is now the 4th presidential home we have visited {others include: Lincoln, Reagan, and Eisenhower} and I have been surprised, interested and intrigued to read about the varying backgrounds that each of these presidents had on their road to the White House. One common thread these presidents shared is a huge emphasis within their families of having a strong education. Regardless of the economic status of the homes they were raised in, each grew up in a family that valued the best education possible for their children.