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In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt made him Secretary of War, and he became Roosevelt's hand-picked successor. Despite his personal ambition to become chief justice, Taft declined repeated offers of appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States , believing his political work to be more important.
The protégé and chosen successor of President Theodore Roosevelt, he took office after easily defeating Democrat William Jennings Bryan in the 1908 presidential election. His presidency ended with his landslide defeat in the 1912 election by Democrat Woodrow Wilson, after one term in office.
The Republicans faced difficulties selecting a successor to Roosevelt. Elihu Root was favored by Roosevelt, but his age and alignment with corporations made him unpalatable. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Prior to the convention, Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks and New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes both seemed like plausible nominees, but Roosevelt was ...
Incumbent President Theodore Roosevelt honored his promise not to seek a third term (for him, a second full term), and persuaded his close friend, Taft, to become his successor. With Roosevelt's support, Taft won the presidential nomination at the 1908 Republican National Convention on the first ballot.
October 14 - Theodore Roosevelt is shot while campaigning for the presidency. October 30 - Vice President James S. Sherman dies of kidney failure at the age of 57. November 5 - Taft finishes third in the 1912 presidential election behind Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt. December 3 - Taft delivers the 1912 State of the Union Address. [51]
The first president, George Washington, won a unanimous vote of the Electoral College. [4] Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms and is therefore counted as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, giving rise to the discrepancy between the number of presidencies and the number of individuals who have served as president. [5]
Instead, he spent the first years of his successor's term touring East Africa and Europe. He is pictured here with a hunting trophy in December 1909. In 1908, popular incumbent president Theodore Roosevelt declined entreaties to seek another term in office, keeping to a spontaneous pledge he made upon securing re-election in 1904.
In this election, Roosevelt's chosen successor, Republican William Howard Taft, ran in large part on Roosevelt's progressive legacy and decisively defeated former congressman and three-time Democratic U.S. presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan (who also advocated progressive ideas in his campaign).