Born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Graduated with honors from Yale in 1878. He was second in a class of 121. Graduated from Cincinnati Law School and admitted to the bar in 1880. Married Helen Herron June 19, 1886. They had three children including Senator Robert Alphonso Taft.

Taft was appointed judge on the Ohio Superior Court in 1887. In 1890 he was appointed Solicitor General of the United States by President Benjamin Harrison. In 1900 President McKinley appointed Taft President of the Philippines Commission.

In 1908 Taft was nominated as candidate for 27th President and defeated William Jennings Bryan in the election. He served March 4, 1909, to March 3, 1913. In 1912 he was defeated for reelection by Woodrow Wilson. He retired to teach law at Yale. In 1913 he was elected president of the American Bar Association.

Taft was appointed by President Harding as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court in 1921. He retired in February 1930 because of ill health and died a month later in Washington, D.C.

Taft appears on the Presidential Medal (USM 126) with dies by Charles Barber. Taft appears on the Assay Commission Medal for 1910 (AC-54), 1911 (AC-55), 1912 (AC-56) and 1913 (AC-57). The 45 mm round medals were by Barber/Morgan.

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