William Howard Taft (1857-1930)

William Howard Taft (1857-1930), was the only man in the history of the United States who served first as President, then as Chief Justice. Taft did not want to be President. At heart, he was a judge and had little taste for politics. Above all, he wanted to be a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Taft, a Republican, spent most of the first 20 years of his career as a lawyer and judge. His mother recognized his distaste for politics. "I do not want my son to be President." she said. "His is a judicial mind and he loves the law." But Taft's wife opposed his career as a judge because she felt it was a "fixed groove."

In the end, Taft's mother proved to be right. Hardly any other President has been so unhappy in the White House. When Taft moved out of the Executive Mansion in 1913, he told incoming President Woodrow Wilson: "I'm glad to be going. This is the lonesomest place in the world." When he was appointed Chief Justice eight years later, Taft said it was the highest honor he had ever received. He wrote: "The truth is that in my present life I don't remember that I ever was President."

Taft was the largest man ever to serve as President. He stood 6 feet tall and weighed more than 300 pounds. A newspaperman wrote that he looked "like an American bison - a gentle, kind one." He had a mild, pleasant personality, but he clung firmly to what he considered the rugged virtues. He did not smoke or drink. He was honest by nature, plain of speech, and straightforward in action. He was completely, and sometimes blindly, loyal to his friends and to his political party.

The modest Taft felt he was not fully qualified for the presidency. He had no gift of showmanship like his predecessor, President Theodore Roosevelt. Taft gave the public an adequate administration, but a poor show. Partly because of this, he failed to capture popular imagination, and many persons called him a failure as President.

During Taft's administration, most of the world was at peace. In Europe, the leading nations lined up in a balance of power that later led to World War I. In China, a revolution overthrew the imperial government and set up a republic. Explorers reached both the North Pole and the South Pole.

In the United States, the pace of life was speeding up. A majority of the people still lived on farms, but more and more were moving to cities. Women had won the right to vote in 12 states. Amendment 16 to the Constitution allowed Congress to pass a federal income tax, although it did not do so until Wilson's administration. The United States grew to 48 states with the admission of Arizona and New Mexico.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), was the youngest man ever to become president of the United States. He took office at the age of 42. Roosevelt had been vice president for only six months when President William McKinley was assassinated in September 1901. Roosevelt won wide popularity, and millions of Americans affectionately called him "Teddy" or "T.R." In 1904, the voters elected him to a full term as president. He ran for president again in 1912, as the "Bull Moose" party candidate, but lost to Woodrow Wilson.

Roosevelt was a man of great energy and practiced what he called the "strenuous life." He enjoyed horseback riding, swimming, hunting, hiking, and boxing. He often expressed enthusiasm for something by describing it as "bully." Cartoonists liked to draw Roosevelt with his rimless glasses, bushy mustache, prominent teeth, and jutting jaw. One cartoon showed him with a bear cub. Soon, toymakers were producing stuffed animals that are still known as "teddy bears."

As commander of the fearless Rough Riders, Roosevelt became a national hero during the Spanish-American War in 1898. He led this famous cavalry regiment against the Spaniards in Cuba. Roosevelt came home and won election as governor of New York. Two years later, he was elected vice president.

As president, Roosevelt used his power of leadership to help the United States meet challenges at home and abroad. "I did not usurp power," Roosevelt said, "but I did greatly broaden the use of executive power."

Roosevelt fought for reforms that would benefit the American people. He became known as a "trust buster" because he tried to limit the power of great business corporations. During his administration, Congress passed laws to regulate the railroads, to protect the public from harmful foods and drugs, and to conserve the nation's forests and other natural resources.

In foreign relations, Roosevelt worked to make the United States a world leader. He felt that this leadership must be supported by strong armed forces. He expressed his foreign policy as: "Speak softly and carry a big stick." Roosevelt strengthened the U.S. Navy, began the construction of the Panama Canal, and kept European nations from interfering in Latin America. He helped end the Russo-Japanese War, and became the first American to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

While Roosevelt was president, millions of Americans traveled by bicycle—even women in their sweeping, ankle-length skirts. But automobiles, along with electric lights and telephones, started to come into widespread use. Guglielmo Marconi and his staff sent and received the first radio message across the Atlantic Ocean, and a telegraph cable was laid across the Pacific to the Philippines. The air age was born when the Wright brothers flew the first successful airplane. Roosevelt enjoyed taking a ride in one of the early models.

Roosevelt regarded public life as a great stage. As president, he joyfully held the center of that stage. When Roosevelt left office, he wrote: "I do not believe that anyone else has ever enjoyed the White House as much as I have." He was probably right.

William McKinley (1843-1901)

William McKinley (1843-1901), helped shape the modern presidency and set the United States on a path toward world leadership. During his two administrations, the nation emerged from a depression. American soldiers and sailors won the Spanish-American War (1898). The United States took possession of Guam, Hawaii, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and part of American Samoa. Victory at war and control of new lands made the United States a world power, and thus also increased the power of the presidency.

McKinley led the Republican Party during the 1890's. He supported his party's belief in protective tariffs, taxes on imports to protect American industries from foreign competition. He and his party also promoted the growth of big business in the United States. McKinley succeeded President Grover Cleveland and twice defeated the well-known statesman William Jennings Bryan for the presidency. An assassin shot and killed McKinley about six months after the start of his second term, and Vice President Theodore Roosevelt became president. McKinley was the third president to be assassinated. The first two were Abraham Lincoln and James A. Garfield.

Following the hard times of the mid-1890's, McKinley's two administrations were filled with national optimism and confidence. The motion picture, the automobile, and the telephone were becoming part of everyday life. Businesses were growing, but social problems remained. Blacks faced segregation, violence, and lynchings in the South. Industrial workers labored an average of 59 hours a week. And women had full voting rights in only four states—Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. There were already stirrings of a spirit of reform that would sweep through the United States after 1901.

History has not been kind to McKinley. Historians and political scientists have often underestimated his achievements as president. They have seen McKinley as a colorless, cautious president compared with more exciting leaders, such as Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. In fact, McKinley's presidency was a time of great change for the nation, and he did much to shape that change. He strengthened the powers of his office and expanded the nation's role in world affairs.

Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901)

Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901), was the only grandson of a president who also became president. He defeated President Grover Cleveland in 1888, but Cleveland regained the presidency by beating Harrison in 1892.

Harrison's grandfather was William Henry Harrison, the hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe. William Henry Harrison had died of pneumonia in 1841 after only one month as president. Benjamin Harrison, like his grandfather, was an Army commander and a United States senator before being elected to the presidency.

Harrison did more than any other president to increase respect for the flag of the United States. By his order, the flag waved above the White House and other government buildings. Harrison also urged that the flag be flown over every school in the land.

Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act and other landmark laws during Harrison's administration, and provided for the building of a two-ocean navy of steel ships. The American frontier disappeared as pioneers took over the last unsettled areas of the West. Six new states joined the Union.

Grover Cleveland (1837-1908)

Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), was the only president who served two terms that did not directly follow each other. He won the presidency in 1884, but lost it four years later to Benjamin Harrison. He ran against Harrison again in 1892 and won a second term. Cleveland was the first Democratic president elected after the American Civil War (1861-1865). This very fact showed that wartime issues had lost some of their force in defining party loyalties. Cleveland’s victory also was a protest against the politics-as-usual of the spoils system. His honesty and common sense helped restore confidence in the government. These qualities had served him in his earlier successes as a lawyer, sheriff, and mayor, and as governor of New York.

As president, Cleveland had the courage to say "No." He said it often—to farmers who sought easy money to pay their debts, to manufacturers who wanted high protective tariffs, and to veterans who wanted looser requirements for getting a pension. These "No's" made Cleveland unpopular in his time, but have added to the respect with which history holds him.

This big, good-humored man, called "Uncle Jumbo" by his relatives, occupied the White House during a time of swift social and economic change. The growing strength of labor unions and farm organizations created new problems for government.

Cleveland lacked the experience and vision to find completely satisfactory answers to all the problems. In 1894, he attempted to settle a labor strike by force—the legal force of court injunctions and the physical force of army troops. Cleveland clung steadfastly to his faith in "sound" money and a low tariff as a cure for the nation's other economic ills. Although Cleveland's intentions were good, his methods fell short of success.

The era of the western frontier was drawing to a close when Cleveland took office. Settlers in the southwestern United States breathed easier when federal troops captured the Apache warrior Geronimo. Jacob Riis shocked a complacent public with newspaper stories of how "the other half" lived in rundown slums.

During Cleveland’s second term, the Duryea brothers built America’s first automobile. A Kansas preacher, Charles M. Sheldon, wrote In His Steps (1896), one of the world’s all-time best sellers. Americans of the Gay Nineties enjoyed Victor Herbert’s early operettas. At the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, they applauded John Philip Sousa’s band and rode the first Ferris wheel ever built. But it was also a time of great hardship. The urban poor lived crowded together in slums. A depression slowed the economy to a near standstill, and unemployment soared.

Chester A. Arthur (1829-1886)

Chester A. Arthur (1829-1886), became president after James A. Garfield died from an assassin's bullet. Arthur was the fourth vice president to succeed to the presidency upon the death of a chief executive.

Arthur had risen rapidly in the Republican Party machine (organization) of New York City. In 1871, he became collector of the New York Custom House, then the largest single federal office in the United States. Widespread dishonesty in government occurred during this period, and Arthur used his office to reward Republicans and strengthen the party. These actions contributed to graft and waste in the custom house and led to his removal in 1878.

As president, however, Arthur surprised the nation by the honesty and efficiency shown by his administration. Protests by reformers about the dishonesty of previous administrations in the appointment of government officials caused Congress to pass the Civil Service Act. Arthur signed the law and administered it faithfully.

Arthur enjoyed fashionable surroundings and fine clothes. He also liked to entertain friends. Tall, ruddy, and handsome, Arthur was sometimes called the "Gentleman Boss." He traveled widely as president, attending the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City and touring Florida and Yellowstone National Park.

While Arthur was president, the United States celebrated the 100th anniversary of the British surrender at Yorktown. New books included The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain. Cities and towns throughout the United States and Canada began to adopt standard time after the railroads devised time zones to aid travelers.

James A. Garfield (1831-1881)

James A. Garfield (1831-1881), was the last president of the United States to be born in a log cabin. Nobody knows what kind of president he would have been because he was assassinated only a few months after taking office. Garfield, a Republican, was the fourth president to die in office. He was the second to be assassinated.

Possibly Garfield accomplished more by his death than if he had lived to complete his term. A major characteristic of national politics in his day was the spoils system. Under the spoils system, thousands of government employees were fired every time a new president took office. Garfield spent most of his short time as president filling these jobs with his political supporters. He was not a reformer, but he recognized the problems with the spoils system. He wrote in his diary, "Some civil service reform will come by necessity after the wearisome years of wasted presidents have paved the way for it." The assassination of Garfield by a disappointed jobseeker shocked the nation into action. Two years later, Congress began civil service reform with the Pendleton Civil Service Act.

Garfield was a big, athletic, handsome man. He had blond hair and a beard. Before becoming president, he was successful in a number of positions. He had been a professor, college president, Civil War general, and U.S. congressman. He spoke and wrote well, read widely, and even composed poetry. He occasionally entertained his friends by writing Greek with one hand and at the same time writing Latin with the other. Garfield was warmhearted and genial. He wanted to be well liked and generally was. But his eagerness to please everyone sometimes led him into questionable dealings with unscrupulous people.