William Howard Taft revered the law.

He studied it, worked with it as a lawyer and a judge and helped craft it as president.

He even molded a fledgling nation (not ours) by nurturing it. The modern Supreme Court is very much a product of the man who, as its chief justice, saw law as key to democracy and a country's greatness.

High-profile public service has long been the norm for the Taft family of Ohio. But even in that family of wildly successful public leaders, the life of William Howard Taft (1857-1930) stands out in a big way.

Taft was our 27th president, serving one term from 1909-1913. Yet our nation's highest office was not his crowning achievement.

He was born in Cincinnati. His father, Alphonso Taft, moved there 18 years earlier to open a law practice. Eventually, Alphonso served as secretary of war under President Ulysses S. Grant — three decades before his son would serve in the same post under Theodore Roosevelt.

Taft's interest in the law shone through in his years at school. "William Howard Taft graduated from Yale as a leader of his class. He (wanted to) understand the law, promote the law and improve the law to the average citizen as well as to the well-educated," said David Burton, emeritus professor at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia and author of five books on Taft.

Taft started on that road as assistant prosecutor of Hamilton County, Ohio. In 1887, he was appointed to the Ohio Superior Court. In 1890, he rose to solicitor general of the U.S. under President Benjamin Harrison. Two years later, Harrison named him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.

Off To Asia

In 1900, President McKinley chose Taft to organize a civilian government in the Philippines. That string of islands had been ceded by Spain after the Spanish-American War. Here was a chance for Taft to set up an American-style democracy, an unheard of concept in that place at that time.

"So Taft goes out (to Manila) in 1901 with his family — his wife and their three children," Burton said. "He said to the Philippine people, 'I'm not here to rule; I'm here to lead you to free government.' "

This was not power for the sake of power. Taft was creating a democracy founded by the rule of law.

"Until the U.S. got involved, they (Filipinos) were ruled by Spanish viceroys, in the name of the Spanish king," Burton explained. "They had all the power, and there was no such thing as representation. Taft said it would take 50 years (to create a fully democratic system)."

Taft walked into a full-fledged mess. The military governor of the Philippines, U.S. Brig. Gen. Arthur MacArthur, was busy fighting insurgents. These two bulls locked horns. Gen. MacArthur, like his son Douglas 50 years later, simply didn't like dealing with civilian authority. MacArthur's efforts were focused on fighting an elusive enemy, not helping people reach self-rule.

Eventually, MacArthur moved out. And Taft's plan worked. Within six years, Filipinos had elected a congress. Their country won independence on July 4, 1946 — 16 years after Taft's death.

While Taft served in Manila, Roosevelt had assumed the presidency and offered him a seat on the Supreme Court.

"Taft reluctantly turned him down for two reasons," said Richard Norton Smith, scholar in residence at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. "One, the Filipinos didn't want him to leave. And two, his work was unfinished. His own sense of commitments and obligations precluded him from doing what he so much wanted to do."

Taft returned to America and joined Roosevelt's Cabinet as war secretary in 1904. They agreed on many policies, especially breaking up trusts, corporations that became monopolies. So when T.R. looked for a successor, he picked Taft.

Many historians call Taft's presidency unsuccessful.

"Taft didn't realize that Teddy had permanently reinvented the presidency," Smith said. "It was no longer primarily an administrative position, which would have played to Taft's strengths. Rather, it had become much more a position of advocacy. And that was first cousin to the modern presidency, which is political theater. It was as if Taft was born without the political gene."

Smith looks beyond the curtain: "Taft was the real trustbuster."

Burton agrees: "Roosevelt was in office for seven years. They (his administration) busted 54 trusts. Taft broke 90 trusts in half the time."

This man carried more weight than his 350 pounds. "He strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission in its regulatory functions, in particular with regard to setting railroad rates," Smith said.

Burton added that Taft, like Roosevelt, put several hundred thousand acres of land under federal protection.

After an unpopular four years, Taft had no illusions about winning a second term. But he was determined to block Roosevelt's shot at a comeback. They had become bitter enemies. Roosevelt saw Taft as a reactionary. Taft objected to Teddy's reliance on residual power.

"The most memorable thing was the 1912 election," said Alexander Lamis, a political science professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. "Taft was able to deny Teddy Roosevelt the nomination at the Republican convention. The rank and file really wanted T.R. But Taft prevailed because he controlled the party machinery."

Taft got trounced in the general election. He finished third behind Woodrow Wilson and Roosevelt. But he had blocked Roosevelt.

"The thing about Taft is that he performed excellent public service before and after his presidency," Lamis said. "It was very difficult to come after Roosevelt, who captured the imagination like nobody had done since Lincoln. And Taft may have been a deeper person. But he didn't have that popular touch."

Yet Taft wasn't through.

In 1921, President Harding nominated him as chief justice, and the Senate unanimously approved. Taft had landed his Holy Grail.

In his nine-year tenure as steward of the Supreme Court, Taft ruled mostly conservatively. His longer-lasting imprint is on the court, its practices, even its building.

He lobbied for, and won, crucial legislation from Congress.

Act Fast

The Judges Act of 1922 spread the work of the Federal Judiciary nationwide. Until then, cases could be backlogged for years in Pittsburgh, with Denver wide open. This act let the system shift some of the load in overworked districts to those with idle capacity.

The second big change was the Judges Act of 1925. This let the Supreme Court choose which cases it would decide. "Up until this time, the rule was that every case appealed to the Supreme Court must be heard," Burton explained. That added to the court's burden. "Taft said, 'This is madness.' "

Four years later, Taft convinced Congress to fund a Supreme Court building. "They had been working out of a basement under the Capitol building," Burton said.

The building opened in Washington, D.C., in 1935 — five years after Taft's death.

He had built a law legacy. "I love judges and I love courts," he said. "They are my ideals that typify on Earth what we shall meet hereafter in heaven under a just God."


BY DONALD H. GOLD