Mr. Taft Becomes Chief Justice

Abstract

Franklin Roosevelt once remarked that America was the "place of the second chance. He could have pointed to the remarkable career of William Howard Taft as proof. Crushingly defeated in his bid for a second term as President in 1912, Taft was resurrected as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States on June 30, 1921. It was, as The New York Times later remarked, "a 'come-back' unprecedented in American political annals. Taft became the only man in American history to head two distinct branches of the federal government. The combination proved propitious, for Taft's presidential perspective forever changed both the role of the Chief Justice and the institution of the Court.