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79-475: During its first century, a total of more than 3,300 men were club members at one time or another. Many, in addition to pursuing their livelihoods, were officers in civic, cultural, philanthropic, or social organizations, and some held government posts at the local, state, or federal levels. For about 100 years, the club excluded Jews and minorities regardless of other criteria, and for 123 years it excluded women. In response to public pressure, it broadened

158-458: A Bachelor of Laws in 1880. While in law school, he worked on The Cincinnati Commercial newspaper, edited by Murat Halstead . Taft was assigned to cover the local courts, and also spent time reading law in his father's office; both activities gave him practical knowledge of the law that was not taught in class. Shortly before graduating from law school, Taft went to Columbus to take the bar examination and easily passed. After admission to

237-469: A Bryan victory, but he could do nothing but worry. McKinley was elected ; when a place on the Supreme Court opened in 1898, the only one under McKinley, the president named Joseph McKenna . From the 1890s until his death, Taft played a major role in the international legal community. He was active in many organizations, was a leader in the worldwide arbitration movement , and taught international law at

316-630: A chief engineer, and when in February 1907 John F. Stevens submitted his resignation, Taft recommended an army engineer, George W. Goethals . Under Goethals, the project moved ahead smoothly. Another colony lost by Spain in 1898 was Cuba, but as freedom for Cuba had been a major purpose of the war, it was not annexed by the U.S., but was, after a period of occupation, given independence in 1902. Election fraud and corruption followed, as did factional conflict. In September 1906, President Tomás Estrada Palma asked for U.S. intervention. Taft traveled to Cuba with

395-603: A lack of investment and never started production of the steel rails Reed expected; Reed lost half a million dollars in the venture. Reed and Ladd also operated a hobby farm of more than 8,000-acre (32 km ), on which they raised livestock and held harness races, in the area where Reedville, Oregon now stands, with Reed as namesake. On November 7, 1895, Simeon Reed died while in California at his retirement home, "Carmelita" , in Pasadena . His estate, worth millions of dollars,

474-805: A lasting impact on the city. Paul G. Merriam describes the city's early social elite, including the members of the Social Club, as "primarily businessmen and their close associates, such as lawyers and editors". The social elite were heads of families who "held property valued at $ 50,000 or more, and who were officers in one or more civic, cultural, philanthropic, or social organizations." Merriam counts 38 such men in Portland in 1870, 31 of whom at one time or another held local government office and several of whom held state and federal offices. Most were nominal Republicans ; some were Democrats , but they crossed party lines depending on issues and personalities. Although one of

553-535: A lounge, and women were officially allowed on February 11, 1991. As of 2011, the Arlington Club still meets at its building on Southwest Salmon Street in downtown Portland. On November 30, 2015, the president at the time John Bradley, the CEO of R&H Construction at the time resigned from presidency as well as surrendering his Arlington Club membership soon after the publication of his arrest for domestic violence. Bradley

632-677: A month before the Portsmouth Peace Conference , which would end the Russo-Japanese War with the Treaty of Portsmouth . Taft met with Japanese Prime Minister Katsura Tarō . After that meeting, the two signed a memorandum . It contained nothing new but instead reaffirmed official positions: Japan had no intention to invade the Philippines, and the U.S. that it did not object to Japanese control of Korea . There were U.S. concerns about

711-718: A new judgeship for each of the United States Courts of Appeal and Harrison appointed him to the Sixth Circuit , based in Cincinnati. In March 1892, Taft resigned as Solicitor General to resume his judicial career. Taft's federal judgeship was a lifetime appointment, and one from which promotion to the Supreme Court might come. Taft's older half-brother Charles , successful in business, supplemented Taft's government salary, allowing William and Nellie Taft and their family to live in comfort. Taft's duties involved hearing trials in

790-509: A pledge he quickly regretted. But he felt bound by his word. Roosevelt believed Taft was his logical successor, although the War Secretary had initially been reluctant to run. Roosevelt used his control of the party machinery to aid his heir apparent. On pain of the loss of their jobs, political appointees were required to support Taft or remain silent. A number of Republican politicians, such as Treasury Secretary George Cortelyou , tested

869-509: A short time, he relocated to Portland and became friends with William S. Ladd , a local merchant. In 1854, Amanda sailed to San Francisco to reunite with Reed, and accompanied Caroline Ames Elliott, Ladd's sweetheart who he married in San Francisco. In 1855, Reed became a clerk for Ladd, and in 1859 he became a partner in the company, which was then known as Ladd, Reed, & Co. In May 1860, Reed, Jacob Kamm , and John C. Ainsworth founded

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948-668: A small American force, and on September 29, 1906, under the terms of the Cuban–American Treaty of Relations of 1903 , declared himself Provisional Governor of Cuba, a post he held for two weeks before being succeeded by Charles Edward Magoon . In his time in Cuba, Taft worked to persuade Cubans that the U.S. intended stability, not occupation. Taft remained involved in Philippine affairs. During Roosevelt's election campaign in 1904, he urged that Philippine agricultural products be admitted to

1027-638: The Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty , the United States had secured rights to build a canal in the Isthmus of Panama . Legislation authorizing construction did not specify which government department would be responsible, and Roosevelt designated the Department of War. Taft journeyed to Panama in 1904, viewing the canal site and meeting with Panamanian officials. The Isthmian Canal Commission had trouble keeping

1106-1005: The Ohio bar , Taft devoted himself to his job at the Commercial full-time. Halstead was willing to take him on permanently at an increased salary if he would give up the law, but Taft declined. In October 1880, Taft was appointed assistant prosecutor for Hamilton County, Ohio , where Cincinnati is. He took office in January 1881. Taft served for a year as assistant prosecutor, trying his share of routine cases. He resigned in January 1882 after President Chester A. Arthur appointed him Collector of Internal Revenue for Ohio's First District, an area centered on Cincinnati. Taft refused to dismiss competent employees who were politically out of favor, and resigned effective in March 1883, writing to Arthur that he wished to begin private practice in Cincinnati. In 1884, Taft campaigned for

1185-567: The Oregon Steam Navigation Company , a conglomerate of several river shipping companies plying the Columbia and Willamette rivers. Reed held 128 shares in the company, which even during the economic depression of 1873 produced $ 300,000 in dividends. Reed was also vice president of the firm. He built a mansion at First and Harrison streets in 1868, where the other wealthy residents were also constructing large homes. In April 1880,

1264-416: The 1907 Tillman Act , and Bryan proposed that contributions by officers and directors of corporations be similarly banned, or at least disclosed when made. Taft was only willing to see the contributions disclosed after the election, and tried to ensure that officers and directors of corporations litigating with the government were not among his contributors. Taft began the campaign on the wrong foot, fueling

1343-434: The Arlington Club members voted 320 to 145 to allow women to join the club; 5 members abstained, and others of the 525 members did not vote. Since the ratio of "yes" to "no" votes was 68.8 percent, slightly more than the two-thirds supermajority required to change the club's rules, women, after 123 years of exclusion, were thereafter admitted. The club building was subsequently remodeled to add women's restrooms and

1422-431: The Arlington Club until the late 1960s after Portland's Jewish leaders including Gus Solomon , a federal judge, criticized the exclusion rules. Change occurred slowly; The Oregonian newspaper reported that in 1989 Jews and ethnic minorities made up less than 3 percent of the Arlington Club membership and that the membership included no African Americans. In October 1989, citing a federal law banning discrimination on

1501-726: The Cincinnati Law School, a post that required him to prepare and give two hour-long lectures each week. He was devoted to his law school, and was deeply committed to legal education, introducing the case method to the curriculum. As a federal judge, Taft could not involve himself with politics, but followed it closely, remaining a Republican supporter. He watched with some disbelief as the campaign of Ohio Governor William McKinley developed in 1894 and 1895, writing "I cannot find anybody in Washington who wants him". By March 1896, Taft realized that McKinley would likely be nominated, and

1580-660: The Commercial Club of Portland, the Association of Black Lawyers, Oregon Women Lawyers, and the American Civil Liberties Union , testified that the clubs' discrimination barred them from business opportunities afforded to men. Representing the Oregon Eagle Forum , a woman, the only person testifying against the resolution, cited a constitutional right to assemble without government intrusion. In March 1990,

1659-557: The Filipinos partners in a venture that would lead to their self-government; he saw independence as something decades off. Many Americans in the Philippines viewed the locals as racial inferiors, but Taft wrote soon before his arrival, "we propose to banish this idea from their minds". Taft did not impose racial segregation at official events, and treated the Filipinos as social equals. Nellie Taft recalled that "neither politics nor race should influence our hospitality in any way". McKinley

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1738-492: The Filipinos. Roosevelt had Taft go to Rome to negotiate with Pope Leo XIII , to purchase the lands and to arrange the withdrawal of the Spanish priests, with Americans replacing them and training locals as clergy. Taft did not succeed in resolving these issues on his visit to Rome, but an agreement on both points was made in 1903. In late 1902, Taft had heard from Roosevelt that a seat on the Supreme Court would soon fall vacant on

1817-588: The Oregon Steam Navigation Company merged with the companies of Henry Villard and Ben Holladay to form the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company . This created a single transportation conglomerate encompassing river shipping, stagecoach , and railroad ventures. Reed focused his energy now on meeting the demand for steel he anticipated due to Villard's Northern Pacific railroad. But Reed's Oregon Iron and Steel Company at Oswego suffered

1896-590: The Philippines . 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. With Roosevelt's help, Taft had little opposition for the Republican nomination for president in 1908 and easily defeated William Jennings Bryan for

1975-536: The Republican Party's conservative wing, with which Taft often sympathized, and its progressive wing, toward which Roosevelt moved more and more. Controversies over conservation and antitrust cases filed by the Taft administration served to further separate the two men. Roosevelt challenged Taft for renomination in 1912. Taft used his control of the party machinery to gain a bare majority of delegates and Roosevelt bolted

2054-532: The Republican candidate for president, Maine Senator James G. Blaine , who lost to New York Governor Grover Cleveland . In 1887, Taft, then aged 29, was appointed to a vacancy on the Superior Court of Cincinnati by Governor Joseph B. Foraker . The appointment was good for just over a year, after which he would have to face the voters, and in April 1888, he sought election for the first of three times in his lifetime,

2133-592: The Taft effort. In April, Taft made a speaking tour, traveling as far west as Omaha before being recalled to straighten out a contested election in Panama . He had no serious opposition at the 1908 Republican National Convention in Chicago in June, and gained a first-ballot victory. Yet Taft did not have things his own way: he had hoped his running mate would be a midwestern progressive like Iowa Senator Jonathan Dolliver , but instead

2212-578: The U.S. without duty. This caused growers of U.S. sugar and tobacco to complain to Roosevelt, who remonstrated with his Secretary of War. Taft expressed unwillingness to change his position, and threatened to resign; Roosevelt hastily dropped the matter. Taft returned to the islands in 1905, leading a delegation of congressmen, and again in 1907, to open the first Philippine Assembly . On both of his Philippine trips as Secretary of War , Taft went to Japan, and met with officials there. The meeting in July 1905 came

2291-486: The United States . They met again when Taft went to Washington in January 1902 to recuperate after two operations caused by an infection. There, Taft testified before the Senate Committee on the Philippines . Taft wanted Filipino farmers to have a stake in the new government through land ownership, but much of the arable land was held by Catholic religious orders of mostly Spanish priests, which were often resented by

2370-547: The United States . When Taft arrived in Washington in February 1890, the office had been vacant for two months, with the work piling up. He worked to eliminate the backlog, while simultaneously educating himself on federal law and procedure he had not needed as an Ohio state judge. New York Senator William M. Evarts , a former Secretary of State, had been a classmate of Alphonso Taft at Yale. Evarts called to see his friend's son as soon as Taft took office, and William and Nellie Taft were launched into Washington society. Nellie Taft

2449-504: The United States in December 1903. When Taft took office as Secretary of War in January 1904, he was not called upon to spend much time administering the army, which the president was content to do himself—Roosevelt wanted Taft as a troubleshooter in difficult situations, as a legal adviser, and to be able to give campaign speeches as he sought election in his own right. Taft strongly defended Roosevelt's record in his addresses, and wrote of

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2528-470: The Yale Law School. Taft advocated the establishment of a world court of arbitration supported by an international police force and is considered a major proponent of "world peace through law" movement. One of the reasons for his bitter break with Roosevelt in 1910–12 was Roosevelt's insistence that arbitration was naïve and that only war could decide major international disputes. In January 1900, Taft

2607-436: The aging incumbent, Melville Fuller , who turned 75 in 1908. Taft believed Fuller likely to live many years. Roosevelt had indicated he was likely to appoint Taft if the opportunity came to fill the court's center seat, but some considered Attorney General Philander Knox a better candidate. In any event, Fuller remained chief justice throughout Roosevelt's presidency. Through the 1903 separation of Panama from Colombia and

2686-472: The arguments of those who said he was not his own man by traveling to Roosevelt's home at Sagamore Hill for advice on his acceptance speech, saying that he needed "the President's judgment and criticism". Taft supported most of Roosevelt's policies. He argued that labor had a right to organize, but not boycott, and that corporations and the wealthy must also obey the law. Bryan wanted the railroads to be owned by

2765-654: The basis of gender, the Portland City Council , led by Commissioner Earl Blumenauer , passed a unanimous resolution urging the Arlington Club and the University Club, another men-only club, to admit women. At the time, the Arlington Club had about 500 members and did not normally allow women inside its building. During the City Council meeting, five women, representing the Multnomah Bar Association,

2844-667: The building the club still occupies, on Southwest Salmon Street facing the South Park Blocks . Architects for the latter structure, a four-story, low-rise building of brick and terra cotta in a neo-classical style, were William M. Whidden and Ion Lewis . The Park Blocks just south of the clubhouse are flanked by churches, the Portland Art Museum , the Oregon Historical Society Museum , and Portland State University , as well as other buildings forming part of

2923-459: The circuit, which included Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and participating with Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan , the circuit justice , and judges of the Sixth Circuit in hearing appeals. Taft spent these years, from 1892 to 1900, in personal and professional contentment. According to historian Louis L. Gould, "while Taft shared the fears about social unrest that dominated

3002-451: The city's core. The building was nominated to become a National Register of Historic Places building in April 2010, and was listed on the registry in August of that year. From the beginning, only business and community leaders were invited to join the club, a total of 3,300 of them during the club's first century, but other exclusions applied as well. Jews and ethnic minorities were kept out of

3081-475: The club reorganized and renamed itself the Arlington Club in 1881, it had grown to a membership of about 100. At that time, it moved into its first clubhouse, the former J.C. Ainsworth residence at Southwest Third Avenue at Pine Street, which became available when the Ainsworths moved to California. It built its second clubhouse, at West Park Avenue and Alder Street, which it occupied from 1892 to 1910 until moving to

3160-405: The club's goals was to pattern itself after gentlemen's clubs of Europe and older American cities, it also had "civic interests at heart and civic leaders as members...". However, according to Portland historian E. Kimbark MacColl, club members at times equated self-interest with civic interest: In the 1890s at least, what was good for "them" was usually considered good for "the city". Rarely did

3239-399: The commission was a nuisance, and their mission a quixotic attempt to impose self-government on a people unready for it. The general was forced to co-operate with Taft, as McKinley had given the commission control over the islands' military budget. The commission took executive power in the Philippines on September 1, 1900; on July 4, 1901, Taft became civilian governor . MacArthur, until then

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3318-612: The convention named Congressman James S. Sherman of New York, a conservative. Taft resigned as Secretary of War on June 30 to devote himself full-time to the campaign. Taft's opponent in the general election was Bryan, the Democratic nominee for the third time in four presidential elections. As many of Roosevelt's reforms stemmed from proposals by Bryan, the Democrat argued that he was the true heir to Roosevelt's mantle. Corporate contributions to federal political campaigns had been outlawed by

3397-482: The court below but that the solicitor general thought it should have lost. At Taft's request, the Supreme Court reversed a murder conviction that Taft said had been based on inadmissible evidence. The policy continues to this day. Although Taft was successful as Solicitor General, winning 15 of the 18 cases he argued before the Supreme Court, he was glad when in March 1891, the United States Congress created

3476-422: The early 20th century, patron of the arts, and author of a biography of John McLoughlin . Journalist Harvey W. Scott , a mid-19th-century editor of The Oregonian and author of a six-volume history of Oregon, is on the list as is Lewis A. McArthur , a 20th-century electric utility executive and author of Oregon Geographic Names . University presidents, a bishop, and an Air Force general are among others on

3555-476: The eldest, Robert , became a U.S. senator. There was a seat vacant on the U.S. Supreme Court in 1889, and Governor Foraker suggested President Harrison appoint Taft to fill it. Taft was 32 and his professional goal was always a seat on the Supreme Court. He actively sought the appointment, writing to Foraker to urge the governor to press his case, while stating to others it was unlikely he would get it. Instead, in 1890, Harrison appointed him Solicitor General of

3634-458: The following month. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery , the first president and first Supreme Court justice to be interred there. Taft is generally listed near the middle in historians' rankings of U.S. presidents . William Howard Taft was born September 15, 1857, in Cincinnati, Ohio , to Alphonso Taft and Louise Torrey . The Taft family was not wealthy, living in a modest home in

3713-598: The government, but Taft preferred that they remain in the private sector, with their maximum rates set by the Interstate Commerce Commission , subject to judicial review . Taft attributed blame for the recent recession, the Panic of 1907 , to stock speculation and other abuses, and felt some reform of the currency (the U.S. was on the gold standard ) was needed to allow flexibility in the government's response to poor economic times, that specific legislation on trusts

3792-542: The heavyset, jovial Taft was popular and an intramural heavyweight wrestling champion. One classmate said he succeeded through hard work rather than by being the smartest, and had integrity. He was elected a member of Skull and Bones , the Yale secret society co-founded by his father, one of three future presidents (with George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush ) to be a member. In 1878, Taft graduated second in his class of 121. He attended Cincinnati Law School , and graduated with

3871-410: The list. Well-known guests of the club have included U.S. presidents William Howard Taft , Rutherford B. Hayes , and Ulysses S. Grant , author Aldous Huxley , heart surgeon Michael E. DeBakey , General George C. Marshall , bridge designer Ralph Modjeski , and many others. For its first 14 years, the club members met in dining places, hotels, government chambers, or "any place available". When

3950-412: The members distinguish between the public interest and their own private interests if actions and words have been reported accurately. It would appear that many of the major decisions affecting Portland's business and political life were actually reached during "informal" discussions held within the club's portals. Big banks, utilities, railroads, and U.S. Senators from Oregon were well represented within

4029-449: The membership criteria for men by the late 1960s and for women in 1990. As of 2016, the Arlington Club continues to gather at its building in downtown Portland. In 1867, Simeon Reed and 34 other Portland men organized what they called the Social Club to "fraternize for mutual enjoyment and relaxation, and to provide a meeting place for discussing their own and Portland's destiny". The club, "the social headquarters of Portland's male elite"

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4108-698: The membership. Generally in the 1890s four or five club members were part of the Oregon Legislature . Three other clubs—the Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club (1891), the Waverly Golf Club (1896), and the University Club (1896)—formed during the 1890s, and memberships often overlapped with the Arlington Club. The Concordia Club, formed in 1878, was the Jewish version of the Arlington Club, which

4187-408: The middle classes during the 1890s, he was not as conservative as his critics believed. He supported the right of labor to organize and strike, and he ruled against employers in several negligence cases." Among these was Voight v. Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway Co. Taft's decision for a worker injured in a railway accident violated the contemporary doctrine of liberty of contract , and he

4266-565: The military governor, was relieved by General Adna Chaffee , who was designated only as commander of American forces. As Governor-General, Taft oversaw the final months of the primary phase of the Philippine–American War. He approved of General James Franklin Bell 's use of concentration camps in the provinces of Batangas and Laguna , and accepted the surrender of Filipino general Miguel Malvar on April 16, 1902. Taft sought to make

4345-517: The number of Japanese laborers coming to the American West Coast, and during Taft's second visit, in September 1907, Tadasu Hayashi , the foreign minister, informally agreed to issue fewer passports to them . Roosevelt had served almost three and a half years of McKinley's term. On the night of his own election in 1904, Roosevelt publicly declared that he would not run for reelection in 1908 ,

4424-459: The other two being for the presidency. He was elected to a full five-year term. Some two dozen of Taft's opinions as a state judge survive, the most significant being Moores & Co. v. Bricklayers' Union No. 1 (1889) if only because it was used against him when he ran for president in 1908. The case involved bricklayers who refused to work for any firm that dealt with a company called Parker Brothers, with which they were in dispute. Taft ruled that

4503-621: The party. The split left Taft with little chance of reelection, and he took only Utah and Vermont in Wilson's victory. After leaving office, Taft returned to Yale as a professor, continuing his political activity and working against war through the League to Enforce Peace . In 1921, Harding appointed Taft chief justice, an office he had long sought. Chief Justice Taft was a conservative on business issues, and under him there were advances in individual rights. In poor health, he resigned in February 1930, and died

4582-505: The presidency in that November's election . In the White House, he focused on East Asia more than European affairs and repeatedly intervened to prop up or remove Latin American governments. Taft sought reductions to trade tariffs , then a major source of governmental income, but the resulting bill was heavily influenced by special interests. His administration was filled with conflict between

4661-419: The president's successful but strenuous efforts to gain election, "I would not run for president if you guaranteed the office. It is awful to be afraid of one's shadow." Between 1905 and 1907, Taft came to terms with the likelihood he would be the next Republican nominee for president, though he did not plan to actively campaign for it. When Justice Henry Billings Brown resigned in 1906, Taft would not accept

4740-661: The resignation of Justice George Shiras , and Roosevelt desired that Taft fill it. Although this was Taft's professional goal, he refused as he felt his work as governor was not yet done. The following year, Roosevelt asked Taft to become Secretary of War . As the War Department administered the Philippines, Taft would remain responsible for the islands, and Elihu Root , the incumbent, was willing to postpone his departure until 1904, allowing Taft time to wrap up his work in Manila. After consulting with his family, Taft agreed, and sailed for

4819-463: The seat although Roosevelt offered it, a position Taft held to when another seat opened in 1906. Edith Roosevelt , the First Lady , disliked the growing closeness between the two men, feeling that they were too much alike and that the president did not gain much from the advice of someone who rarely contradicted him. Alternatively, Taft wanted to be chief justice, and kept a close eye on the health of

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4898-434: The suburb of Mount Auburn . Alphonso served as a judge and an ambassador, and was U.S. Secretary of War and Attorney General under President Ulysses S. Grant . William Taft was not seen as brilliant as a child, but was a hard worker; his demanding parents pushed him and his four brothers toward success, tolerating nothing less. He attended Woodward High School in Cincinnati. At Yale College , which he entered in 1874,

4977-698: The union's action amounted to a secondary boycott , which was illegal. It is not clear when Taft met Helen Herron (often called Nellie), but it was no later than 1880, when she mentioned in her diary receiving an invitation to a party from him. By 1884, they were meeting regularly, and in 1885, after an initial rejection, she agreed to marry him. The wedding took place at the Herron home on June 19, 1886. William Taft remained devoted to his wife throughout their almost 44 years of marriage. Nellie Taft pushed her husband much as his parents had, and she could be very frank with her criticisms. The couple had three children, of whom

5056-516: The waters for a run but chose to stay out. New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes ran, but when he made a major policy speech, Roosevelt the same day sent a special message to Congress warning in strong terms against corporate corruption . The resulting coverage of the presidential message relegated Hughes to the back pages. Roosevelt reluctantly deterred repeated attempts to draft him for another term. Assistant Postmaster General Frank H. Hitchcock resigned from his office in February 1908 to lead

5135-567: Was assassinated in September 1901, and was succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt. Taft and Roosevelt had first become friends around 1890 while Taft was Solicitor General and Roosevelt a member of the United States Civil Service Commission . Taft had, after McKinley's election, urged the appointment of Roosevelt as Assistant Secretary of the Navy , and watched as Roosevelt became a war hero, Governor of New York , and Vice President of

5214-705: Was 22, he collected supplies to sell in California and sailed there, setting up a store in a tent in Sacramento , while Amanda remained back east. Reed sold his goods and grain to the gold miners, but decided to relocate to what was then the Oregon Territory after a few trips there to purchase supplies. Late in 1852, Reed started a mercantile in Rainier, Oregon , along the Columbia River downstream from Portland . After

5293-476: Was a U.S. attorney general and secretary of war . Taft attended Yale and joined Skull and Bones , of which his father was a founding member. After becoming a lawyer, Taft was appointed a judge while still in his twenties. He continued a rapid rise, being named solicitor general and a judge of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals . In 1901, President William McKinley appointed Taft civilian governor of

5372-415: Was ambitious for herself and her husband, and was annoyed when the people he socialized with most were mainly Supreme Court justices, rather than the arbiters of Washington society such as Theodore Roosevelt , John Hay , Henry Cabot Lodge and their wives. In 1891, Taft introduced a new policy: confession of error , by which the U.S. government would concede a case in the Supreme Court that it had won in

5451-481: Was at the time not open to Jews. Among the club's self-generated list of notable members between 1867 and 1967 were George H. Williams , appointed Chief Justice of the Territorial Courts of Oregon in 1853, elected to the U.S. Senate in 1864, named United States Attorney General in 1871, and elected mayor of Portland in 1892. Another was Frederick Van Voorhies Holman , general counsel for an electric utility in

5530-472: Was born on April 23, 1830, in East Abington , Massachusetts . He was born into a wealthy family and received his education at a private academy, graduating when he was 13 years old. After working and training as an apprentice in several vocations, he married Amanda Woods at the age of 20, with the couple not having any children. Woods was 18 at the time and a distant cousin of John Quincy Adams . When he

5609-494: Was called to Washington to meet with McKinley. Taft hoped a Supreme Court appointment was in the works, but instead McKinley wanted to place Taft on the commission to organize a civilian government in the Philippines . The appointment would require Taft's resignation from the bench; the president assured him that if he fulfilled this task, McKinley would appoint him to the next vacancy on the high court. Taft accepted on condition he

5688-547: Was convicted on his domestic violence charges on December 2, 2015. Simeon Gannett Reed Simeon Gannett Reed (April 23, 1830 – November 7, 1895) was an American businessman and entrepreneur in Oregon . A native of Massachusetts , he made a fortune primarily in the transportation sector in association with William S. Ladd . Reedville, Oregon , and Reed College in Portland, Oregon are named after Reed. Simeon Gannett Reed

5767-531: Was dominated through the late 20th century by largely white, mostly Anglo-Saxon men from the city's business and banking leadership. Among the founders were John C. Ainsworth (Ainsworth National Bank), Henry Failing (merchandising, shipping, iron and steel, First National Bank), William S. Ladd (merchandising, transportation, flour milling, Ladd & Tilton Bank), Donald Macleay (merchandising, shipping, United States National Bank), George Weidler (steamships, real estate, lumber), and many others who made

5846-406: Was left to Amanda, with instructions to use it to assist in the cultural and intellectual development of Portland. Amanda died in 1904 without much progress towards Simeon's instructions. In 1908, Amanda's estate established Reed College in Portland. William M. Ladd (son of Reed's former partner William S. Ladd) provided the lands on which the college stands today, and almost all of Reed's estate

5925-463: Was lukewarm in his support. He landed solidly in McKinley's camp after former Nebraska representative William Jennings Bryan in July stampeded the 1896 Democratic National Convention with his Cross of Gold speech . Bryan, both in that address and in his campaign , strongly advocated free silver , a policy that Taft saw as economic radicalism. Taft feared that people would hoard gold in anticipation of

6004-529: Was made head of the commission, with responsibility for success or failure; McKinley agreed, and Taft sailed for the islands in April 1900. The American takeover meant the Philippine Revolution bled into the Philippine–American War , as Filipinos fought for their independence, but U.S. forces, led by military governor General Arthur MacArthur Jr. had the upper hand by 1900. MacArthur felt

6083-617: Was passed on to the college, Reed having left no heirs. Simeon and Amanda Reed are buried near the family plot of Jacob Kamm in Portland's River View Cemetery . Reed Street, in Northwest Portland , is named for him. William Howard Taft Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930)

6162-591: Was reversed by the Supreme Court. On the other hand, Taft's opinion in United States v. Addyston Pipe and Steel Co. was upheld unanimously by the high court. Taft's opinion, in which he held that a pipe manufacturers' association had violated the Sherman Antitrust Act , was described by Henry Pringle , his biographer, as having "definitely and specifically revived" that legislation. In 1896, Taft became dean and Professor of Property at his alma mater ,

6241-451: Was the 27th president of the United States and the tenth chief justice of the United States , the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected president in 1908 as a Republican and was defeated for reelection in 1912 by Democratic nominee Woodrow Wilson . In 1921, President Warren G. Harding appointed Taft to be chief justice, a position he held until 1930. Taft was born in Cincinnati , Ohio. His father, Alphonso Taft ,

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