William Howard Taft Inaugural Bible William Howard Taft Inaugural Bible

President William Howard Taft was inaugurated on March 4, 1909, and this bible was used in the ceremony. It was used again on October 3, 1921, when Taft was administered the oath of chief justice of the United States. William Howard Taft and Chief Justice Melville Weston Fuller signed the inside of the bible, testifying that this was the bible used in Taft'ss inauguration. The seal of the Supreme Court is affixed to the page beneath the signatures.

Taft (1857-1930), the 27th US president (1909-1913), was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. The son of Alphonso Taft, a distinguished judge, he graduated from Yale and returned to Cincinnati to practice law. Taft was appointed a federal circuit judge at age 34. In 1904 President Theodore Roosevelt named him Secretary of War, and by 1907 had decided that Taft should be his successor. The Republican Convention nominated him the next year. Taft'ss administration initiated 80 antitrust suits and Congress submitted to the states amendments for a federal income tax and the direct election of senators. A postal savings system was established, and the Interstate Commerce Commission was directed to set railroad rates. In 1912, when the Republicans re-nominated Taft, Roosevelt led the Progressives, thus guaranteeing the election of Woodrow Wilson. Taft served as professor of law at Yale until President Warren G. Harding made him chief justice of the United States.