William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft would have much preferred it if his White House predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, had appointed him to the Supreme Court. But Roosevelt had other plans for this man who had been one of his most trusted advisers. In November 1908, the good-natured Taft found himself elected to the presidency as Roosevelt's hand-picked successor.

In many respects, Taft's administration continued Roosevelt's progressive reforms that sought to monitor the nation's economic life. But many of Taft's old allies questioned the sincerity of his commitment and ultimately regarded him as a betrayer of the Roosevelt legacy. As a result, in Taft's bid for reelection in 1912, he faced a challenge not only from Democratic hopeful Woodrow Wilson but also from the third-party presidential candidacy of the very man who had put him in the White House, Theodore Roosevelt. In the three-way contest, Taft came in a distant third.