Taft, Robert A. (1889–1953)

ROBERT A. TAFT was the son of President William H. Taft, a major figure within the Republican Party and a presidential contender in 1952. Robert Alphonso Taft was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the firstborn of the three children of William Howard Taft and Helen (Nellie) (Herron) Taft. Will Taft was then a judge, and Robert's maternal grandfather was U.S. attorney. Young Robert accompanied his father to the Philippines when the senior Taft was governor general. While his father was president, Taft graduated first in his class at Yale University in 1910, and he was also first in his class at Harvard Law School in 1913. Taft married Martha Wheaton Bowers, daughter of the solicitor general in his father's administration, on October 17, 1914. The couple ...