The Taft Family
One of the only patriarchs to not have amassed his fortune and position through arguably questionable means, by all accounts Alphonso Taft actually served his country with distinction, integrity and character.
After forming a law firm with Thomas Marshall Key and William M. Dickson in April 1854, he would, two years later, make an unsuccessful bid for the House of Representatives.
He would eventually find political success when then Secretary of War under President Ulysses S. Grant, William W. Belknap resigned after it was revealed he receive profit money from the Fort Sill Indian tradership, and Taft was to be his replacement.
Taft’s appointment would be well received by both the press and the public as he would do much to restore the War department’s reputation by reversing unpopular policies and reducing military expenditures.
However, it would be when Grant appointed Taft as U.S. Attorney General, he would really cement his reputation as a progressive leader when he strongly advocated that African Americans must not be denied the right to vote through intimidation and violence, highlighting the many atrocities committed against blacks in the South.
In 1879, he would unsuccessfully run for Governor of Ohio and never sought to put his hat into any presidential race, that would be for the next generation of the Taft family.
Alphonso’s son, William Howard Taft, would follow in the early steps of his father by becoming a lawyer but his rise would be much more monumental. Still in his early twenties, he would be appointed as a judge.
Not long after he would be named Solicitor General and as a judge of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
His rise would continue as successive presidents would appoint him to prominent positions, president Mckinley made him civilian governor of the Philippines and his successor Theodore Roosevelt appointed him Secretary of War, with an eye on grooming him as his successor.
