WILLIAM TAFT
1909 - 1913
Arizona Timeline
1909 - The Desert Power & Water Company's powerhouse in Kingman goes into operation, serving the gold and silver mines.
1910 - Arizona Enabling Act passed by Congress. Arizona Constitutional Convention meets. Population of Arizona exceeds 204,000.
1911 - President Taft vetoes admission of Arizona over recall of judges. Arizona agrees to make the necessary changes in its constitution.
1912 - Arizona officially becomes a state on February 14. Women gain the right to vote in Arizona.
1912 - The National Old Trails Highway wound its way through Kingman and Oatman.
William Howard Taft was born
in 1857 in Cincinnati. He
graduated from Yale and became
involved in Ohio politics in the
1880' s. He served on the Ohio
Superior Court from 1887 to
1890; as solicitor general of the
United States from 1890 to 1891;
on the federal circuit court from
1892 to 1900. He was appointed
governor general of the
Philippines in 1901.
Helen Herron Taft was born in
1861 and grew up in Cincinnati.
At age 17, she was a guest of
President and Mrs. Hayes at the
White House. The following
year, she met William Taft and
they were married in 1886. The
Tafts had three children.
Having demonstrated his capacity as an administrator and conciliator, President William Taft served as secretary of war from 1904 to 1908. In 1908,
Theodore Roosevelt hand- picked Taft to be his successor and he defeated William Jennings Bryan who made his third attempt at the presidency. He
endeavored to carry on Roosevelt's policies, but there was increasing disagreement with the progressive wing of the Republican party, in 1912 with
Roosevelt supporting his opponent, he was defeated by Woodrow Wilson. He later became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1921, the only
president to so serve. He died on March 8, 1930, at Washington, D. C.
Helen Taft undertook with enthusiasm her travels with her three children occasioned by Taft's duties in the Philippines and as Secretary of War. Only two
months after Taft's inauguration as president, Helen suffered a severe stroke. It took a year for her recovery, but she went on to act as hostess in a White
House famous for social events. Her best- known legacy is the planting of the famous Japanese cherry trees around the tidal basin. Helen Taft died on
May 22, 1943.
Mohave Museum - U.S. Presidents and the History of Arizona
