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The 1910's
 William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 7 to 9
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.15

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    average-sized, boyhood, solicitor, capacity, executive, better, politics, federal, pudgy, leadership, prominent, victory, defeat, favor, succeed, newly
     content words:    President Theodore Roosevelt, United States, President Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Howard Taft, United States Supreme Court, Yale University, Cincinnati Law School, Supreme Court, Helen Herron Taft

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William Howard Taft
By Jane Runyon 		  
1     The year was 1908. President Theodore Roosevelt was finishing his term as President of the United States. He had decided not to run for another term. The Republicans had an easy choice as their candidate in the November election. President Roosevelt had chosen him for them. President Roosevelt wanted William Howard Taft to succeed him. But who was this man they wanted as their president? Few people outside of Washington, D.C. had ever heard of him.
 
2     William Howard Taft was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on September 15, 1857. His father was a prominent judge. Taft became interested in the law at an early age. He decided to follow in his father's footsteps. His dream was to do better than his father, though. His goal was to become a justice on the United States Supreme Court. He graduated from Yale University in 1878. He received his law degree from Cincinnati Law School in 1880. His plan was to practice law, become a judge, and eventually fulfill his dream of serving on the Supreme Court. His dream took a turn in another direction, however, when he married. His wife, Helen Herron Taft, had other plans.
 
3     Mrs. Taft felt that the best career for her husband would be in politics. For the first few years of their marriage, Taft served on the Ohio Superior Court as a judge. He then became a solicitor general of the United States. His job was to give advice to other lawyers handling federal cases. In 1900, he had positioned himself in Washington, D.C. William McKinley was the president. As a favor to the Taft family, McKinley appointed Taft to the post of president of the Philippine Commission. A year later, Taft took charge of the Philippine Islands as governor general.

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