Taft, Robert Alphonso (1889-1953), was an American statesman. He was called Mr. Republican because of his influence as a policymaker in his party.
Taft was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Sept. 8, 1889. His father, William Howard Taft, became the nation’s 27th president. The younger Taft attended Yale University and Harvard Law School. He practiced law in Cincinnati and served in the Ohio legislature. Taft won election to the U.S. Senate in 1938 and was reelected in 1944 and 1950. He argued for a balanced budget and opposed most of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s proposals for domestic spending. He coauthored the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, which set up controls over labor unions. Taft supported federal aid for housing and education.
Before World War II (1939-1945), Taft objected to major United States involvement in foreign affairs. Later, though, he accepted U.S. policies aimed at blocking attempts by the Soviet Union and China to spread Communism to other lands.
Taft was a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 1940, 1948, and 1952. He was the leading opponent of Dwight D. Eisenhower for the presidential nomination in 1952. After Eisenhower’s election to the presidency, Taft became Senate majority leader and one of the president’s most trusted advisers. Taft died on July 31, 1953. From 1971 to 1977, his son Robert A. Taft, Jr., served as a U.S. senator from Ohio.
