# William Howard Taft — An Autobiography character guide

> William Howard Taft in An Autobiography by Theodore Roosevelt.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mr. Taft

**First appearance:** 0016-x-the-presidency-making-an-old-party-progressive

## Snapshot

Roosevelt's Secretary of War and chosen successor, whose presidency would later test the friendship and fracture the Republican Party.

## Who they are

Taft enters the autobiography as the man Roosevelt handpicked to carry his legacy forward, a trusted lieutenant in the administration's work. The passages here are largely genealogical, tracing Roosevelt's own Dutch, Quaker, and Scotch-Irish roots rather than Taft's role, but his presence hovers over the later chapters as the heir whose divergence from Roosevelt's progressive course becomes one of the book's quiet tensions. He matters because the story of Roosevelt's public life cannot end without him.

## In the story

### [The Presidency; Making an Old Party Progressive](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_autobiography_se/chapters/x-the-presidency-making-an-old-party-progressive)

Roosevelt's successor; criticized for taking the 'Buchanan' view of presidential power and for his handling of the Ballinger case.

### [The Natural Resources of the Nation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_autobiography_se/chapters/xi-the-natural-resources-of-the-nation)

Mentioned as the President who removed Pinchot from office after Roosevelt left office.

### [Appendix A: The Trusts, the People, and the Square Deal](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_autobiography_se/chapters/appendix-a)

President at the time of the suit; Roosevelt notes Taft's prior approval of the Tennessee Coal and Iron acquisition.

### [Appendix B: The Control of Corporations and 'The New Freedom'](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_autobiography_se/chapters/appendix-b)

Mentioned as a candidate supported by big business, alongside Wilson.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_autobiography_se/characters/mr_taft
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_autobiography_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_autobiography_se/characters