12. William Howard Taft became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
The Cincinnati-born Taft was a lawyer and judge before Roosevelt tapped him to serve as the Governor General of the Philippines in 1901, later having him serve as Secretary of War. Roosevelt personally chose Taft to be his successor, campaigned extensively for him, and left for Africa confident that Taft would continue to espouse Teddy’s policies and goals. When Roosevelt returned from Africa he discovered that his confidence was misplaced. Taft was less interested in conservation than he was in reducing tariffs and placing less importance on antitrust actions by the government. Roosevelt ran against him in the 1912 election and lost, but the party rift allowed Woodrow Wilson to win the presidency.
Taft accepted a position at Yale University and became heavily involved with the building of the Lincoln Memorial (which he would dedicate in 1921) and served as president of the League to Enforce Peace, an organization that opposed American intervention in World War I. In 1921, President Herbert Hoover appointed Taft as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a position Taft had long desired. The Taft court was a conservative bench, issuing decisions which imposed restrictions on the government’s ability to regulate commerce at both the state and federal levels. Taft remained in the position of chief justice, despite clearly declining health, until his death in 1930. He was the first president, and the first chief justice, to be interred in Arlington National Cemetery.