Helen Taft
Helen Louise Herron "Nellie" Taft (June 2, 1861 –
May 22, 1943) was the wife of William Howard Taft and First Lady of
the United States from 1909 to 1913.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the fourth child of Judge John Williamson
Herron (1827-1912), a law partner of Rutherford B. Hayes, and
Harriet Collins-Herron (1833-1901), Nellie graduated from the
Cincinnati College of Music and taught school briefly before her
marriage. With her parents, she attended the twenty-fifth wedding
anniversary celebration of President and Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes
at the White House in 1877.
Two years later, she met William Howard Taft at a bobsledding party
in Cincinnati; he was 22 years old, she was 18. He asked her out
for the first time in February 1880, but they did not date
regularly until 1882. He proposed in April 1885, and she accepted
in May.
Taft married Nellie on June 19, 1886, at the home of the bride's
parents in Cincinnati. The wedding was performed by the Reverend
D.N.A. Hoge of Zanesville, Ohio. Taft's younger brother Horace Taft
was best man. The couple honeymooned one day in New York City and
four days at Sea Bright, New Jersey, before setting off on a
three-month tour of Europe.
On their return, they settled in Cincinnati. Mrs. Taft encouraged
her husband's political career despite his oft-stated preference
for the judiciary. She welcomed each step in her husband's
political career: state judge, Solicitor General of the United
States, and federal circuit court judge. In 1900 he agreed to take
charge of American civil government in the Philippines. Further
travel with her husband, who became Secretary of War in 1904,
brought a widened interest in world politics and a cosmopolitan
circle of friends.
The Tafts had two sons and a daughter. Robert Alphonso Taft
(1889-1953) was a political leader, Helen Taft (1891-1987) was an
educator, and Charles Phelps Taft II (1897-1983) was a civic
leader.
As First Lady, she was the first wife of a president to ride
alongside her husband down Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day
(heretofore the outgoing chief executive had accompanied the new
president). Two months after entering the White House, Mrs. Taft
suffered a stroke, impairing her speech. She never fully recovered.
With the help of her sisters, however, she entertained moderately.
She received guests three afternoons a week in the Red Room.
The social highlight of the Taft administration was the silver
wedding anniversary gala (June 19, 1911) for some 8,000 guests. In
her most lasting contribution as First Lady, Mrs. Taft arranged for
the planting of the 3,000 Japanese cherry trees that grace the
Washington Tidal Basin; with the wife of the Japanese ambassador,
she personally planted the first two saplings in ceremonies on
March 27, 1912.
The Tafts were divided over Prohibition: the former president was a
Dry; Mrs. Taft a Wet. With Taft's appointment to the Supreme Court,
Mrs. Taft became the only woman to be both First Lady and wife of a
chief justice.
She died on May 22, 1943, and was buried next to the president at
Arlington National Cemetery.
The Puzzle: Hint, hint substitute 10 for 0, underlined
charicters are letters.
42 32.
(HER)TT
82 58.
LOH
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