Ethics in Service

by William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1857. He graduated from Yale College (now Yale University) in 1878, and then from Cincinnati Law School in 1880. In 1887, he was appointed to the Ohio Supreme Court. In 1890, he was appointed Solicitor General of the United States, and then to a seat on the US Court of Appeals (Sixth Circuit) in 1891. In 1900, President William McKinley appointed Taft the first civilian Governor-General of the Philippines. In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Taft Secretary of War, expecting Taft to follow him in the Presidency. In 1908, Taft was elected the 27th President of the United States.

After one term, Roosevelt returned to challenge Taft for the Presidency. Woodrow Wilson won the election, and Taft won the ignominy of being the only sitting President to come in third in his bid for re-election. After leaving the White House in 1913, Taft became a law professor at Yale Law School, and was also elected president of the American Bar Association. He co-chaired the National War Labor Board in 1917 and 1918.

In 1921, President Warren Harding fulfilled Taft's lifelong dream of an appointment to the Supreme Court, when he named Taft the 10th Chief Justice (making Taft the only person to serve on the Court and as President). At one point during his tenure on the Court, Taft remarked "Sometimes I do not remember that I was ever President." Taft retired from the Court in 1930, a month before his death.

In 1914, between his service in the Executive and the Judicial branches of the US government, Taft gave this lecture as part of the Page Lecture Series before the Senior Class of Yale University's Sheffield Scientific School. As Taft says in his introduction, "a discussion of the ethics and ideals of that profession would come within the purpose of the Page foundation," which was to promote "the ethical side of business life, including the morals and ethics of public service."

Herein, Taft discusses the history of the legal profession, "which shows that a paid advocacy is the only practical system, and the rules of conduct to which lawyers must be held in order that such a system shall promote justice."

66 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1915

About the author

William Howard Taft was an American politician, the twenty-seventh President of the United States, the tenth Chief Justice of the United States, a leader of the progressive conservative wing of the Republican Party in the early 20th century, a pioneer in international arbitration and staunch advocate of world peace verging on pacifism, and scion of a leading political family, the Tafts, of Ohio.

Taft served as the Solicitor General of the United States, a federal judge, Governor-General of the Philippines, and Secretary of War before being nominated for President in the 1908 Republican National Convention with the backing of his predecessor and close friend Theodore Roosevelt.

His presidency was characterized by trust-busting, strengthening the Interstate Commerce Commission, expanding the civil service, establishing a better postal system, and promoting world peace. Roosevelt broke with Taft in 1911, charging Taft was too reactionary. Taft and the conservatives were alarmed at Roosevelt's attacks on the judiciary, and took control of the party machinery. Taft defeated Roosevelt for the Republican nomination in a bruising battle in 1912 that forced Roosevelt out of the GOP and left Taft's people in charge for decades. William Howard Taft remains the only U.S. President to finish third in a bid for reelection to a second consecutive term. During World War I he helped set national labor policy that reduced strikes and generated union support for the national cause. In 1921, he became Chief Justice. As President and Chief Justice he helped make the federal courts, especially the Supreme Court, much more powerful in shaping national policy. To date he is the only former president to serve on the Supreme Court.

Reviews

[John Yelverton · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Howard Taft is positively brilliant in his assessment of both the law and politics and lists several pitfalls that apply even today. It's no wonder that he later became Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court after he was President.

[Susan Molloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

🖊 “Addresses Delivered in the Page Lecture Series, 1914, before the Senior Class of the Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University New Haven: MDCCCCXV, Copyright, 1915 By Yale University Press First printed October, 1915, 1000 copies.“ 🔻 These essays by President William Howard Taft are as important today as they were in 1914. Intelligently written, each is a lesson today. It is a must-read.

CONTENTS:
• I. History of the Profession of Law.
• II. Legal Ethics
• III. The Executive Power
• IV. The Signs of the Times
• V. More Signs of the Times

📕Published in 1915.

જ⁀🟢 E-book version on Project Gutenberg.
જ⁀🟣 Kindle.
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My ratings for this work:
Content: ★★★★★
Grammar: ★★★★★
Writing style: ★★★★☆
Ease of reading: ★★★★☆
My recommendation: ★★★★★
My total rating for this work: ★★★★★ (4.6)

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure all of Taft’s conclusions were on target, but I have to appreciate that he thoughtfully considered his positions and took the rule of law more seriously than he did political expediency.