HMO! (Help the Man Out!)

I think it is a little offensive to Taft that the only thing we remember about him was that he was fat. One interactive activity at the Madame Tussauds wax museum is weigh yourself against Taft.

William Howard Taft was the 27^th President from 1909-1913. He was also Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1921-1930, being only one of two people to be head of two branches of the US Government (James K. Polk was the 11^th President from 1845-1849 and was Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1835-1839¹). He was also the only former President to swear in a President.

Taft’s accomplishments are too long for me to list, so go to Wikipedia to learn about him. He should be known for more than a fat man.

 Though not an official slogan, supporters of William Jennings Bryan did say this against Taft in the 1908 Presidential campaign.

He deserves dignity. So that is why I would like to start the “Society to Help the Image of Taft” or S.H.I.T. I also want to create an organization to help all historical figures rehabilitate their image from falsehoods or embellishments. It would be called the “Kindly Improve our Leaders’ Legacy so Many Inhabitants Learn Legitimate Accounts of Real Details so the Famous, Influential, and Legendary Leaders can Monopolize on Orally Repeated Errors/Exaggerations”.

I think it has a nice ring to it.

¹ It's hard to say who is in charge of the Senate. Technically, the head of the Senate is the Vice President, in which 14 have become President. The President pro tempore of the Senate (aka oldest member of the chamber) is the only leader in the Senate in the line of succession if the President and Vice President are unable to serve (none have served as President although David Rice Atchison was President pro tempore between 1846-1849 & 1852-1854 and makes a very flimsy claim of being President for a day). The Senate since 1920 has elected leaders who have similar powers to that of Speaker of the House, although the SotH is the Chamber leader and not the Party leader as it is in the Senate (even though the position of Speaker changes hands when the majority party changes). The House of Representatives does elect it's own Party Leaders  but their position and power are very small. Only one Senate Majority Leader has ever become president, Lyndon Johnson from 1955-1961. As there is no one ruler for Congress and instead a leader for each chamber, I guess there is technically no single Head of the Legislative Branch.