September 15

"Don't write so that you can be understood, write so that you can't be misunderstood."

William Howard Taft, 27th President, 1909-1913, born this day in 1857
Attributed to Taft.- Taft was the only President to have also served as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was born near Cincinnati, Ohio, to a prominent family. Taft received his undergraduate from Yale University and was a member the debating society and the secret "Skull and Bones Society", founded by his father, Alonzo Taft. Taft proved to be an apt student and in 1878 he graduated second in his class of 121. A large man, Taft was also the university intramural wrestling champion. He graduated from law school in Cincinnati in 1880. In adulthood, Taft reached the weight of 351 pounds and may have started a trend in enlisting a doctor's care in going on diets in order to become more slim. In 1890, he was appointed United States Solicitor General by President Benjamin Harrison, who was also from Ohio. As his career progressed, President William McKinley, another President from Ohio, appointed Taft chairman of a commission to form a civilian government in the Philippines after it was acquired in the Spanish-American War. He served in Theodore Roosevelt's administration until 1908 and was elected President when Roosevelt decided not to run again. He served only one term until 1913 and was appointed Supreme Court Justice in 1920, which had been his ultimate goal throughout his career. Never fond of Presidential politics, when asked which job he preferred, he is quoted as having said, "I do not remember that I ever was President." Today's quote, "Don't write so that you can be understood, write so that you can't be misunderstood.", is an apt phrase for any lawyer. It has been attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), the famous Scottish writer of the same generation. It is, however, originally credited to the Greek Philosopher, Epictetus, a powerful speaker and sage who taught in Rome and was born around 55 A.D. in what is now modern day Turkey.