Robert A. Taft

Robert Alphonso Taft Sr. (September 8, 1889 – July 31, 1953) was an American politician and lawyer who represented Ohio in the United States Senate from 1939 until his death in 1953. A member of the Republican Party, he briefly served as Senate majority leader and was a leader of the conservative coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats who blocked expansion of the New Deal. Often referred to as "Mr. Republican", he co-sponsored the Taft–Hartley Act of 1947, which banned closed shops, created the framework of right-to-work states, and tightened other regulations on labor unions and practices. Taft was a scion of the Taft political family; he was the elder son of William Howard Taft, the 27th president of the United States and 10th chief justice of the United States. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he pursued a legal career after graduating from Harvard Law School in 1913 and co-founded the law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister with his brother Charles Phelps Taft II. Taft served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 1921 to 1931 and in the Ohio Senate from 1931 to 1933. Though he lost re-election in 1932, he remained a powerful force in state and local politics. After winning election to the Senate in 1938 over incumbent Democrat Robert J. Bulkley, Taft repeatedly sought the Republican presidential nomination, often battling for control of the party with the moderate faction of Republicans led by Thomas E. Dewey. He also emerged as a prominent non-interventionist and opposed U.S. involvement in World War II prior to the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Taft's non-interventionist stances damaged his 1940 candidacy, and the 1940 Republican National Convention nominated Wendell Willkie. Taft sought the presidency again in 1948, but he lost to Dewey at the 1948 Republican National Convention. He opposed the...