William Howard Taft: America's First & Only Obese President

William Howard Taft, the 27th President, serving from March 4, 1909 til March 4, 1913, was America's first President to break the Obesity Barrier, winning election to the highest office in the land.

Taft was a very slow moving man, taking over from the man who may have been America's most energetic, most fit President, Theodore Roosevelt.

On his Inauguration Day, March 4, 1909, Taft got himself stuck in the White House bathtub. It took 4 men to get Taft unstuck. After this incident Taft had a new bathtub installed, a big one, 7 feet long and 3 1/2 feet wide.

William Howard Taft was 6 feet 2 inches tall. His weight fluctuated between 300 and 330 pounds, give or take a pound or two.

Once in awhile Taft would become a bit mortified at his obesity and go on a rigid diet for a few months. In 1905, when he reached 314 pounds for the first time, Taft went on a diet that shrunk him to 255. For a short time.

While he was President Taft suffered from what we now know as Sleep Apnea, caused by his obesity. Within a year of leaving the White House Taft lost around 80 pounds, which greatly improved his Sleep Apnea and greatly lowered his systolic blood pressure and likely extended his life.

Taft suffered insults about his weight all his life. While at Yale, Taft was in the Beta Chapter of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity where he was given the nickname "Big Lub."

In 1901 President William McKinley appointed Taft to be Governor General of the Philippines, a post he continued to occupy after Teddy Roosevelt became President, following the assassination of McKinley. At one point Taft sent a telegram to Washington, D.C. which said, "went on a horse ride today; feeling good." To which Secretary of War Elihu Root famously replied, "How's the horse?"

That is not the future President Taft on his horse in the Philippines in the picture. That is future President Taft in the Philippines riding his Water Buffalo.

It just occurred to me that if America's Presidential elections were determined by the popular vote, with no Electoral College, then Al Gore would have become President in 2001, not George W. Bush.

With the likely result that William Howard Taft would no longer be the only Obese person to have served as President.