Attorney General: Alphonso Taft

Alphonso Taft was born in Townshend, Vermont, on November 5, 1810. He received his bachelor’s degree from Yale College in 1833, graduating third in his class. After teaching high school for several years, he obtained his law degree from Yale Law School in 1838 and was admitted that year to the Connecticut bar. Around 1840 Taft settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he began a law practice and devoted himself to civic engagement. He helped create the Cincinnati Law Library Association in 1846, served as a member of the city council from 1847 to 1849, and was the first president of the Cincinnati Bar Association in 1872. In addition, he helped lead educational and charitable institutions such as the University of Cincinnati, the city school board, and a home for delinquent children. In 1856 Taft ran for U.S. Representative of the first Ohio district and lost. He was appointed judge of the Cincinnati Superior Court in 1865 and then elected to that post twice (1865 and 1869). After retiring from the bench in 1872, he practiced law in partnership with three of his sons, including future President William Howard Taft. In 1875 and again in 1879, he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of Ohio but lost on both occasions. Taft was appointed Secretary of War by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 8, 1876. Just months later, on May 22, 1876, President Grant appointed him Attorney General of the United States. Taft held that office until March 11, 1877, when he resumed the private practice of law. In 1882 he was appointed U.S. minister to Austria-Hungary. He was transferred in 1884 to the U.S. ministry to Russia, where he remained until 1885. Taft died in San Diego, California, on May 21, 1891.