William Howard Taft by BarkerC

A recurrent theme in Taft's childhood is that he was not seen as the smartest, but was smart enough to work hard to succeed. This was exemplified by his undergraduate career at what Ivy League school,, where he was the school's intramural heavyweight wrestling champion?

In an era when few lawyers attended law school, Taft chose to do so in this city, his hometown, where he both attended classes and read law in his father's office.

In 1890, Benjamin Harrison appointed a 32-year old Taft to this legal position, the third highest ranking position in the Justice Department, and responsible for representing the federal government of the United States before the Supreme Court of the United States.

In 1904, though offered a seat on the Supreme Court by President Roosevelt, Taft remained committed to his service as the first civilian Governor-General of this then-U.S. territory.

As a compromise to allow him continued supervision of {Answer to #4}, Roosevelt appointed Taft to this now-defunct cabinet position in 1904.

Taft easily won the 1908 Presidential election as Roosevelt's hand-picked successor. What Democratic candidate, on his third run at the White House, did Taft defeat?

There were many ways in which Taft "broke" with Roosevelt as a predecessor, but the fight between Secretary of Interior Richard Ballinger and this first Chief of the U.S. Forestry Service, one of Roosevelt's leaders on conservation. Taft would eventually fire him in 1910 for repeated public criticisms of the President.

In 1909, Taft was nearly assassinated during a summit meeting in El Paso, Texas/Ciudad Juárez, Mexico when he became the first U.S. President to meet with a Mexican President, this man, then in his third term as Mexican President which had begun in 1884.

Because of the challenge presented by Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Party, coupled with popularity of Woodrow Wilson, the 1912 general election did not go well for Taft, garnering him just 8 electoral votes, the worst showing by an incumbent U.S. President. Name EITHER of the two states Taft won in 1912.

Taft appointed to the Supreme Court both his predecessor and successor as Chief Justice of the United States. Name EITHER of those jurists.

In a vicious cycle, it's believed that Taft's issues with weight control were partially related to this obstructive form of this disorder, in which a physical block to a person's air intake causes interruptions in their breathing, which causes them to not get proper rest, which in turn causes weight gain, which in turn exacerbates the condition.

It is well known that Taft is one of only two U.S. Presidents buried at Arlington National Cemetery, along with John F. Kennedy. Lesser known is that he is one of only four Chief Justices buried there. Name any TWO of the other three, all of whom served as Chief in the latter portion of the 20th century.