William Howard Taft (1857–1930) was the 27th President of the United States (1909–1913) and the 10th Chief Justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft initially served as a state and federal judge, and as governor of the Philippines beginning in 1900. In 1904 Theodore Roosevelt made him Secretary of War. Taft declined repeated offers to become a Supreme Court justice. He was Roosevelt's hand-picked successor in 1908, and easily defeated William Jennings Bryanfor the presidency. In the White House, he focused on the Far East more than Europe, and repeatedly intervened in Latin America. Taft was allied with the conservative wing of the Republican Party, while Roosevelt became more liberal after 1909. Roosevelt unsuccessfully challenged Taft for renomination in 1912, then bolted the party and ran as a third-party candidate. The split in the Republican vote left Taft with little chance of re-election, and he lost to Woodrow Wilson, winning only Utah and Vermont. In 1921 Taft was appointed Chief Justice, and served until a month before his death. He compiled a conservative record, and reformed the court's administration. (Full article...)
... that nurse Inès de Bourgoing(pictured) was named Honorary Corporal of the Foreign Legion after she established a convalescent hospital in Morocco and a retirement center in France for French soldiers?
... that John J. Horn supported New Jersey's proposed Illegal Alien Employment Prohibition Act, stating "illegal aliens holding jobs represent more than half of our total unemployed"?
... that in the Battle of Kharistan in 737, the Umayyads caught the Turgeshkhagan off guard with only a fraction of his army, and secured a victory that saved Arab rule in Central Asia?
... that the Zimbabwean prophetess Mai Chaza, who called herself a messenger from God, was regarded by her followers as an African reappearance of Christ?
... that the Peak Farmland theory predicts that global acreage of farmland will decrease, even as the world population grows?
... that Katsura Hoshino says she comes up with most of the ideas for the manga series D.Gray-man after falling asleep in her bath?
1938 – Kristallnacht began as SA stormtroopers and civilians destroyed and ransacked Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues in Germany and Austria, resulting in at least 90 deaths and the deportation of over 30,000 others to concentration camps.
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