Preceded by Stephen M. Young Preceded by seat established Party Republican Party Succeeded by William J. Keating Parents Robert A. Taft | Preceded by John J. Gilligan Name Robert Jr. Succeeded by Howard Metzenbaum Succeeded by Robert E. Sweeney Children Bob Taft | |
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Role Former member of the U.S. Senate Died December 7, 1993, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States Spouse Blanca Duncan Noel (m. 1939) Education Yale University, Harvard Law School | ||
SYND 8 4 71 TAFT AND BAYH ON NIXON
Robert Alphonso Taft Jr. (February 26, 1917 – December 7, 1993) was a member of the Taft political family who served as a Republican Congressman from Ohio between 1963 and 1965, as well as between 1967 and 1971. He also served as a U.S. Senator between 1971 and 1976.
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Early life
Robert Alphonso Taft Jr. was born on February 26, 1917, the second of four sons born to Robert Alphonso Taft (1889-1953) and Martha Wheaton Bowers (1889–1958), daughter of Lloyd Wheaton Bowers (1859-1910), the former solicitor general of the United States from 1909–1910. Robert Jr. was a great-grandson of Secretary of War Alphonso Taft, grandson of President William Howard Taft and First Lady Helen Louise "Nellie" Herron as well as Lloyd Wheaton Bowers and Louisa Bennett Wilson. His three brothers were:
Taft attended Yale University and Harvard Law School. At Yale he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.
Career
During World War II, Taft served as an officer in the United States Navy from 1942 to 1946. After law school, Taft joined the Cincinnati law firm, Taft, Stettinius, and Hollister, which had been founded by his father. Taft served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 1955 to 1962 until winning election to the United States House of Representatives. Taft won election to the United States House of Representatives in 1962 as an at-large representative from Ohio (at-large seats were barred by the Voting Rights Act).
In 1955 he became a compatriot of the Sons of the American Revolution.
In 1964, rather than running for re-election to the House, he ran for the U.S. Senate, but he lost to Stephen M. Young. In 1966, Taft returned to the House of Representatives, unseating Democratic incumbent (and future Governor of Ohio) John J. Gilligan. In 1968, Taft won re-election, defeating Democrat Carl F. Heiser. Taft then won Young's U.S. Senate seat six years after losing to him when Young did not run for re-election, running against Howard Metzenbaum. Taft, however, lost six years later in a rematch against Metzenbaum. He resigned six days before the end of his term to resume the practice of law.
Personal life
In 1939, Robert Jr. married Blanca Duncan Noel (1917-1968), daughter of Lewis W. Noel and Natalie Duncan. They were the parents of:
After Blanca's death, Robert Jr. remarried to Katherine Longworth Whittaker, widow of his distant cousin David Gibson Taft. They divorced in 1977 and in October 1978, he married the former Joan McKelvy, also of Cincinnati.
On November 29, 1993, Taft suffered a stroke and fell into a coma. He never woke from the coma and died on December 7, 1993. Joan died on January 16, 2015.