William Howard Taft was huge. Not just in terms of his political stature—being the only person to ever serve as both President of the United States and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court—but physically. He topped the scales at 340 pounds during his presidency. Most people know the bathtub story, which is mostly myth anyway, but few actually look at the medical reality of how did Taft die. It wasn't some sudden, dramatic accident. It was the slow, grinding toll of a man who worked his body to the absolute limit while carrying a weight that his heart simply couldn't support forever.
He was 72. By 1930, that was a pretty long life, honestly. But his final years were a brutal struggle against his own cardiovascular system.
The Physical Toll of the Dual Career
Taft was a workaholic. He didn't just sit in the White House; he obsessed over the law. When he finally landed his dream job as Chief Justice in 1921, he was already dealing with high blood pressure. He knew it. His doctors knew it. But the man wouldn't slow down. He’d spend all day on the bench and then hours into the night writing opinions.
Think about the stress. He was literally weighing the most important legal decisions in American history while his heart was laboring just to move blood through his massive frame.
Weight was always the main character in Taft's medical history. He tried to lose it. Many times. He’d drop 60 pounds on a strict diet and then gain it all back plus ten. This yo-yoing is incredibly hard on the arteries. By the time he reached his seventies, the damage was basically permanent. Arteriosclerosis—hardening of the arteries—was setting in fast.
The Downward Spiral in 1930
The beginning of the end started around 1929. Taft began experiencing severe bladder problems and intensified heart issues. He was fading. At the funeral of his colleague, Associate Justice Edward Terry Sanford, Taft looked like a ghost of his former self. He was tired. Just fundamentally exhausted.
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He finally resigned from the Supreme Court on February 3, 1930. He had to. He couldn't even walk to the bench anymore without getting winded. It’s kinda heartbreaking when you realize he’d waited his whole life for that job, and then his body betrayed him just as he was hitting his stride as a jurist.
After he resigned, he went back to his home in Washington, D.C. He wasn't there to relax; he was there to die. The medical reports from that era are pretty specific about his condition. He was suffering from myocarditis—inflammation of the heart muscle—and a breakdown of his circulatory system. Basically, his heart was just done. It couldn't pump.
The Final Moments on Wyoming Avenue
For five weeks, Taft was in and out of consciousness. His family gathered. It wasn't like a movie where there's a big final speech. It was quiet. It was heavy.
On March 8, 1930, at about 5:15 PM, he stopped breathing.
The official cause was a combination of heart disease and high blood pressure, leading to a general collapse of his physical health. He had basically worn himself out. His son, Robert A. Taft, who would later become a famous senator himself, was there. The country mourned, but nobody was really surprised. You can't carry that much weight and that much stress for seven decades without a reckoning.
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Why the Bathtub Story Distracts Us
Everyone wants to talk about the bathtub. You’ve heard it: he got stuck in a White House tub and they had to use butter to get him out. It’s a funny image, sure. But it’s also a distraction from the real story of how did Taft die.
The bathtub incident—if it even happened exactly that way—was in 1909. He died in 1930. Focusing on the "fat guy in a tub" trope ignores the fact that Taft was an elite athlete in his youth (a champion wrestler!) and a man of immense intellectual discipline. His death was a medical consequence of metabolic syndrome before we even had a name for it.
He was a victim of his era’s lack of understanding regarding chronic hypertension. If Taft were alive today, he’d be on Statins and Lisinopril, and he’d probably have lived another fifteen years. But in 1930? You just waited for the heart to quit.
The Legacy of the Only Man to Do Both
Taft’s death marked the end of an era. He was the last President to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery until John F. Kennedy. That’s a weird bit of trivia, right? Only two presidents are there. Taft was buried with full military honors, despite being a man of peace and law.
His death also sparked a conversation about the workload of the Supreme Court. He had pushed for the "Judges' Bill" of 1925, which gave the Court more control over its docket. He knew the workload was killing him and his colleagues. In a way, his struggle with his health helped modernize the American legal system.
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Practical Insights from Taft's Medical History
If we look at how Taft died through a modern lens, there are actually some pretty clear takeaways for anyone interested in longevity or history.
- Stress is a physical killer: Taft's "dream job" on the Supreme Court likely accelerated his death. The mental load of the Chief Justice position, combined with his existing heart issues, was a lethal cocktail.
- Weight cycling is dangerous: The constant losing and gaining of weight (often 50-70 pounds at a time) put more strain on his heart than if he had just stayed at a consistent, albeit high, weight.
- Hypertension is the "silent killer": Taft’s doctors could measure his blood pressure, but they had very few tools to actually lower it effectively. Today, his condition would be considered highly manageable.
To truly understand Taft, you have to look past the caricatures. He was a man of immense duty who quite literally worked himself to death. He didn't die of a single "event" but of a systemic failure caused by a lifetime of serving the public at the expense of his own well-being.
If you want to explore more about Taft's physical transformation, look into the records of his personal physician, Dr. Barker. They reveal a man who was deeply frustrated by his own body's limitations but never let it stop his pursuit of the law. You can visit his gravesite at Arlington today; it's a simple, dignified monument to a man who was much more than his waistline.
Next Steps for Research
To get a better sense of Taft’s final years, you should look into the Supreme Court Historical Society’s archives regarding the Taft Court (1921-1930). It details the specific cases he was working on even as his health failed. Additionally, checking the Arlington National Cemetery digital records provides a fascinating look at his state funeral, which was one of the largest the capital had seen at that time.