William Howard Taft is usually the punchline of a joke about a bathtub. You’ve probably heard the myth that he got stuck in a White House tub and needed four men to pry him out. It’s mostly nonsense, honestly. But while the bathtub story is a caricature, the reality of Taft’s health was a decades-long struggle with morbid obesity, heart disease, and a respiratory condition that literally stopped him from breathing while he sat at his desk. When people ask how did William Howard Taft die, they’re usually looking for a single date or a specific heart attack. The truth is a bit more of a slow burn. He didn't just drop dead; his body essentially surrendered after years of being pushed to the absolute limit.
The Long Decline of a Supreme Court Justice
By the time Taft became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1921—the job he actually wanted, unlike the presidency—he was already a physically broken man. He was 63. That’s not ancient by today's standards, but in the 1920s, with his medical history? He was living on borrowed time.
Taft’s weight peaked at around 340 pounds during his presidency. He was 5'11". If you crunch the numbers, his BMI was well over 40. He suffered from severe sleep apnea. Back then, they didn't have a name for it. They just noticed the President of the United States would drift off into a deep, snoring sleep in the middle of a conversation or during a formal dinner. This wasn't just "being tired." His heart was struggling to pump blood through a body that was suffocating itself every time he relaxed.
The Heart Finally Gives Out
The end didn't come suddenly in his sleep, though. It started with a forced retirement. By early 1930, Taft’s health was so poor that he could no longer perform his duties on the bench. He was experiencing hallucinations and periods of confusion. He officially resigned from the Supreme Court on February 3, 1930.
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His heart was failing. Congestive heart failure is a brutal way to go. The heart becomes too weak to pump efficiently, fluid builds up in the lungs, and every breath feels like you're drowning. Taft spent his final weeks in his home at 2215 Wyoming Avenue in Washington, D.C. He was mostly bedridden, drifting in and out of consciousness.
He died at 5:15 p.m. on March 8, 1930. The official cause was a combination of arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), and high blood pressure. Basically, his cardiovascular system just collapsed under the weight of his 72 years and his massive frame.
What Most People Get Wrong About Taft's Health
People think Taft was just "the fat president" who didn't care. That’s totally wrong. Taft was actually one of the first public figures to go on a "fad diet." He worked with a British doctor named Nathaniel Yorke-Davies. He tracked every ounce of food. He lost 70 pounds at one point! But like many people struggling with obesity, he yo-yoed.
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The weight wasn't just about overeating. Modern medical historians, including those who have analyzed his letters in the Library of Congress, suggest he had a metabolic disorder. He pushed himself relentlessly. He worked 14-hour days. The stress of the presidency—and later the Supreme Court—triggered "stress eating" cycles that were impossible to break.
The Real Legacy of His Death
Taft was the first president to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Only one other president, John F. Kennedy, shares that honor. His funeral was a massive affair, but it marked the end of an era of "larger than life" politicians in a literal sense. After Taft, the public's perception of what a "healthy" leader looked like began to shift.
Interestingly, Taft's death certificate mentions "chronic cystitis," which is a bladder inflammation. This suggests he was also dealing with significant kidney issues or infections toward the end, which likely exacerbated his heart failure. It’s a classic "multi-system organ failure" scenario that we see in geriatric medicine today.
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Why His Medical History Matters Today
If you look at Taft through a 21st-century lens, he is a case study in untreated obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). We now know that OSA leads directly to heart failure and stroke. If Taft had lived today, he’d be on a CPAP machine, he’d have access to GLP-1 medications, and he probably would have lived well into his 80s or 90s.
Instead, he died at 72, exhausted by the very body that had carried him to the highest levels of American power. He is the only person in history to lead both the executive and judicial branches of the U.S. government. That kind of pressure is heavy. On his heart, it was eventually fatal.
How to Explore This Further
- Visit Arlington: If you’re in D.C., go to Section 30 of Arlington National Cemetery. Taft’s grave is surprisingly modest for a man of his stature, designed by sculptor James Earle Fraser.
- Read the Letters: The Library of Congress has digitized much of the Taft family papers. You can read his actual correspondence with Dr. Yorke-Davies to see how desperately he tried to manage his weight.
- Check Out the House: The William Howard Taft National Historic Site in Cincinnati offers a much more nuanced look at his life than the "stuck in a tub" myths. It’s worth the trip for any history nerd.
The story of how Taft died isn't just a medical report. It's a reminder that even the most powerful people on Earth are ultimately at the mercy of their own biology. He served his country until his heart literally could not beat another time.