William Howard Taft was the President of the United States. His father Alphonso Taft had been the Attorney General and Secretary of War under Presiden Ulysses S. Grant. Alphonso Taft was related to several other important families that have provided Presidents of the United States as will be shown later.
At Yale, Alphonso and his classmate William Huntington Russell cofounded Skull and Bones, the preeminent undergraduate club. He moved from Connecticut to cincinnati in 1839 where he was a member of the Cincinnati City Council, and became one of the most influential citizens of Ohio.
He became a member of the boards of trustees of the University of Cincinnati and of Yale College.
Alphonso became a jusdg of the Superior Court of Cincinnati from 1866 to 1872. Taft was appointed Secretary of War by President Grant in 1876 and three months later Attorney General of the United States.
Taft became ambassador to Austria-Hungary and 1882 and to Imperial Russia from 1884 to 1885.
His son, William Howard Taft, was the 27th President of the United States and was a member of Yale's Skull and Bones like his founder father; and another son, Charles Phelps Taft, supported the founding of Wolf's Head Society at Yale. Both President Taft's grandson and great-granson, Rabaert A TaftI (also Skull and Bones) and Robert Taft Jr., were U.S. Senators. President Taft's great-great-grandson, Robert A. Taft II, was Governor of Ohio from 1999 until 2007.
William Howard Taft III was ambassador to Ireland, William Howard Taft IV worked in several Republican administrations, most recently that of George W. Bush.
A cousin of these powerful Taft politicians was Ezra Taft Benson, who was the thirteenth President of The Church of jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1985 until his death and was United States Secretary of Agriculutre for both of rthe administrations of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Benson accepted the position of Secretary of Agriculture with the permission of Church President David McKay and therefore served simultaneously in the United States Cabinet and in the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve.
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The creation of the State of Arizona under the Presidency of William Howard Taft:
The Road To Statehood
One of the first laws approved after ratification of the Constitution in 1789 established the procedure for adding new states to the United States of America. This law, known as the Northwest Ordinance, provided for a system of government for regions that were part of the United States but not under the control of any state. It provided for formation of areas that wanted to be states into territories with supervision by Congress. The Northwest Ordinance also provided a means of transition for territories to gain full membership into the union as states.
Citizens from an area like the western half of the New Mexico Territory, in the mid 1850's, would send a representative to Washington with petitions from citizens requesting the introduction of a bill to make the area defined as a new territory. In what eventually became Arizona, the first such effort came in 1856, just six years after the area was included in the New Mexico Territory.
If a request to create a new territory had support from influential people in Washington, a congressman or a senator would introduce legislation called an Organic Act to establish a new territory as outlined in the Northwest Ordinance. This law authorized the President to appoint a Territorial Governor, a Secretary for the Territory and three judges for the Territorial Court. When these officials arrived in the new territory, the Territorial Governor issued a proclamation calling for an election of a territorial assembly, a body similar to a legislature in the states, and a representative to serve as a non voting member of the House of Representatives in Congress.
After the first efforts to create an Arizona Territory from what was then the New Mexico Territory failed, the Civil War and concern for control of potential railroad routes to the riches of California brought approval for an Arizona Territory. Representative James H. Ashley of Ohio introduced the Arizona Organic Act in the House of Representatives in 1862. The act, approved in both houses of Congress, was signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863.
Territorial governments composed of officials appointed from Washington and representatives elected from the territory serving in the assembly created counties and authorized establishment of governments at that level. These were the pioneers that founded the system of government and the social institutions such as hospitals, schools and prisons that we have today.
The difference between government in the territories and in the states is that the territorial governors, secretaries and judges, that composed the court system and the Territorial Supreme Court, were appointed by the President, not elected by the citizens of the State. The Territorial Representative in Congress did not have a vote and all legislation passed by the Territorial Assembly had to be approved by Congress.
Usually very soon after a territory was formed, the Territorial Assembly would petition Congress for admission as a State. When their request was favorably received, legislation would be introduced to authorize the territory to draft a constitution. Such legislation included procedures for qualifying voters to elect delegates to a constitutional convention and submitting the finished document to the people for their approval. It also set time limits for the convention and provided funds for the entire process. Upon approval, the territory elected state officials and joined the other states as an equal member of the federal union.
After several attempts to have a statehood bill approved, over a thirty year period, the people of the Arizona Territory were authorized to draft a constitution in 1910. The voters of the Arizona Territory ratified the draft Arizona Constitution and sent back to Washington for approval by Congress and the President. This approval took the form of legislation to accept the territory as a state and required approval of both houses of Congress and the President.
President William Howard Taft initially refused to sign the bill that accepted the Arizona Constitution, until the citizens of the territory removed a clause permitting recall of judges, he did approve the Constitution and Arizona became the forty eighth state on February 14, 1912. Elections were held to elect officials for the new state at the same time that the constitution was changed to satisfy President Taft. When the announcement that President Taft had signed the Arizona Statehood Act was telegraphed to the people of Phoenix, the new Governor George W. P. Hunt was inaugurated and called the new legislature into its first session. One of the first acts of the 1st Arizona State Legislature, was to place a constitutional amendment before the voters to add the recall of judges to the state constitution, changing it back to its original form. Voters of the new State of Arizona approved the provision for recall of judges and another amendment that provided women the right to vote in local, state and national elections.
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So we see that Arizona became a State under the Presidency of William Howard Taft, a son of the Founder of the Skull & Bones, and himself was a member of that same Fraternity.
The first governor of Arizona was George W.P. Hunt, a Freemason and consumate politician. His grave is in Papago Park and consists of a pyramid over his grave.
The very first Masonic Lodge was founded by Morris Goldwater in Prescott Arizona. His nephew was the famous Senator from Arizona, Barry Morris Goldwater.
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So now we see a pattern emerging in Arizona. Its key founders were Masonic, and the President who finally signed the Charter for the States Incorporation was both President of the United States, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and a member of the Skull and Bones.
Special rules were put in place reguarding the non recall of Judges in Arizona, and the political lanscape of the state reflects this decision.
Interesting people who have gained political power in the state inclule: Richard Kliendienst, Nixon's Attorney General; Chief Justice William Rhienquist, Supreme Court Judge Sandra Day O'connor; Senator Barry Goldwater, and many more to be explored later in this blog.
We will be looking into the intersting politics of Dan Qyayle, who is related to the Pulliam newspaper empire in Arizona. The Kemper Marley empire that built the liquor business that was soon handed over to a young Hensley entrepreneur, who's daughter Cindy Hensley is now married to Presidential Candidate John McCain.
Brian Quig
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