Taft, Robert A. (1889-1953)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1953 Aug 6 p.1

Birth date: 1889

text of obituary:

TAFT'S DEATH LEAVES CRUCIAL SENATE VACANCY

The death of Senator Robert A. Taft in New York last Friday has left a crucial vacancy in the Senate, not only robbing the Republican party of its most capable legislator but probably also swinging majority voting power over to the Democrats.

The cause of death was a virulent type of cancer.

Taft, son of the 27th president of the United States, William Howard Taft, was 63 years old. In four successive national campaigns he had a consuming ambition to return to the White House as president in his own right. But he was never even nominated, being defeated by Gov. Landon of Kansas in 1936, the late Wendell Willkie in 1940, then Gov. Dewey and finally by Gen. Eisenhower. Even so, he was perhaps the natoin's [sic] most influential political leader next to the President.

“The Senate has lost one of its leading members of all time,” said President Eisenhower.

The body was brought to Washington for a state funeral on Monday, and later taken to Cincinnati, Taft's home town, for burial.