William Howard Taft, Class of 1878, '93LLDHon (1857-1930). Taft was the first Yale graduate to be elected U.S. president; he served from 1909 to 1913. In 1913, he became a law professor at Yale, and in 1921, he was appointed to the Supreme Court as the tenth chief justice. He was the only person who served both as president and as chief justice.

Taft also has the ignominious distinction of being the only incumbent U.S. president to finish third in a bid for reelection, losing both to the winner, Woodrow Wilson, and to Theodore Roosevelt. Taft, who as president was known primarily for trust-busting and promoting world peace, said that he considered his time as chief justice to be the high point of his public service career. “I don’t remember that I ever was president,” Taft reportedly said when asked to assess his career. He also served on the Yale Corporation.

Taft has appeared several times on U.S. stamps; this 22-cent commemorative was issued in 1986.