page_title: Robert A. Taft
section_title: Death and legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Robert A. Taft / Death and legacy
context_page_description: Robert Alphonso Taft Sr. was an American conservative politician, lawyer, and scion of the Republican Party's Taft family. Taft represented Ohio in the United States Senate, briefly served as Senate Majority Leader, and was a leader of the conservative coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats who prevented expansion of the New Deal. Often referred to as "Mr. Republican", he cosponsored the Taft–Hartley Act of 1947, which banned closed shops and other labor practices.
  The elder son of William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States, Robert Taft was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He pursued a legal career in Cincinnati after graduating from Harvard Law School in 1913. Along with his brother Charles Phelps Taft II, he co-founded the law partnership of Taft Stettinius & Hollister. Taft served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 1921 to 1931 and in the Ohio Senate from 1931 to 1933. Though he lost re-election in 1932, he remained a powerful force in state and local politics.
  After winning election to the Senate in 1938 over incumbent Democrat Robert J.
context_section_description: In early 1953, Taft began to feel pain in his hips, and after a painful golf outing with President Eisenhower in April 1953 he entered Walter Reed Hospital for initial tests which led physicians to suspect a tumor or arthritis. On May 26 he entered Holmes Hospital in Cincinnati for more extensive tests. The physicians there discovered nodules on his forehead and abdomen, and after doing biopsies of samples of the nodules, found that they were malignant. On June 7, he entered New York Hospital for more tests and treatment; to keep the news that he might have cancer a secret he registered under the assumed name "Howard Roberts, Jr.". His physicians there agreed with the diagnosis of cancer, but disagreed as to the source of the primary tumor and method of treatment. Some of his doctors advocated exploratory surgery to keep the malignancy from spreading, while other physicians thought the tumors had spread too far, were inoperable, and recommended x-ray therapy to keep him comfortable. After his death, an autopsy determined that Taft had been stricken with pancreatic cancer, which had quickly reached metastasis and spread throughout his body.
  On June 10, 1953, Taft held a press conference in which he transferred his duties as Senate Majority Leader to Senator William F. Knowland of California. He did not resign his Senate seat and told reporters that he expected to recover and return to work. However, his condition rapidly worsened, and Taft returned to New York Hospital for surgery on July 4 during a Senate recess. The surgery "did not take long, for the doctors discovered cancer everywhere ... there was no longer any doubt" that his condition was terminal. He died at New York Hospital on July 31, following a final brain hemorrhage just hours after his wife's final visit. His body lay in state at the United States Capitol rotunda, where thousands of mourners offered their respects at his coffin. On August 3, 1953, a memorial service was held in the rotunda; in addition to his family the service was attended by Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, the cabinet, members of the Supreme Court, and Taft's congressional colleagues. Following the service his body was flown to Cincinnati, where he was buried in a private ceremony at Indian Hill Episcopal Church Cemetery.
  In 1957, a committee led by Senator John F. Kennedy selected Taft as one of five great senators whose portraits would adorn the President's Room off the Senate floor. Kennedy would feature him in Profiles in Courage, and Taft continues to be regarded by historians as one of the most powerful senators of the 20th century.
caption: Rudolf Anton Bernatschke's portrait of Taft standing in front of would later become the Frances Perkins Department of Labor Building on Constitution Avenue.
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