page_title: Presidents of the United States on U.S. postage stamps
section_title: William Howard Taft
hierarchical_section_title: Presidents of the United States on U.S. postage stamps / William Howard Taft
caption_attribution_description: English: US Postage stamp: William H. Taft, 1938 Issue, 50c, light red-violet
context_page_description: Presidents of the United States have frequently appeared on U.S. postage stamps since the mid-1800s. The United States Post Office Department released its first two postage stamps in 1847, featuring George Washington on one, and Benjamin Franklin on the other. The advent of presidents on postage stamps has been definitive to U.S. postage stamp design since the first issues were released and set the precedent that U.S. stamp designs would follow for many generations.
  The paper postage stamp itself was born of utility, as something simple and easy to use was needed to confirm that postage had been paid for an item of mail. People could purchase several stamps at one time and no longer had to make a special trip to pay for postage each time an item was mailed. The postage stamp design was usually printed from a fine engraving and were almost impossible to forge adequately. This is where the appearance of presidents on stamps was introduced. Moreover, the subject theme of a president, along with the honors associated with it, is what began to define the stamp issues in ways that took it beyond the physical postage stamp itself and is why people began to collect them.
context_section_description: William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913, and later the 10th Chief Justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930.  Taft is the only person to have served in both offices. Born in 1857 in Cincinnati, Ohio, into the powerful Taft family, Taft graduated from Yale College Phi Beta Kappa in 1878, and from Cincinnati Law School in 1880.
  The 4¢ Taft stamp was issued on June 4, 1930 in Taft's hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, less than three months after Taft's death that year on March 8. This issue of Taft is based on the same design as are the regular issues of 1925–32, designed by Clair Aubrey Huston. The engraving of Taft is modeled after a photograph taken by Harris & Ewing.
  The 50¢ Taft on the Presidential issue of 1932 was released on December 8, 1938. The engraved profile of Taft was modeled after a bust sculpted especially for the stamp.
  Taft is honored on the AMERIPEX presidential issue of 1986.
caption: Issue of 1938
exif: {"Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2010:07:20 15:36:14", "Image ExifOffset": "110", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221"}