claim: William Howard Taft declined offers of appointment to a court.
evidence: William Howard Taft -LRB- September 15 , 1857 -- March 8 , 1930 -RRB- served as the 27th President of the United States -LRB- 1909 -- 1913 -RRB- and as the tenth Chief Justice of the United States -LRB- 1921 -- 1930 -RRB- , the only person to have held both offices .. Chief Justice of the United States. Chief Justice of the United States. President. President of Cuba. 27th President of the United States. List of Presidents of the United States. Taft was elected president in 1908 , the chosen successor of Theodore Roosevelt , but was defeated for re-election by Woodrow Wilson in 1912 after Roosevelt split the Republican vote by running as a third-party candidate .. Theodore Roosevelt. Theodore Roosevelt. Woodrow Wilson. Woodrow Wilson. Republican. Republican Party ( United States ). United States presidential election, 1908. United States presidential election, 1912. third-party. Progressive Party ( United States, 1912 ). In 1921 , President Warren G. Harding appointed Taft to be chief justice , a position in which he served until a month before his death .. Warren G. Harding. Warren G. Harding. President. President of Cuba. Taft was born in Cincinnati in 1857 .. Cincinnati. Cincinnati. His father , Alphonso Taft , was a U.S. Attorney General and Secretary of War .. Alphonso Taft. Alphonso Taft. U.S. Attorney General. United States Attorney General. Secretary of War. United States Secretary of War. William Taft attended Yale and was a member of Skull and Bones secret society like his father , and after becoming a lawyer was appointed a judge while still in his twenties .. Yale. Yale College. Skull and Bones secret society. Skull and Bones. He continued a rapid rise , being named Solicitor General and as a judge of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals .. Solicitor General. Solicitor General of the United States. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. In 1901 , President William McKinley appointed Taft civilian governor of the Philippines .. President. President of Cuba. William McKinley. William McKinley. civilian governor of the Philippines. Governor-General of the Philippines. In 1904 , Roosevelt made him Secretary of War , and he became Roosevelt 's hand-picked successor .. Secretary of War. United States Secretary of War. Despite his personal ambition to become chief justice , Taft declined repeated offers of appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States , believing his political work to be more important .. Supreme Court of the United States. Supreme Court of the United States. With Roosevelt 's help , Taft had little opposition for the Republican nomination for president in 1908 , and easily defeated William Jennings Bryan for the presidency that November .. Republican. Republican Party ( United States ). United States presidential election, 1908. William Jennings Bryan. William Jennings Bryan. In the White House , he focused on East Asia more than European affairs , and repeatedly intervened to prop up or remove Latin American governments .. focused. History of U.S. foreign policy#1893–1914. Taft sought reductions to trade tariffs , then a major source of governmental income , but the resulting bill was heavily influenced by special interests .. His administration was filled with conflict between the conservative wing of the Republican Party , with which Taft often sympathized , and the progressive wing , toward which Roosevelt moved more and more .. Republican. Republican Party ( United States ). Controversies over conservation and over antitrust cases filed by the Taft administration served to further separate the two men .. over conservation. Pinchot–Ballinger controversy. antitrust. United States antitrust law. Roosevelt challenged Taft for renomination in 1912 .. United States presidential election, 1912. Taft used his control of the party machinery to gain a bare majority of delegates , and Roosevelt bolted the party .. bolted the party. bolter ( politics ). The split left Taft with little chance of re-election ; he took only Utah and Vermont in Wilson 's victory .. After leaving office , Taft returned to Yale as a professor , continuing his political activity and working against war through the League to Enforce Peace .. Yale. Yale College. League to Enforce Peace. League to Enforce Peace. In 1921 , President Harding appointed Taft as chief justice , an office he had long sought .. President. President of Cuba. Chief Justice Taft was a conservative on business issues , but under him , there were advances in individual rights .. In poor health , he resigned in February 1930 .. After his death the next month , he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery , the first president and first Supreme Court justice to be interred there .. Arlington National Cemetery. Arlington National Cemetery. Taft is generally listed near the middle in historians ' rankings of U.S. presidents .