Page "Robert Taft" Paragraph 4

When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, Taft attempted to join the U. S. Army, but he was rejected by the Army due to his poor eyesight.

Instead, he joined the legal staff of the Food and Drug Administration where he met Herbert Hoover, who became his idol.

In 1918 – 1919 he was in Paris as legal adviser for the American Relief Administration, Hoover's agency which distributed food to war-torn Europe.

He learned to distrust governmental bureaucracy as inefficient and detrimental to the rights of the individual – a principle he promoted throughout his career.

He strongly urged membership in the League of Nations, but generally distrusted European politicians.

He strongly endorsed the idea of a powerful World Court that would enforce international law, but no such idealized court ever existed during his lifetime.

He returned to Cincinnati in late 1919, promoted Hoover for president in 1920, and opened a law firm with his brother Charles Taft.

In 1920 he was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives, where he served as Speaker of the House in 1926.

In 1930 he was elected to the state senate, but was defeated for reelection in 1932 ; it would be the only defeat in a general election he would suffer in his political career.

His period of service in the Ohio state legislature was most notable for his efforts to modernize the state's antiquated tax laws.

He was an outspoken opponent of the Ku Klux Klan and he did not support prohibition.