William Howard Taft IV

William Howard Taft IV, born on September 13, 1945, in Washington, D.C., is an American diplomat and attorney with a career spanning multiple U.S. presidential administrations. He is a member of the Taft family lineage; his father is William Howard Taft III, and his great-grandfather was President William Howard Taft.

Education and Family:

Taft IV graduated from St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, in 1962. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1966 and obtained a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School in 1969. In 1974, he married Julia Vadala; together, they have three children.

Career:

Early in his career, from 1969 to 1970, Taft was involved as one of "Nader's Raiders," conducting research on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). He briefly served as attorney adviser to the FTC chairman during this period. From 1970 to 1973, he was the principal assistant to Caspar W. Weinberger, who held roles as deputy director and then director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Richard Nixon. In this capacity, Taft assisted in federal budget management, policy review, and program oversight.

Between 1973 and 1976, Taft served as the executive assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. In April 1976, President Gerald Ford appointed him as general counsel of the department, a position in which he supervised over 350 lawyers and managed the Office of the General Counsel.

During the Carter administration, he was an attorney at the Washington law firm Leva, Hawes, Symington, Martin and Oppenheimer. In February 1981, Taft was among President Ronald Reagan’s first nominations, appointed as General Counsel of the Department of Defense. From January 1984 to April 1989, he served as Deputy Secretary of Defense. In early 1989, he served as acting Secretary of Defense after George H. W. Bush became president, following the rejection of John Tower’s nomination; the Senate confirmed Dick Cheney as Secretary of Defense in March 1989.

From 1989 to 1992, Taft was the U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO, during which time the Gulf War occurred. Prior to Bill Clinton's administration, in 1992, he joined the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson as a partner.

Service in the George W. Bush Administration:

Following the 2000 presidential election, President George W. Bush appointed Taft as chief legal adviser to the U.S. Department of State under Secretary Colin Powell. His tenure included significant contributions to international law regarding the legality of military force; he authored scholarly articles on the subject, including analyses related to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

In 2004, Taft dissented from policies concerning military detainee interrogation techniques, opposing arguments that the U.S. could suspend Geneva Conventions protections. He maintained that U.S. obligations under international law could not be dismissed lightly.

Resignation and Academic Roles:

After President Bush’s re-election, Taft resigned from government service and returned to private practice at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson. He has been a visiting professor at Stanford Law School since 2007, succeeding Allen Weiner as the Warren Christopher Professor of the Practice of International Law and Diplomacy.

Public and Political Positions:

In 2006, Taft co-signed a letter with 28 retired military and defense officials opposing the Bush administration's redefinition of Geneva Convention rules. He has been identified as a source concerning the disclosure of Valerie Wilson’s CIA employment, as reported in investigative writings.

Political Stances:

Despite being a Republican, Taft opposed Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, publicly stating he would not support Trump. In 2020, he endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for president and, along with over 130 former Republican national security officials, signed a statement criticizing President Trump’s fitness for office.

External links related to his diplomatic service include his appearances on C-SPAN and his role as U.S. Ambassador to NATO.