special report

Taft and Pickwick*

Sleep Apnea in the White House
John G. Sotos, MD

As President of the United States from 1909 to 1913, William Howard Tafts minimum body mass
index was 42 kg/m2. This article presents evidence that he suffered from obstructive sleep apnea,
manifested by excessive daytime somnolence, snoring, systemic hypertension and, perhaps,
cognitive and psychosocial impairment. As president, Tafts hypersomnolence was severe and
obvious, but never prompted official discussion of his fitness to govern. Within 12 months of
leaving office, Taft permanently lost over 60 pounds. His somnolence resolved. As Chief Justice
of the United States from 1921 to 1930, he was not somnolent. President Tafts case illuminates
historical puzzles of his performance as President, raises public awareness of sleep apnea, and
informs discussions of presidential disability and the 25th Amendment to the Constitution of the
United States. (CHEST 2003; 124:11331142)

Key words: disability evaluation; hypersomnolence; obesity; obstructive sleep apnea; public policy; United States
Constitution; William Howard Taft

Abbreviations: OHS obesity hypoventilation syndrome; OSA obstructive sleep apnea

I have lost that tendency to sleepiness which made me
think of the fat boy in Pickwick. My color is very much
better and my ability to work is greater.
William Howard Taft
President of the United States
June 28, 19091,2
W illiam Howard Taft was President of the United
States from 1909 to 1913, and Chief Justice of
the United States from 1921 to 1930. Despite this
unequalled record of achievement, Taft is remem-
bered, if at all, for being the fattest president. His
obesity has become a staple of quiz shows and trivia
games, a humorous sweetener that generations of
historians have sprinkled through bland lectures.3
Tafts obesity was not a humorous sprinkle. I will
present evidence that Taft suffered from a serious
complication of obesity, severe obstructive sleep
apnea (OSA),4 before and throughout his Presi-
dency. Because OSA can cause hypersomnolence,
psychosocial difficulties, and neurocognitive de-
fects,5 it is appropriate to ask whether Taft was
disabled by his illness. I will, therefore, also describe
how his inner circle and his physicians reacted to his
manifestations of OSA. Tafts relationship to Sir
William Osler is particularly instructive, since Osler
was one of the few physicians of the era attuned to
the medical implications of sleepiness in obese pa-
tients.
Materials and Methods
I examined multiple published works about Taft and his times,
plus items from the 700,000 documents in the William Howard
Taft papers held by the Library of Congress.1 As all Taft scholars
have found, the candid, contemporaneous observations of Tafts
closest White House aide, Major Archibald Butt,6 proved espe-
cially valuable. I could not locate Tafts medical records.

*From Apneos Corporation, Palo Alto, CA.

Manuscript received June 24, 2002; revision accepted March 3,
2003.
Reproduction of this article is prohibited without written permis-
sion from the American College of Chest Physicians (e-mail:
permissions@chestnet.org).
Correspondence to: John G. Sotos, MD, Derom Apneos Corpo-
ration, 2033 Ralston Ave, #41, Belmont, CA 94002-1737; e-mail:
taft@apneos.com
Tafts Professional Life
Taft was born in 1857. Before becoming president
in 1909, he had been an attorney, a judge, Solicitor
General of the United States, civil governor of the
Philippine Islands and, under President Theodore

www.chestjournal.org CHEST / 124 / 3 / SEPTEMBER, 2003 1133

Roosevelt, Secretary of War. Taft won the 1908
Presidential election easily, but had a stormy admin-
istration and was soundly defeated for re-election in
1912. On leaving office, he became Professor of Law
at Yale. In 1921, President Warren Harding fulfilled
Tafts lifelong dream and appointed him to the
Supreme Court as Chief Justice. Taft spent 9 happy
and productive years on the bench, resigning his
position just 5 weeks before dying in 1930.
Tafts Adult Health Into Middle Age:
1874 to 1903
Taft was 5 feet 11.5 inches tall,7,8 although he
seemed taller in person.9,10(p245) Figure 1 shows his
adult weights.
In college, Tafts sleep tendencies were, to his
occasional dismay, normal. He wrote home about
sitting in church where the Fickle Goddess sleep
wouldnt come worth a cent and so I was doomed to
listen to one of the dryest [sic] sermons I ever
heard.11(p40)
Evidence of excessive somnolence appeared as
early as 1900.12 Taft was 43 years old and living in the
Philippines when a typhoon struck in the night,
shaking his house, uprooting trees, and sounding like
the bombardment of heavy artillery.13(p106 107)
Tafts terrified wife awakened him only with great
difficulty. He got to a chair, but was quickly asleep
again, and snoring. When re-awakened, he fell asleep
yet again. Years later, his wife was still upset over the
episode.14
Seven months earlier, Taft had weighed 275
pounds.8 His weight increased rapidly in the Philip-
pines15 and soon exceeded 300 pounds.13(p161) Four
months after the typhoon, Taft wrote about the

Figure 1. Adult weights of William Howard Taft. Born in 1857, Tafts adult height was 71.5 inches.
A body mass index of 40 kg/m2 is considered severe obesity. Circles are known weights. Arrow indicates
June 28, 1909, the day Taft wrote of his Pickwick-like tendency to sleep. Secondary sources report
weights from 297 to 332 pounds the year preceding.

1134 Special Report

tropics: ones appetite is very strong at meals, and
ones desire to sleep is also great.16 He spent
adequate time in bed,17(p132) drank little alcohol, and
did not smoke.11(p375,1072),18(p 50),19

Tafts Health as Secretary of War:

1904 to 1908
After suffering a near-fatal rectal abscess, Taft
returned to the United States in early 1904 to
become Secretary of War. Though removed from the
tropics, he was still somnolent, sometimes snoring in
meetings with President Roosevelt.20
Taft had insight into his problem. In October
1905, he promised his wife: I will make a conscien-
tious effort to lose flesh. I am convinced that this
undue drowsiness is due to the accumulation of flesh
. . . were I appointed to the bench I fear I could not
keep awake in my present condition.11(p286),21 He
claimed to sleep very well at night.22
Two months later, Taft began a diet prescribed
by Dr. Nathaniel E. Yorke-Davies of London,22
plus a program of physical culture.18,23 Over 5
months, Tafts weight dropped from 320 to 255
pounds.24
Taft maintained his reduced weight into Septem-
ber 1906, but by July 1907 he weighed 284 pounds
and was becoming noncompliant with Yorke-Davies
diet.25 As the 1908 Presidential election neared,
Tafts weight reached 297 pounds.26 During the
campaign, he fell asleep on speaking platforms, while Figure 2. Undated photograph of Taft. The distinct floor
driving on the street, and while dining out.17(p195) shadows suggest it is daytime. Reprinted with permission from
Pringle.11

Tafts Health as President: 1909 to 1913
Taft was 51 years old and weighed between 300
and 332 pounds on his inauguration day.27,28 Despite
his continuing physical culture program,29,30 Taft
weighed 300 pounds his entire presidency. Pres-
sured to diet by his wife and doctor,29 he freely
indulged his appetite during his frequent travels
outside the White House.31
As President, Taft could fall asleep anywhere,
anytime (Fig 2).32 He fell asleep during conversa-
tions with the Speaker of the House,6(p18) the Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court,6(p613) and the wife
of the French ambassador.6(p540) He napped
before11(p463) and after33 a mid-morning meeting
with the President of Mexico. Senator James Watson
observed: Most of the time [Taft] simply did not
and could not function in alert fashion . . . Often
when I was talking to him after a meal his head
would fall over on his breast and he would go sound
asleep for ten or fifteen minutes. He would waken
and resume the conversation, only to repeat the
performance in the course of half an hour or so.34
The White House butler would leave the last few
courses of dinner in front of the sleeping Taft rather
than awaken him. The doorman, who was the last
servant to leave, would eventually collect the dishes.14
Taft frequently fell asleep in the middle of the
days businessat his desk, at a public affair, or
while signing commissions.31 Publicly, he slept at
the opera,6(p617) at funerals,6(p85) and, invari-
ably,6(p769) in church. He fell asleep while playing
cards6(p548),35 and while sitting upright in his
car,6(p504,638,659),36 even an open car on Fifth Avenue
in New York City.37 On a cross-country drive his
great bulk would lunge from side to side as the car
turned or jolted over street-car tracks and crossings,
yet he would never wake.6(p504) He could sleep
while standing.6(p76) Two photographs of Taft at a
Naval review in November 1911 show him standing
with face relaxed and eyes apparently closed
(Fig 3).11(p610),38

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 Figure 3. Taft asleep on his feet? The relaxation of Tafts facial muscles is apparent when compared
to those of the other men in the picture. A second photograph taken at the same event also shows Taft
standing with his eyes apparently closed.11(p610) At far right is Secretary of the Navy George Meyer, and
to his right, Major Archibald Butt. Reprinted with permission from Howe.38
Tafts somnolence was more trying to his guests14
and intimates than to himself. When his wife scolded
him over his bad habit, Taft would only reply
Now, Nellie, you know it is just my way.14 Possibly
for this reason, Nellie called him sleeping
beauty.11(p74),13(p8),39(p31) She also prodded him
awake when necessary17(p175) and covered for him in
conversations.14,39(p162) The ever-present Archie Butt
would stay near Taft in public, inconspicuously
awakening him with a hard nudge,6(p769) by dropping
an object,6(p535) or with his old trick, a coughing
spell.6(p770) Butt took this seriously, feeling it as much
his duty to protect him from such situations as to
guard his person from anarchists.6(p85)
Early in his term, Tafts somnolence improved,6(p179)
as noted in the introductory quotation.2 Taft ascribed
the improvement to his exercise program, which
made him harder without weight loss. Within
months, however, the somnolence returned.6(p267)
To stay awake, Taft would balance his eyeglasses on
his finger end; when sleep overtook him, the finger
became limp, the glasses would topple and wake
him up.32
Taft continued to snore as President.6(p769),31 Butt
describes an evening in which the President wanted
some music from the Victor [but] greatly marred its
effect by snoring noisily through it.6(p535) On at least
one public occasion, Butt had concerns that the
sleeping Taft would fall into heavy snores.6(p85)
Because partial sleep deprivation worsens snoring,40
1136
it is noteworthy that Taft would sleep in a separate
room from his wife when particularly tired.29
Taft could work for long stretches,41 but generally
spent but a few hours a day in his office.32 He
awakened at 7 am.17(p224),27,29 Retiring after midnight
provoked comment from Butt.6(p206,309,651,796) Re-
markably, given the pressures of the presidency, Taft
was sleepless only twice.6(p169),42 Taft himself de-
scribed sleeplessness as an exception.43 Aside from
a vague single episode of sleep talking,6(p34),44 and
profuse nocturnal sweating during hot Washington
summers,42,45,46 I found no descriptions of Tafts
sleep.
Tafts obesity produced other complications. In
October 1910, he developed gout at the summer
White House in Massachusetts.6(p543544,788) A Boston
physician, Dr. James Marsh Jackson,47,48 evaluated Taft
and found the Presidents systolic blood pressure was
210 mm Hg.49 Jackson thought Tafts heart was weak-
ened and in a very bad state.6(p547548) Butt spoke
with Jackson:
I told [Jackson] how the President had a way of dropping
to sleep as he was writing or playing cards, and he shook
his head in such a way as to cause chills to run up and
down my spinal column. . . . I then urged on [Jackson] the
utmost secrecy in turn in regard to this matter, and I tried
to bring to his mind the result of the condition of the
country should such a state of affairs become knownto
say nothing of the fatal results to the Presidents political
Special Report
 future if any hint of invalidism should even be whispered.
He said he would not mention it to anyone.6(p547548)
Jackson advised weight loss,6(p543) but Taft did not
lose weight. A year later Butt wrote, he pants for
breath at every step.6(p775) In January 1912, the
writer Henry Adams had a chance street encounter
with the President and wrote the following:
[Taft] gave me a shock. He looks bigger and more
tumble-to-pieces than ever, and his manner has become
more slovenly than his figure; but what struck me most
was the deterioration of his mind and expression. [He] is
ripe for a stroke. He shows mental enfeeblement all over,
and I wanted to offer him a bet that he wouldnt get
through his term.50
was mentally declining.11(p1074) By 1928, he consid-
ered himself an invalid.11(p1077)
Tafts final illness began with bladder problems in
January 1930. A medical bulletin was issued when he
resigned from the Supreme Court on February 3,
1930: For some years Chief Justice Taft has had a
very high blood pressure, associated with general
arteriosclerosis and myocarditis. Together with these
conditions he had a chronic cystitis. He has no fever
and suffers no pain. His present serious condition is
the result of general arteriosclerotic changes.59 There
are indications, however, he had cancer.17(p466) Taft
died on March 8, aged 72 years.11(p1074 1078)

Rumors about the Presidents health began
circulating.6(p808) Butt knew Taft needed help, but
was powerless:
He looks terribly. His flesh looks like wax, and his lips are
thin, and he is getting those unhealthy bags under his eyes.
I begged him to see a specialist, for I felt sure that all his
drowsiness was due to some toxin in his system . . . His
response was a slap on the back, followed by: Archie, you
go to hell! I will not be hauled around by specialists!
[Secretary of the Navy] Meyer has been talking to you, I
know.6(p839)
Butts chronicles end in April 1912, with his death
aboard SS Titanic.
Did Taft Have Sleep Apnea?
Taft had three major risk factors for OSA60: he was
male, severely obese, and had a short. . . generous
neck.39(p28) His size-54 pajamas had a neck size of 19
inches.61 His body habitus exhibited central obesity
(Fig 4).
Taft had two signs of OSA: excessive daytime
somnolence and snoring. He may also have been
polycythemic: his face was described as ruddy13(p161)
and florid.6(p159),9,39(p28) Systemic hypertension is a
known complication of OSA,62 albeit common in the

Tafts Health after the Presidency:

1913 to 1930
In March 1913, Taft, then 55 years old, left the
White House at his peak lifetime weight: 335 to 340
pounds.51 He later recalled: I was nervous and
fretful, and for a month I found it hard to sleep.19
He then began a weight loss program directed by Dr.
George Blumer, Dean of the Yale Medical School. A
year later, Taft weighed 264 pounds.52 He retained
that weight, approximately, until the end of his life.
Tafts hypersomnolence resolved. As President, he
had been a poor reader [who] soon gets tired and
goes to sleep.6(p657) As a Yale professor, however,
Taft prepared his many addresses and articles him-
self, without a research assistant.7 He stayed awake
in church.7 As Chief Justice (from 1921 to 1930),
some of his colleagues often dozed in court, [but]
Taft was now always alert to everything going
on.39(p262)
His systolic blood pressure improved by 40 to 50
mm Hg,53,54 but he experienced intermittent atrial
fibrillation, treated with digitalis.5558 Gout con-
tinued to trouble him17(p291,359); more than 30 uric
acid calculi were removed from his bladder in
1922.11(p1073),53 As early as 1925, Taft noticed that he Figure 4. Taft in 1908. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

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general population. Most importantly, Tafts somno-
lence correlated with his weight. Tafts remarkable
weight loss after the presidency produced an equally
remarkable improvement in his somnolence, blood
pressure and, likely, survival.
In October 1910, President Taft was 53 years old,
weighed 330 pounds, and snored. With these data,
the model of Viner et al63 predicts a 97% chance that
Taft had sleep apnea, defined as an apnea-hypopnea
index 10/h.
The nature of Tafts sleeping difficulty in 1913 is
unclear. Although OSA may masquerade as insom-
nia,64 heart failure is another possibility, given Tafts
weak heart and panting for breath at every step. abled president as one unable to discharge the
Sleep disturbances such as orthopnea, paroxysmal
nocturnal dyspnea, Cheyne-Stokes respiration,65 and
central sleep apnea66 are associated with heart fail-
ure. Any combination of hypertension, obesity, and
OSA could have caused heart failure. The reasons for
his transiently decreased somnolence in June 1909
are unclear; there are reports of exercise without
weight loss improving sleep apnea.67
Taft lacked the cardinal manifestations of two
other syndromes causing excessive daytime somno-
lence: periodic leg movements of sleep and narco-
lepsy. A third cause, the obesity hypoventilation
syndrome (OHS), cannot be excluded without blood
gas measurements. Most patients with OHS have
sleep apneas, but the defining feature is hypoventi-
lation while awake and asleep. Taft lacked other
signs of OHS, such as cyanosis6(p839) and pedal
edema.6(p789)
OHS has been known as the Pickwickian syn-
drome since 1956.68 Before (and after) the noso-
logic separation of OSA from OHS in 1965,69,70 it
was common to call any sleepy obese patient Pick-
wickian. Biographers have entertained whether Taft
had Pickwickian syndrome,39(p126),71 but more
strongly hold that a psychological need to escape
anxiety and strife caused his sleepiness.39(p126),44 This
seems unlikely because Tafts somnolence was ini-
tially distressing,21 was involuntary,32 correlated bet-
ter with his weight than his happiness, and was so
profound that other psychopathology would likely
have been manifest.
Thus, I conclude that OSA is the most probable
explanation for Tafts hypersomnolence. Except for
periods associated with successful dieting (1906 to
mid-1908, and perhaps briefly in 1909), he was likely
afflicted from approximately 1900, when he started
gaining weight in the Philippines, into 1913, when he
started his post-presidency weight loss. He appears
to have become symptomatic at approximately 300
lb. Based on Tafts history of falling asleep during
tasks requiring active attention, such as card playing
1138
and signing documents, he would be classified as
having severe OSA syndrome.4
Was Taft Disabled?
Disability is traditionally judged according to the
requirements of an occupation.72 Taft recognized
that judges should not be somnolent or sleep on the
bench,11(p529),21 but as President dismissed his own
hypersomnolence as just my way.14
No formal definition of Presidential disability ex-
isted during Tafts era. Only in 1967 did the 25th
Amendment to the US Constitution define a dis-
powers and duties of his office. The Amendment
charges the Vice President and Cabinet to judge
disability. Thus, in applying the modern standard to
Taft, the reactions of persons around him must be
examined.
Among Tafts inner circle, Archie Butt and Sena-
tor Watson expressed concern over Tafts sleepiness,
as perhaps did Secretary of the Navy George
Meyer.6(p839) Watson explicitly links Tafts sleepiness
and lack of executive ability with overeating, and
seems to suggest a related memory dysfunction.34
Yet, Tafts biographers do not record accusations
of disability from either politicians or the public.
Instead, amusement was a common reaction to Tafts
sleeping spells, even from persons familiar with the
demands of the presidency. When Taft slept through
music that would wake anyone but a dead man, his
Attorney General joked: He must be dead.6(p535)
Watson himself told a just-awakened Taft: Mr.
President, you are the largest audience that I ever
put entirely to sleep in all my political experience.34
In earlier years, even Theodore Roosevelt, seeing his
hand-picked successor asleep and snoring, would
only beam the more, like a mother pleased to see a
child at peace.20 A present-day politician describes
Tafts public naps [as] the stuff of legend, without
questioning his fitness for office.73 Despite Archie
Butts efforts, the public knew of Tafts hyper-
somnolence,11(p763) as intimated by doggerel in Life
magazine encouraging Roosevelt to re-enter politics:74
Teddy, come home and blow your horn,
The sheeps in the meadow, the cows in the corn.
The boy you left to tend the sheep
Is under the haystack fast asleep.
Butt initially believed Tafts sleeping ability was an
asset, enabling the President to catch these little cat
naps on trains and between interviews.6(p1718) He
continued to believe this, even after speaking with
Dr. Jackson.6(p613) Finally, 3 years into the adminis-
tration, Butt realized Tafts sleepiness was pathologic
and vainly begged him to see a specialist.6(p839) Butt,
Special Report
however, never expressed [written] concerns that som-
nolence undermined the Presidents effectiveness.
Thus, despite Tafts extraordinary hypersomno-
lence, there is no evidence that anyone in his inner
circle, or in politics, questioned his ability to dis-
charge presidential powers and duties. By modern
Constitutional standards, Taft was, therefore, not
disabled.

Medical Science, Taft, and the Physicians

Sleep apnea was not a recognized clinical entity in
Tafts era. Although case reports of sleepy obese
patients existed,75,76 the significance of hypersomno-
lence was generally unknown. However, William
Osler, the leading physician in the English-speaking
world in the early 20th century, was an exception.
Osler knew the case reports, and his textbook77
popularized Dr. Christopher Heaths observation78
that patients in these reports resembled a severely
obese, hypersomnolent boy named Joe in Charles
Dickens 1836 novel The Posthumous Papers of the
Pickwick Club. By 1905, Osler had seen a case
himself,77 and earlier had described obstructive ap-
neas in sleeping children,79 including their behav-
ioral sequelae.80
Osler and Taft maintained a warm, but mostly
long-distance friendship from 190281 until Oslers
death in 1919.82 Osler had multiple opportunities to
observe Taft from 1904 to 1905 (Fig 5),83,84 years
when Taft would have been somnolent as Secretary
of War. Although Osler gave medical advice regard-
ing Tafts daughter,17(p160),85 their correspondence
does not mention Tafts health or sleepiness. Osler
resided in England during Tafts presidency; thus,
one of the few physicians able to appreciate the
Presidents symptoms did not have access to the
President.
Taft had a doctor-patient relationship with some
30 physicians during his life, including White House
physicians Matthew DeLaney86,87 and Cary
Grayson.6(p445,449) Whether they learned of the Butt-
Jackson conversation is unknown. Dozens more phy-
sicians were socially acquainted with Taft, including
W. W. Keen,88 who had operated on President
Grover Clevelands maxillary cancer in 1893; Harvey
Cushing89; and S. Weir Mitchell,90 the dean of
American medicine, who himself had a long interest
in sleep medicine.76
Apart from James Marsh Jackson, no physician
mentioned Tafts somnolence, although most of
Tafts health-related correspondence occurred dur-
ing his nonsomnolent post-presidential years. Nev-
ertheless, it appears that physicians close to Taft did
not regard him as disabled.
Figure 5. Program from the Taft-Osler dinner of March 11,
1905. Reprinted with permission from the Alan Mason Chesney
Medical Archives of The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.84
Was Taft Impaired?
If not disabling, to what extent did sleep apnea
impair Tafts performance as president? Sleep apnea
is associated with several cognitive impairments,
including difficulties in attention and psychomotor
function, memory and learning, and executive and
frontal lobe function.91 In severe sleep apnea, these
decrements appear substantial and of a size that
might be expected to produce deleterious conse-
quences for everyday function.91 Moderate sleep
apnea imparts 50% of the psychomotor decrement
associated with hypnosedative use.92
Historians note a perplexing contrast between
Tafts presidential buffetings and his exceptional
government service before and after the
presidency.39(p14) Tafts clear, strong mind in col-
lege93 and the Philippines,94 and his exceptional
intellectual productivity after the Presidency93 con-
trast with presidential characterizations of thinking
with only half of his normal clarity11(p812,822) and of
mental enfeeblement.50
Beyond intellect, politics requires an exacting as-
sembly of careful speech, thinking on ones feet,
memory, and understanding of human nature. Spe-

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cific defects of verbal fluency,95 mental flexibility,96
and working memory97 may occur in sleep apnea.
The politics of the presidency left Taft baffled,
foggy, and bewildered.10(p232),11(p856),98 Even his
brother called him a very poor politician.15 With a
naive inability to judge the sound of words in private
conversation, as well as in public utterances,10(p230)
President Taft made politically self-damaging re-
marks so often41 that he was called Mr. Malaprop
and Taft the Blunderer.10(p213227,232) By contrast,
Taft demonstrated no little artistry subduing a
political foe in the Philippines.94 In college, Taft had
a decided aptitude for undergraduate politics41;
and what is more remarkable, Taft out of office was
a man of good political judgment.10(p234) One sena-
tor wrote of the ex-President, If Mr. Taft could have
done as well when in office as he talks while out of
office he would never have been defeated for re-
election.99
These striking contrasts suggest OSA interfered
with Tafts conduct of the presidency. Assessing the
precise effect will require a more detailed medico-
historical analysis, however, because Taft disliked
interpersonal conflict and the contentious politics of
the Presidency tormented him. Nevertheless, given
Tafts profound hypersomnolence, it seems doubtful
he fully commanded as president the extraordinary
executive skills he demonstrated as chief executive of
the Philippines and of the Supreme Court.
Tafts Place in History
Because of his severe OSA, Taft likely experienced
unrelenting mental and physical fatigue each day of
his presidency. Fortunately for the nation, these
burdens did not unbalance him. He adhered to his
bedrock principle of reverence for the law93 and
made significant accomplishments during his admin-
istration. Unfortunately for Taft, however, his unrec-
ognized sleep apnea probably impaired mental fac-
ulties critical for political success and contributed to
his political reputation as an inept bungler.
When Taft died in 1930, there was an enormous
outpouring of grief and tribute. The public had long
forgotten his presidential bumblings, replacing them
with admiration and fondness for a man who gave 35
unswervingly honest years to public service. Now, an
additional facet of William Howard Taft emerges: his
perseverance and ultimate triumph against appetite,
obesity, and sleep apnea.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT: I thank Drs. David Burton, Philip
Smith, and Alan Schwartz, as well as Cynthia Du Puy, Jacqueline
Parker, Jack Wahlquist, and the staffs of the Stanford University
Libraries, the Alan M. Chesney Archives of the Johns Hopkins
Medical Institutions, the Countway Library of Medicine, the
William Howard Taft National Historical Site, and the Library of
Congress.
1140
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