From the Video Vault: A Cincinnati President’s Day

Tomorrow is President’s Day. There have now been 45 presidents in the history of the United States, including the greats like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt. In total, those 45 presidents have attended more than 30 universities and colleges, with some getting degrees from more than one. The University of Cincinnati is one of those schools, with 27th president William Howard Taft earning his bachelor of laws from Cincinnati Law School in 1880.

Taft was named the 1908 Republican nominee for president and was opposed by Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan, who would later serve as Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson and take part in the famous Scopes Monkey Trial. Taft won the 1908 election with 321 electoral votes and 51.57 percent of the popular vote to Bryan’s 162 and 43.04 percent.

Taft went on to lose his reelection campaign in 1912 to Wilson, but mainly due to the reemergence of Theodore Roosevelt, who had once favored Taft as is successor as president. However, Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party gained 88 electoral votes to Taft’s eight, while the united Democrats, with Wilson as their nominee, won the presidency with 435 electoral votes, but only 41.84 percent of the popular vote.

Now before we get too deep into historical musings, let us remember that this is a sports site. So here’s another fun fact about Taft. He was known as one of the first U.S. presidents to take to golfing. More below.