| severe obesity |
"Not much can be said about Taft's health without saying a great deal about his size" [8b]. Taft was 5 feet 11.5 inches tall [12]. He weighed 243 pounds when he graduated from college [16c] and, by all accounts, carried it well. By age 48, when he had been Secretary of War for two years, he weighed 320 pounds [16f]. Under the guidance of English physician Dr. N. E. Yorke-Davies, he lost 70 pounds over the next year and a half [16f]. But two years after that, he was once again over 300 pounds He weighed 335-340 pounds when he left the White House [see photo ]. He then lost weight rapidly, dropping to 270 in a year and a half. The summer before he died, he weighed 244 pounds, just one pound more than his college weight. Details and graphs are available on the Apneos web site and in reference [21]. Taft was big almost from birth. It's clear, however, that he had an enormous appetite. Taft's size impressed some people, but often made him the butt of jokes Note: Judged solely by body mass index, a 5-foot 11-inch person weighing more than 290 pounds is severely obese. |
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Taft's size made him an imposing presence:
- "He was fat, but he had the frame that carries weight with an effect of majesty,
of the sort that primitive men,
and even modern men in the average, like to see in their kings and leaders." [22a]
- "He looks like an American bison, a gentle, kind one." [22b]
- "It is good to see Big Bill Taft enter a room after a number of other men.
He reminds you of a great battleship following the smaller vessels, coming into
port with her brass bright and plowing deep.
You feel that when a giant is so amiable it would be impolite not to agree with
him; and, moreover, it would be unwise,
considering that the power of the United States is behind him. Foreigners have
observed that he looked
like the United States personified whatever they mean by that. With his smile
and his inflexible purpose he has managed
to keep the gun covers on when a smaller man might have had to take them off.
Besides, he does give the impression
that if he did begin firing it would be in broadsides to the bitter end; and
that helps in any negotiation." [22c]
More often, however, Taft's size made him the target of jokes.
"They made infinite jests ahout his fatness -- and no one heard or repeated the jokes
with greater savor than Taft himself. Making a speech he would pause, with an effect of
suspense, just long enough to intensify the audience's attention; then throughout the
immense torso and up into the broad features would run little tremors and heavings, rising
to a climax in a rumbling chuckle as infectious as only a fat man could achieve, and
Taft would tell a story in which the point was, as he would say in an engaging falsetto,
'on me.'" [22a]
Alas, "by the time Taft had been a year in the White House, the fat man jokes about him,
which when he was Secretary of War had been genial and kindly, began to take on a caustic tang." [22f]
- During one cross-country Presidential trip,
Taft's aide was appalled by "the bad manners of our children [in addressing the President].
It was better when we reached the South, but even there we sometimes heard saucy little brats yell
out, 'Hello, Bill,' and sometimes, 'Hello, Fatty.'" [9b]
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