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One of the notables buried at Arlington is William Howard Taft (1857 – 1930), the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States. Taft is the only person to have served in both offices. Taft and John F. Kennedy are the only U.S. Presidents buried at Arlington.
Taft is not only one
of two presidents buried at Arlington National Cemetery, he is also one of four
Chief Justices buried there (the others are Earl Warren, Warren Burger, and
William Rehnquist). Taft was the first president to
throw out the baseball at a season opener, in a game between the Washington
Senators and the Philadelphia Athletics in 1910. Taft's wife, Helen Herron
Taft, who died in 1943, was instrumental in bringing Japanese cherry trees to
Washington, D.C. A fourteen foot tall
granite monument, inspired by ancient Greek burial steles, marks the
graves of Taft and his wife. Mrs. Taft arranged with
James Earl Frazer, a New York sculptor, to design this private monument for the
grave. The design was approved by the Commission of Fine Arts and the secretary
of war. It was erected by the Taft family in early 1932.
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