Last year’s C-SPAN poll of presidential historians ranked William Howard Taft at No. 24 in overall job performance, just below Grover Cleveland and just ahead of Gerald Ford. Taft’s reputation has no doubt suffered from his serving (1909-13) between Theodore Roosevelt (No. 4) and Woodrow Wilson (No. 11). Still, he is not on anyone’s list of noteworthy White House occupants.
In “William Howard Taft,” a slim volume in the American Presidents Series, Jeffrey Rosen suggests that the stolid 27th president deserves a fresh look...