<p>Taft is practically unknown to us today, unless you go to Yale, where every other thing seems to have his name on it, or you live in Ohio, where his descendants still constitute practically their own political party. But, yes, he had an amazing career. The only person who comes close is the fictional character in Vicar of Christ who goes from Supreme Court Justice to Pope.</p>
<p>Re Reagan: I remembered this about my view at the time – Most Presidents age considerably during their first years in office. That was certainly true of Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, even Ford. Reagan was an exception – he started out relatively old, but four years later he didn’t look as much as four years older. James Baker, however, his Chief of Staff, looked like he had aged 20 years during that first term.</p>