Background
Taft, Kingsley A. was born on July 19, 1903 in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Son of Frederick L. Taft and Mary Alice (Arter) Taft.
Taft, Kingsley A. was born on July 19, 1903 in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Son of Frederick L. Taft and Mary Alice (Arter) Taft.
Bachelor of Arts, Amherst College, 1925, Doctor of Laws, 1950. Bachelor of Laws, Harvard, 1928, Doctor of Laws, Baldwin Wallace College, 1952, Kenyon College, 1969.
He served as chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court and also served briefly as a United States Senator. Kingsley"s father, Frederick Lovett Taft, II was also a noted figure in the Ohio legal profession. He received a law degree from Harvard University in 1928.
Taft then practiced as a lawyer in Ohio.
He rose to a partnership in the law firm that would eventually become Arter and Hadden. Taft served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 1933 to 1934 and then in 1940, he was elected to the Shaker Heights, Ohio, board of education on which he served until 1942, the last year as president
He served in the United States. Army during World World War II, eventually rising to the rank of Major. In 1946, when United States. Senator Harold H. Burton (R-Ohio) resigned in order to accept an appointment to the United States. Supreme Court, the vacancy was filled by a special election.
In that election Taft ran and defeated Democrat Henry P. Webber.
Taft served out Burton"s term, which expired in 1947. He also served with distant family member Robert Alphonso Taft during his 4 month tenure, and did not run for election to the next full term. In 1948, he was elected to a judgeship on the Ohio Supreme Court, defeating Democrat Robert M. Sohngen.
In 1954, he was re-elected to the position without opposition.
In 1960, Taft defeated Joseph H. Ellison for a third term on the Supreme Court, but in 1962, Taft decided to run for Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. Taft then beat Democratic incumbent Carl V. Weygandt.
Weygant, who was 74 years old and seeking a 6th term, lost by a margin of less than 1,600 votes, out of more than 2.6 million votes cast. In 1968, Taft was re-elected Chief Justice of the Court, defeating Democrat John C. Duffy, but died in office two years after his last election in 1970.
Taft was buried at Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.
They had four sons.
Member Ohio House of Representatives, 1933-1934. Elected United States senator from Ohio, November 1946 to fill unexpired term of Mr. Justice Burton; Served in Army of the United States, 1942-1946, advanced through the grades to major, 1945.
Member Shaker Heights Board of Education, 1940-1942, president, 1942.
Member American Law Institute, Cleveland, American, Ohio, Cuyahoga, Columbus bar associations, American Legion, Sons American Revolution, American Judicature Society, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Psi, Phi Alpha Delta. Mason.; Clubs: University, Rocky Fork (Columbus).
Married Louise Dakin, September 14, 1927. Children: Charles K., Kingsley Junior.