White House Sketches

The Tafts Celebrate Their Silver Wedding Anniversary on the White House South Lawn with More Than 6,000 in Attendance

June 19, 1911

President William Taft with his wife and family at the White House to celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary

Robert Taft, Miss Herron, Horace Taft, Henry W. Taft, Charles Taft, Mrs. Charles Anderson (Jennie Herron), Mrs. William H. Taft, the President, Aunt Delia Torrey, and Mrs. Henry W. Taft. Library of Congress.

The biggest social event of the summer of 1911 was the White House celebration of the silver wedding anniversary of President and Mrs. Taft. It was the “most brilliant and distinguished assembled in Washington in June for many a year.” Vice-President and Mrs. James Sherman, the Cabinet, the diplomatic corps, relatives of the president, and a large contingent of the children and grandchildren of presidents including Robert Todd Lincoln, Andrew J. Patterson, Frederick Dent Grant, Webb Hayes, Nellie Arthur, Harry A. Garfield, and Russell B. Harrison were in attendance.