Taft By Numbers: Peter Rawson III, 1952

In 1952, LIFE Magazine ran a profile on the Taft family, one of America’s great political dynasties, having produced President William Howard Taft. The family also produced a prep school — The Taft School in Watertown, CT — which was founded by William’s brother Horace Dutton Taft, an early Skull & Bones member, and attended by Barnaby Conrad III, author of our last post. 

Pictured above is Peter Rawson Taft III, great-nephew of the school’s founder. The kid is the epitome of ’50s preppy sportiness with his good looks, well worn school sweatshirt, and roman numeral after his name. The LIFE profile on the family can be found here. and for an extensive collection of historical images of the school, visit here

7 Comments on "Taft By Numbers: Peter Rawson III, 1952"

  1. Thanks Christian, This life at it’s finest.

  2. As a 1995 graduate of Taft it’s great to see this on Ivy Style. Super find.

  3. Six degrees of separation: Ben Press, son of Ivy Style Featured Writer Richard Press, is graduate of Taft, 1985.

  4. The family is also notable for one of the most preeminent of the “white shoe” law firms, Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft, still very active today.

  5. AtlantaPete | May 9, 2020 at 11:30 am |

    And the preeminent Cincinnati law firm Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, also still very active today.

  6. Horace Dwight Taft, the gentleman with the bar stripe necktie and the properly preppy eyeglasses became a full professor of physics at Yale. He died in 1983 at the age of 57.

  7. A portrait of Prof. Taft, in a more clearly bar-striped tie, hangs in the Yale University Art Gallery:

    https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/27436

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