Helen Taft Manning

Helen Herron Taft Manning (August 1, 1891 in Cincinnati, Ohio - February 21,1987), was the daughter of President of the United States William Howard Taft and his wife Helen Herron.

Helen was the second child of the Tafts and like all of the children, she was a high achiever. Helen was able to fulfill goals that her own mother intended to pursue but restrictions placed on women at the time prevented her from doing. Taft earned a scholarship to attend Bryn Mawr College. She earned history degrees from Bryn Mawr where she became a longtime professor for 40 years and Dean.

Born in 1891, her mother was in brief competition with Edith Roosevelt, who gave birth to daughter Ethel Roosevelt two weeks after the senior Helen. When the family went to the White House, Helen was a student in college. Her studies were interrupted for some time when her mother, Helen, suffered a stroke and was an invalid for some time. The younger Helen returned home and helped her mother to regain body movement, speech and served as official hostess for many White House functions while her mother regained her health. In December, 1910, Taft was given a debutante party at the White House.

A suffragist, she also traveled the country, giving speeches in support of the vote for women and women's rights.

She married Frederick Johnson Manning, a fellow history professor on July 15, 1920. The Mannings had two daughters: Helen Taft Manning (born 1921) and Caroline Manning (born 1925). Manning died in 1987 at 95 of pneumonia.