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/* Public offices */
Rejected by the army for poor eyesight, in 1917 he joined the legal staff of the [[Food and Drug Administration]] where he met [[Herbert Hoover]] who became his idol. In 1918–19 he was in Paris as legal adviser for the American Relief Administration, Hoover's agency which distributed food to war-torn Europe. He learned to distrust governmental bureaucracy as inefficient and detrimental to the rights of the individual, principles he promoted throughout his career. He distrusted the League of Nations, and European politicians generally. He strongly endorsed the idea of a powerful World Court that would enforce international law, but no such idealized court ever existed. He returned to Ohio in late 1919, promoted Hoover for president, and opened a law firm with his brother Charles Phelps Taft II.
In 1920 he was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives, where he served as Speaker of the House in 1926. In 1930 he was elected to the State Senate, but was defeated for reelection in 1932. As an efficiency-oriented progressive, he worked to modernize the state's antiquated tax laws and supported mildly progressive legislation, such as limitations on child labor. He was an outspoken opponent of the [[Ku Klux Klan]]and supportive of civil rights, backing [[anti-lynching legislation]], an end to the [[poll tax]], and desegregation in the U.S. military.<ref name=heritagefoundation>Edwards, Lee (October 29, 2020). [https://www.heritage.org/conservatism/report/the-political-thought-robert-taft The Political Thought of Robert A. Taft]. ''The Heritage Foundation''. Retrieved June 2, 2021.</ref> Throughout the 1920s and 1930s he was a powerful figure in local and state political and legal circles, and was known as a loyal Republican who never threatened to bolt the party.
Cartoonists loved his rimless spectacles and moonlike face, portraying him something like a grapefruit with eyeglasses. Taft was a boring poor speaker and did not mix well, but his total grasp of the complex details of every issue impressed reporters and politicians. (Democrats joked that "Taft has the best mind in Washington, until he makes it up.") His fans were strongly dedicated to him, while his enemies feared him as the strongest force in Congress.
