History often remembers President William Howard Taft as the heaviest U.S. president, and interwoven into his legacy is the mythical tale of his entrapment in the White House bathtub. While this story is largely considered apocryphal, it is rooted in the truth that Taft was a large man who saw the need for a larger bathtub to accommodate his size comfortably. Official records show that a custom tub was indeed installed, but the narrative of his sticky escape is the stuff of Washington D.C. folklore. Imagine the scene—a group of White House staffers desperately lubricating the president’s situation with pantry butter! It’s a scenario so absurd that it would seem more at home in a slapstick comedy than a history book. The tale has taken on a life of its own, standing as a humorous reminder of Taft’s physical burdens—a quirky anecdote that history buffs love sharing at parties.
