Vance struggles to name Ohio presidents in 'black hole of presidents'

Vice President JD Vance could only name two of Ohio’s eight presidents when asked at a recent summit.
Vance did not name William Howard Taft, despite owning a home on a Cincinnati street named after the president from the Queen City.
Vance referred to the era of most Ohio presidents as a “black hole” where they are not well-remembered.

(This story was updated to add new information.)

Vice President JD Vance owns a Cincinnati residence off William Howard Taft Road, named for the Queen City’s lone president. His home is only a few miles from Taft’s birthplace and childhood home, now a National Historic Site.

But when asked, the Middletown native, who lives in the East Walnut Hills neighborhood, couldn’t name Taft as one of the presidents from the Buckeye State.

At a Make America Healthy Again summit this week, the vice president was asked by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. how many of Ohio’s eight presidents he could name. Vance, who could become the next president from Ohio, could only think of two.

Here’s how he responded.

Vance names two of Ohio’s eight presidents, and neither of them are Cincinnati’s Taft

Vance seemed put on the spot by the question, calling it “totally unfair” before “obviously” naming Ulysses S. Grant, the nation’s 18th president. “I have a particular affinity for him because we both have beards.” He then went on to name Rutherford B. Hayes, the nation’s 19th president. Vance asked if Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th president, was from Ohio. (No, he’s from New Jersey.)

Vance said the problem with most of Ohio’s presidents is that they served during a period of time he called “a black hole of presidents” where no one can name them.

“Most people can go up to (Andrew) Jackson, and then there’s sort of (Abraham) Lincoln and Grant, and then there’s like, you know, a black hole of presidents. Those are the Ohio presidents. Please don’t judge my home state, because it was just a, it was a different time in the country.”

JD Vance

Vance also failed to name William McKinley — who is President Donald Trump’s favorite president.

Who was William Howard Taft, the president from Cincinnati, Ohio?

Taft (1857-1930), a Republican, was the 27th president of the United States, serving from 1909 to 1913. He later served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1921 until his death.

He was born and raised at a house on Auburn Avenue in Cincinnati. He graduated from Yale, returned to Cincinnati to practice law and was named a federal circuit judge by age 34. According to the White House Historical Association, President William McKinley named him chief civil administrator of the Philippines in 1900, where he soon became governor general. President Theodore Roosevelt named him Secretary of War in 1904.

Taft name is all over Cincinnati, from schools to museums and craft breweries

The name Taft can be seen all over Cincinnati, from streets like William Howard Taft Road, to schools like Taft Elementary, as well as Taft Museum of Art and Taft Theatre. His childhood home is the William Howard Taft National Historic Site.

There’s also the Taft Brewing Co., which closed its ale house in Over-the-Rhine in 2023. Taft’s Brewing was acquired by the Cincinnati Brewing Company in 2024.