Helen Taft Manning

Helen Taft Manning
Helen Taft with her father, US President William Howard Taft
Born	Helen Herron Taft 1 August 1891 Cincinnati, USA
Died	21 February 1987(1987-02-21) (aged 95) Philadelphia, USA
Nationality	American
Spouse(s)	Frederick Johnson Manning
Children	Helen (1921-2013); Caroline (born 1925)
Academic background
Alma mater	Bryn Mawr College, Yale University
Academic work
Discipline	Historian

Helen Herron Taft Manning (August 1, 1891 – February 21, 1987) was an American professor of history and college dean. She was the middle child and only daughter of U.S. President William Howard Taft and his wife Helen Herron.

Like her older brother Robert and younger brother Charles, Helen Taft was a high achiever. She fulfilled goals that her mother had been denied by the social restrictions placed on women of her mother's time. She earned a scholarship to attend Bryn Mawr College, where she was a student when her father became President.

Her studies were interrupted for some time when her mother suffered a stroke, and was left an invalid. She moved into the White House with her family, and helped her mother to regain body movement and speech. She also served as official hostess for many White House functions while her mother was disabled. In December, 1910, she was given a debutante party at the White House.

After her mother recovered, she resumed her studies at Bryn Mawr, graduating in 1915 with a bachelor's degree in history. She was a suffragette, and traveled the country, giving speeches in support of the vote for women and women's rights.

On July 15, 1920, she married Yale history professor Frederick Johnson Manning (1894-1966), who then moved to Swarthmore College. The Mannings had two daughters: Helen Taft Manning Hunter (1921-2013) and Caroline Manning Cunningham (born 1925). Helen died in 1987 at 95 of pneumonia. She was the last surviving child of William Howard Taft.

In 1917, aged only 26, Taft became dean of Bryn Mawr, and served as that college's acting president in 1919.