A native of Enid, Oklahoma, he joined the Army Air Corps during World War II, and went to the University of Chicago to study meteorology. Taft was a second lieutenant stationed in Maine on D-Day. Erroneously, he has been listed as assisting Dwight D. Eisenhower in settling the date of the D-Day invasion, but unfortunately, this is mere legend. His input from Maine may have been of some minor help, but he was still too young and inexperienced to have been involved in such important matters. However, by Korea, he was involved in major decisions where weather was an important factor. He graduated from Phillips University in 1946 and joined American Airlines as a staff meteorologist.