President William Howard Taft (left) and New York Senator Chauncey Depew (right).

Weighing in at well over 300 pounds, President William Howard Taft was accustomed to being on the receiving end of many jabs about his girth. He also knew how to reply in kind, as one US senator learned.

Taft appeared at an event and was introduced to the public by New York Senator Chauncey Depew. Depew made his introduction by pointedly observing the President’s midsection, and noting that the distinguished statesman was “pregnant with integrity, [and] pregnant with courage.”

Taft made his way to the podium and waited for the laughter to subside. He then thanked Depew for the introduction, patted his belly, and said, “If it’s a girl, I shall call her Integrity. If a boy, Courage. But if it is, as I suspect, nothing more than gas, I’ll call it Chauncey Depew.”