World War II
Rear Admiral Taussig was forced to retire in September 1941 due to his age, despite his petition to continue on active duty with the impending international crisis. He was promoted to vice admiral on 22 October 1941 due to his service in the Boxer Rebellion. He had testified to the Senate committee on naval affairs in April 1940 that war with Japan over the Philippines was inevitable without a change in policy. His testimony included accurate predictions on the coming war in the Pacific. According to a May 9, 1940 article by Drew Pearson, Taussig was forced into retirement due to his public prediction that war with Japan was inevitable. In a June 9, 1940 article authored by Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen, Taussig was referred to as "the star scholar and strategist of the navy."
On 8 December 1941, FDR ordered the reprimand removed from Taussig's personnel file, after his son, Ensign Joseph K. Taussig, Jr. was severely wounded and lost his leg, while serving on the Nevada during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Taussig's request to return to active duty was ultimately granted in 1943 and he served in the office of the Secretary of the Navy on the Naval Clemency and Prison Inspection Board, the Naval Discipline Policy Review Board, and the Procurement and Retirement Board, until 1 June 1947, only a few months before his death. Vice Admiral Taussig passed away on 29 October 1947 at Bethesda Naval Hospital.
His survivors then included his wife of 38 years, Lulie Johnston Taussig, of Washington, D.C. and Jamestown, RI; two daughters, Mrs. Emily Whitney Sherman, of Newport, RI and Mrs. Margaret Philip Helmer of Irvine, CA and his son Captain Joseph K. Taussig, Jr. of Annapolis, MD.
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