William French Smith

William French Smith (born August 26, 1917 in Wilton , Hillsborough County , New Hampshire , † October 29, 1990 in Glendale , California ) was an American lawyer, Republican politician and Attorney General .

Studies, World War II and professional career as a lawyer

Smith first completed a general education course at the University of California in Los Angeles , which he finished in 1939 with a Bachelor of Arts (AB) summa cum laude . He then studied law at Harvard Law School , where he graduated in 1942 with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) .

During the Second World War he served from 1942 to 1946 in the US Navy Reserve , where he was last promoted to lieutenant . In 1946 he began his professional career at the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Los Angeles, founded in 1890, where he became a senior partner in the course of his professional activity.

Consulting and business activities

In addition to his work as a lawyer, he also performed various advisory activities for various political bodies for many years. Smith was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee between 1954 and 1974 and a member of the board of directors of the World Affairs Council of Los Angeles in 1970 , of which he became President in 1975. He was also a member of the US Advisory Commission on International, Educational and Cultural Affairs in Washington between 1971 and 1978 .

In 1971 he was also a visiting professor at the School of Government at Harvard University . In 1978 he was also appointed to the advisory board of the Center for Strategic and International Studies at Georgetown University . In addition to these activities, he was on the boards of various industrial companies and was, among other things, a board member of Pullman Inc. in Chicago from 1979 to 1980 .

Political career

President Reagan's cabinet with Attorney General Smith, right behind President Reagan

Smith began his political career as a member of the Republican Party . As a delegate he took part in the Republican National Conventions in 1968, 1972 and 1976 and was chairman and vice-chairman of the delegation of California in 1968, as well as vice chairman of the two other assemblies.

After his election as US President , Ronald Reagan appointed him on January 20, 1981 as Attorney General in his cabinet . He held this office until the end of Reagan's first term on February 25, 1985 and was then replaced by Edwin Meese . He then worked as an adviser to the President on foreign policy issues in the latter's advisory body for foreign intelligence services.

Publications

Law and Justice in the Reagan Administration . The Memoirs of an Attorney General. 1991, ISBN 0-8179-9172-7 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Smith, William French
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American politician and attorney general
DATE OF BIRTH	August 26, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH	Wilton , New Hampshire
DATE OF DEATH	October 29, 1990
Place of death	Glendale , California