Former FBI and CIA Director William Webster ’45: Answering the Call of His Country
InsideNoVa – On the occasion of his 100th birthday, a Northern Virginia news outlet describes the extraordinary career and current social life of Webster, the Amherst graduate, Navy veteran and lawyer who became, to date, the only person ever to lead both the FBI and the CIA.
“Intelligence and integrity were among his super powers,” writes Daphne Hutchinson, “and that combination persuaded presidents from both parties to appoint him a high-level problem solver not only as director of those two agencies but also chairman of the Homeland Security Advisory Commission, leader of the commission investigating the 1992 Los Angeles riots and more. The list of appointments, achievements, awards, medals, honorary degrees and notes of merit would run pages. It includes the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”
The article notes that Webster’s undergraduate education was interrupted by Navy service during the Second World War, and that his role model was lawyer and diplomat John J. McCloy, Amherst class of 1916, who advised numerous U.S. presidents and was “Instrumental in rebuilding post World War II Europe.”
Webster was also profiled by Katharine Whittemore in a feature for the Summer 2022 issue of Amherst magazine.