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Biography of Edward Bennett WilliamsName: Edward Bennett WilliamsBirth Date: May 31, 1920 Death Date: August 13, 1988 Place of Birth: Hartford, Connecticut, United States of America Nationality: American Gender: Male Occupations: attorney, sports club owner Edward Bennett Williams Edward Bennett Williams (1920-1988) was one of the best known and most successful trial lawyers in Washington in his day. Well connected politically, he had access to every president from John Kennedy through Ronald Reagan. A sports fan, Williams was part owner of the Washington Redskins football team and the Baltimore Orioles baseball club.As a defense attorney, Williams represented some of the most colorful and controversial figures of the mid to late twentieth century. His clients included singer Frank Sinatra, fugitive financier Robert Vesco, Soviet spy Igor Melekh, Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, reputed Mafioso Frank Costello, U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, and the Reverend Sun-Young Moon, founder of the Unification Church. According to biographer Evan Thomas, author of The Man to See: Edward Bennett Williams--Legendary Trial Lawyer, Ultimate Insider, Williams wasn't content to be just a great lawyer: "He wanted power, and he wanted to be seen as a …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…Washington on August 13, 1988, after a lengthy battle with colon cancer. Buckley wrote in National Review: "He was larger than life, always something of a mystery to his associates. He worked every day, including Sundays, and yet he was simultaneously everywhere, owner of athletic teams, hotels, counselor to the mighty, Democratic official with less than jerky-left positions (an improvement over his book). A year ago I had a call. Would I telephone the president and urge him to name Ed Williams as head of the CIA to succeed Bill Casey? I was able to do so with enthusiasm: but was told that Ed was sick. We had been hearing this for years, except this time, he died. We mourn the death of a big man, all-American." Further Reading Contemporary Authors Online, Gale Group, 1999.Newsmakers, Gale Research, 1988.Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume 2: 1986-1990, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.National Review, September 16, 1988.Washington Monthly, October 1991. |