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History and Government—Congressional Biographies—ConnecticutBENTON, William
(1900—1973)
Senate Years of Service:
1949-1953
Party:
Democrat
BENTON, William, a Senator from Connecticut; born in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minn., April 1, 1900; attended Shattuck Military Academy, Faribault, Minn., and Carleton College, Northfield, Minn., in 1917 and 1918; graduated from Yale University in 1921; worked for advertising agencies in New York and Chicago until 1929 and then cofounded his own advertising agency in New York; moved to Norwalk, Conn., in 1932; part-time vice president of the University of Chicago 1937-1945; Assistant Secretary of State, Washington, D.C., August 31, 1945, to September 30, 1947, during which time he was active in organizing the United Nations; member of and delegate to numerous United Nations and international conferences and commissions; chairman of the board and publisher of Encyclopedia Britannica 1943-1973; trustee of several schools and colleges; appointed to the United States Senate, December 17, 1949, and subsequently elected on November 7, 1950, as a Democrat to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Raymond E. Baldwin to the term ending January 3, 1953 and served from December 17, 1949, to January 3, 1953; unsuccessful candidate for election for the full term in 1952; United States Ambassador to UNESCO in Paris 1963-1968; died in New York City, March 18, 1973; cremated; ashes scattered at family estate, Southport, Conn.
Bibliography
Dictionary of American Biography
; Hyman, Sidney. The Lives of William Benton
. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969; U.S. Congress. Memorial Addresses
. 93rd Cong., 1st sess., 1973. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1973.
Benton, William. The Teachers and the Taught in the U.S.S.R.
New York: Atheneum, 1966.
___. This is the Challenge: The Benton Reports of 1956-1958 on the Nature of the Soviet Threat
. Edited by Edward W. Barrett. New York: Associated College Presses, 1958.
___. The Voice of Latin America
. 1961. Reprint. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1974.
Hyman, Sidney. The Lives of William Benton
. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969.
The Record of a Tribute to the Honorable William Benton on the Occasion of his Twenty-fifth Anniversary as Chairman and Publisher of Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., on February 1, 1968
. Chicago: n.p., 1968.
U.S. Congress. Memorial Addresses and other Tributes in the Congress of the United States on the Life and Contributions of William Benton
. 93d Cong., 1st sess., 1973. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1973.
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
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