View source for William Benton (senator)

{{otherpeople|William Benton}}
'''William Burnett Benton''' (April 1, 1900 – March 18, 1973) was a [[United States|U.S.]] senator from [[Connecticut]] (1949 - 1953) and [[publisher]] of the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' (1943 - 1973).

==Early life==

Benton was born in [[Minneapolis, Minnesota]]. He was educated at [[Shattuck-Saint Mary's|Shattuck]] [[Military Academy]], [[Faribault, Minnesota|Faribault]], Minnesota, and [[Carleton College]] in [[Northfield, Minnesota]] until 1918, at which point he matriculated at [[Yale University]], where he was admitted to the [[Zeta Psi]] fraternity. 

==Advertising and civic life==

He graduated in 1921 and began work for [[Advertising agency|advertising agencies]] in [[New York City]] and [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]] until 1929, after which he co-founded [[Benton & Bowles]] with [[Chester Bowles]] in New York. He moved to [[Norwalk, Connecticut]] in 1932, and served as the part-time [[vice president]] of the [[University of Chicago]] from 1937 to 1945. In 1944, he had entered into unsuccessful negotiations with [[Walt Disney]] to make six to twelve educational films annually.<ref>Gabler, Neal, [http://books.google.com/books?id=5JHrODsAdNwC&printsec=frontcover ''Walt Disney: the triumph of the American imagination''], New York : Random House, 2006. ISBN 978-0-679-43822-9. Cf. p.444</ref>

==Public and elected office life==

He was appointed [[Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs]] and held the position from 31 August 1945 to 30 September 1947, during which time he was active in organizing the [[United Nations]]. He was appointed to the [[United States Senate]] on 17 December 1949, and subsequently elected in the general election on 7 November 1950 as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of [[Raymond E. Baldwin]] in December 1949 for the remainder of the term ending 3 January 1953.

In the November 1950 election, he defeated [[Republican_Party_(United_States)|Republican]] party candidate [[Prescott Sheldon Bush]], father of U.S. President [[George Herbert Walker Bush]] and grandfather of U.S. President [[George W. Bush]]. In 1951 he introduced a resolution to expel [[Joseph McCarthy]] from the Senate.  However, he lost in the general election for the full term in 1952. He lost to Prescott Bush, whom he had defeated in the November 1950 election. He was appointed [[Ambassadors from the United States|United States Ambassador]] to [[UNESCO]] in [[Paris]] and served from 1963 to 1968. 

==Encyclopædia Britannica and further civic life==

For much of his life, from 1943 to his death in 1973, he was [[chairman of the board]] and publisher of the '''''Encyclopædia Britannica''''', was a member of and delegate to numerous United Nations and international conferences and commissions, and [[trustee]] of several schools and colleges. 

Benton established the [[Benton Foundation]].

He died in New York City on March 18, 1973, aged 72, and was survived by his widow, Helen Hemingway Benton, who died in 1974.

==References==
{{reflist}}

* {{cite book| last = Hyman | first = Sidney | year = 1970 | title = The Lives of William Benton | publisher = The University of Chicago Press | location = Chicago | id = ISBN 0226365484}}

== External links ==
* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000399 William Benton's Congressional Biography]

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{{s-gov}}
{{succession box|
 before=[[Archibald MacLeish]]|
 title=[[Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs]]|
 after=[[George V. Allen]]|
 years=September 17, 1945 &ndash; September 30, 1947
}}
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{{U.S. Senator box|
  before=[[Raymond E. Baldwin]]|
  state=Connecticut|
  class=1|
  years=1949–1953|
  after=[[William A. Purtell]]|
  alongside=[[Brien McMahon]], [[William A. Purtell]], [[Prescott Bush]]}}
{{end box}}
{{USSenCT}}

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[[Category:Encyclopædia Britannica]]
[[Category:1900 births]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:American publishers (people)]]
[[Category:American Episcopalians]]
[[Category:People from Minneapolis, Minnesota]]
[[Category:People from New York City]]
[[Category:People from Norwalk, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Appointed United States Senators]]
[[Category:United States Senators from Connecticut]]
[[Category:Yale University alumni]]
[[Category:Permanent Delegates of the United States to UNESCO]]

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