People: W

W

• Walid KhalidiPalestinian historian, a founder of the Institute for Palestine Studies; wrote on Plan Dalet and the 1948 exodus.
• Walter Bedell SmithU.S. general; Under Secretary of State in 1954 and a former Director of Central Intelligence; joined United Fruit’s board in 1955.
• Walter DurantyNew York Times correspondent in Moscow whose article of 31 March 1933 said there was no famine.
• Walter KletchFormer review chemist in the FDA's generic drugs division; pleaded guilty in 1989 to receiving an unlawful gratuity.
• Walter Rothschild, Lord Rothschild 1868–1937British peer and banker; the addressee of the Balfour letter of 2 November 1917.
• Ward ChurchillFormer University of Colorado Boulder professor of ethnic studies, who died in August 2026; his essays made the claim that U.S. soldiers spread smallpox to the Mandans in 1837.
• Warren AndersonChairman and chief executive of Union Carbide Corporation in 1984. Named first in the Indian criminal case, he did not appear before the court and died in 2014.
• Warren Buffett 30 Aug 1930 –American investor; co-founder of the Giving Pledge.
• Warren HastingsCompany official, later Governor-General of Bengal; impeached by the House of Commons in 1787 and acquitted by the House of Lords in 1795.
• Wayne MorseU.S. senator from Oregon; one of two senators who voted against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
• Wei FengheChinese defence minister in 2019.
• Wernher von Braun 23 Mar 1912 – 16 Jun 1977German-born rocket engineer; led US Army missile development and directed NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.
• Wilhelm II 1859–1941German Emperor from 1888 to 1918.
• William B. Harrison Jr.Chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase in January 2005.
• William Boyce Thompson 13 May 1869 – 27 Jun 1930American mining financier; head of the American Red Cross mission to Russia in 1917.
• William BradfordPlymouth colonist who wrote the history Of Plimoth Plantation.
• William D. HartungArms-industry analyst and advocate for a less militarized foreign policy; author of the Costs of War papers “Profits of War”. He writes that adopting such a policy “should be a central goal.”
• William D. Leahy 1875–1959U.S. admiral and senior adviser to President Truman.
• William DenevanGeographer whose 1992 book gave an estimate of the Americas' population in 1492.
• William E. Simon 1927–2000U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, named head of the Federal Energy Office in December 1973.
• William Ewart GladstoneBritish politician; in April 1840, as a member of the House of Commons, he spoke against the war with China.
• William H. Gates Sr. 30 Nov 1925 – 14 Sep 2020Seattle lawyer and civic leader; father of Bill Gates.
• William Howard Taft 1857–1930U.S. President from 1909 to 1913.
• William I. CampbellPresident and chief executive of Philip Morris in 1994.
• William J. CameronEditor and chief writer of the Dearborn Independent from 1920; wrote “Mr. Ford’s Page”.
• William McIntoshCreek headman who led the minority that signed the Treaty of Indian Springs in 1825.
• William P. LauderExecutive Chairman of The Estée Lauder Companies in 2022.
• William Powers Jr.Enron director and law school dean who chaired the board’s Special Investigative Committee.
• William Randolph HearstNewspaper publisher; publisher of the New York Journal in the 1890s.
• William Rick SingerDefendant in the 2019 college admissions bribery case; pleaded guilty and was sentenced in 2023.
• William Rockefeller 1841–1922New York businessman, director and shareholder of the National City Bank in 1913.
• William Safire 1929–2009American speechwriter for President Nixon and later a columnist.
• William TrentTrader, land speculator and militia captain at Fort Pitt in 1763.
• William W. BelknapU.S. Secretary of War, impeached in 1876 over kickbacks tied to the post trader at Fort Sill.
• Woodrow WilsonU.S. President 1913 to 1921; signed “The Perils of Racial Prejudice” in 1921.