William Benton

Democrat Senator of Connecticut

Congresses Served

Senate Terms

January 1, 1900 (73 years old)

Birthday

January 1, 1973

Death

Served as a U.S. Senator from 1949 to 1953.
Publisher of the Encyclopædia Britannica from 1943 until his death in 1973.
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and educated at Shattuck Military Academy, Carleton College, and Yale University.
Co-founded the advertising agency Benton & Bowles.
Served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs from 1945 to 1947, playing a role in organizing the United Nations.
Attempted to negotiate educational film production with Walt Disney in 1944.
Defeated Prescott Sheldon Bush in the 1950 Senate election.
Introduced a resolution in 1951 to expel Joseph McCarthy from the Senate, leading to a Senate investigation that criticized both but punished neither.
Lost his Senate re-election bid in 1952 and failed to win the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in 1958.
Appointed United States Ambassador to UNESCO, serving from 1963 to 1968.
Served on the board of trustees of the University of Connecticut from 1957 to 1972, with the William Benton Museum of Art named in his honor.
Involved in publishing the 52-volume set of Great Books of the Western World through Encyclopædia Britannica in 1952.
Established the Benton Foundation.
Died in New York City in 1973, survived by his widow, Helen Hemingway Benton.