Benton, William Burnett

(1900-1973)

   Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and educated at Shattuck Military Academy and Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, William Benton graduated from Yale University in 1921 and entered advertising. In 1929, he established Benton & Bowles with Chester Bowles. In 1937, he became vice president of the University of Chicago and in 1943 was instrumental in the university’s acquisition of Encyclopedia Britannica, which he managed and later purchased. Benton served as assistant secretary of state from 1945 to 1947, and although a Democrat, was appointed to the U.S. Senate for Connecticut in 1949 to fill the post following the resignation of Republican incumbent Raymond Baldwin. Benton was an outspoken critic of Joseph McCarthy, who in turn labeled the Connecticut senator a communist sympathizer. As a result, Benton failed to win the election in 1952. He then concentrated on his publishing business, which expanded in 1964 when he took over Webster’s Dictionary. From 1963 until 1968 Benton was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization in Paris.