Skip to main content
Historical Biography

Attorney General: William Pierce Rogers

Rogers, William Pierce
63rd Attorney General, -
Download Image

William Pierce Rogers was born in Norfolk, New York, on June 23, 1913. He graduated from Colgate University in 1934, and received an LL.B. degree at Cornell Law School in 1937. While at Cornell, he was editor of the Cornell Law Quarterly. He became a member of the American, Federal, District of Columbia, New York State, and New York City bar associations, the American Judicature Society, and many other professional organizations.

From 1937 to 1938, he practiced law in New York, and from 1938 to 1942 was assistant district attorney for New York County. From 1942 to 1946 he served as lieutenant commander in the United States Navy. From 1946 to 1947 he returned to the district attorney's office in New York County, from 1947 to 1948 he was the chief counsel of the Senate War Investigating Committee, from 1948 to 1950 he was chief counsel of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and from 1950 to 1952 returned to the private practice of law. Rogers served as Deputy Attorney General from 1953 to 1957 and was appointed Attorney General of the United States on November 8, 1957, by President Eisenhower. He remained until January 20, 1961. He was United States representative to the Twentieth General Assembly of the United Nations in 1967, and then resumed the private practice of law. In 1969 President Nixon named him Secretary of State, an office he held until 1973, when he again returned to private practice. He died January 2, 2001.

About the Artist: Albert Ketcham Murray

(1906-1992)

The artist was born in Emporia, Kansas. He studied at Cornell and in England and France. He continued to paint while serving as an officer in the United States Navy. He also served as the director of the Navy’s combat art collection. His works have been exhibited in London, Paris, Brussels, Rotterdam, Sydney, and in the United States. He painted several distinguished Americans, including Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon. His portrait of Attorney General Rogers was painted in 1962. Murray died March 24, 1992.

Updated October 25, 2022