Attorney General: William P. Rogers

William Pierce Rogers was born in Norfolk, New York, on June 23, 1913. He graduated from Colgate University in 1934 and received his Bachelor of Laws degree from 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 other professional organizations. From 1937 to 1938, Rogers practiced law in New York, and, from 1938 to 1942, was assistant district attorney for New York County. From 1942–1946, he served in the U.S. Navy, attaining the rank of lieutenant commander. Between 1946 and 1947, he returned to the district attorney’s office in New York County. From 1947 to 1948, he was chief counsel of the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, and, from 1948 to 1950, he was chief counsel to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 

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 Dwight D. Eisenhower. He remained in that office until January 20, 1961. In January 1969, President Richard M. Nixon appointed him Secretary of State, an office he held until September 1973, when he resumed the private practice of law. In 1986, he was named by President Ronald Reagan to head the investigation into the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Rogers continued working in private law practice until his death on January 2, 2001, in Bethesda, Maryland.