William H. Webster obit

William H. Webster, former FBI and CIA director and Rappahannock resident, dies at 101

 

He was not on the list.

William H. Webster, former director of the FBI and CIA, who spent his final years residing full time in Rappahannock County, has died, according to news reports.

Webster and his wife, Lynda, began visiting Rappahannock on the weekends more than 20 years ago, and became full-time residents when COVID-19 hit. Webster, 101, was the only person to lead both the FBI and CIA.

The Rappahannock News and Foothills Forum featured Webster in a profile commemorating his centennial in March 2024. Reporter Daphne Hutchinson sat down with Webster — a former judge, lawyer, federal prosecutor and U.S. Navy veteran — and discussed his extraordinary life and career.

He served as chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council from 2005 until 2020. He was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit before serving as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1978 to 1987 and director of Central Intelligence (CIA) from 1987 to 1991. He remains the only person to have held both positions.

Webster was born on March 6, 1924, in St. Louis, Missouri, He was the son of Thomas Milliken Webster and Katherine Hedgcock, and received his early education in Webster Groves, Missouri; and served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy during World War II. Following his service in the Navy, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1947. While at Amherst, he was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity. He received his Juris Doctor from the Washington University School of Law in 1949. After law school, he served in the Navy again during the Korean War; later, he joined the St. Louis law firm Armstrong Teasdale, but left private practice soon after to begin a career in public service. He was the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri from 1960 to 1961, then a member of the Missouri Board of Law Examiners from 1964 to 1969.

Webster was nominated by President Richard Nixon on December 8, 1970, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, to a new seat created by 84 Stat. 294. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 17, 1970, and received his commission on December 21, 1970. His service was terminated on August 10, 1973, due to elevation to the Eighth Circuit.

Webster was nominated by President Nixon on June 13, 1973, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated by Judge Marion Charles Matthes. He was confirmed by the Senate on July 13, 1973, and received his commission on July 18, 1973. When William O. Douglas retired from the Supreme Court in 1975, Webster was on Edward H. Levi's final list from which Gerald Ford would nominate his successor.