William Barr

William Pelham Barr
77th United States Attorney General
In office November 26, 1991 – January 20, 1993
President	George H. W. Bush
Preceded by	Dick Thornburgh
Succeeded by	Janet Reno
Personal details
Born	(1950-05-23) May 23, 1950 New York, NY
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Christine
Alma mater	Columbia University George Washington University

William Pelham Barr (born May 23, 1950 in New York City) is an American attorney who served as the 77th Attorney General of the United States.

He received his bachelor's degree in government and a master's degree in government and Chinese studies, in 1971 and 1973 respectively, from Columbia University. He received his J.D. with highest honors in 1977 from The George Washington University Law School. From 1973 to 1977, he was employed by the Central Intelligence Agency. Barr was a law clerk to Judge Malcolm Wilkey of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1977 through 1978. He served on the domestic policy staff at the Reagan White House from 1982 to 1983. He was also in private practice for nine years with the Washington law firm of Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge. Throughout the 1980's he was in the ex offico position of CIA director William Casey's liaison and control to covert deniable activities throughout the world specifically the CIA's arms sales to Iran and the extralegal support of the Nicaraguan "contras"(1)

At the U.S. Department of Justice, Barr served in the positions of Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel from 1989 to 1990, Deputy Attorney General from May 1990 to August 1991 and Acting Attorney General for three months. He was appointed Attorney General by President George H. W. Bush in 1991. The Ruby Ridge incident occurred during his term. After concluding his service as Attorney General when President Bush left office, he returned to private practice and sits on the boards of directors of several U.S. corporations.

He served on the Board of Visitors of the College of William & Mary from 2001 until July 2005. As of 2004 Barr was Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Verizon, having served in the same capacity with its predecessor GTE. Barr recently announced plans to retire at the end of 2008.

Barr is a Roman Catholic, and in high school he reportedly punched classmate Barry Scheck in the face for making an offensive comment about the pope.. He is married and the father of three daughters.

References

source citations (1)  "Compromised Clinton, Bush and the CIA"  by Terry Reed/ John Cummings SPI books 1994 ISBN 1-883955-02-5

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