Williams, George Henry

Williams, George Henry (b. New Lebanon, N.Y., 26 Mar. 1820; d. Portland, Oreg., 4 Apr. 1910), U.S. Senator from Oregon, U.S. attorney general, unsuccessful nominee for chief justice of the United States. President Ulysses S. Grant's 1873 nomination of George Williams for the position of chief justice met with considerable controversy, arousing opposition in the Senate and among the organized bar that viewed Williams as too undistinguished for the nation's chief legal position. At Williams's request Grant withdrew the nomination.

Williams's early years were spent in New York, where he was admitted to the bar in 1844. He was a district judge in Iowa and in 1853 became chief justice of the Oregon territory. Williams gained a seat in the United States Senate in 1864. While in the Senate, Williams generally supported Radical Republican policies. After losing his Senate seat, Williams was appointed attorney general by Grant in 1871.

Grant's attempt to place Williams on the Court met with opposition on the part of the bar. Part of that opposition included some sentiment that a lawyer from frontier Oregon would be ill‐suited to deciding some of the Court's more complex commercial cases. In the face of this opposition, Grant withdrew the nomination.

Williams continued as attorney general until 1875. In later life he resumed law practice and public service in Oregon.

See also Nominees, Rejection of.

Robert J. Cottrol