William D. Mitchell

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54th U.S. Attorney General

title: "William D. Mitchell" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1874-births", "1955-deaths", "people-from-winona,-minnesota", "minnesota-lawyers", "new-york-(state)-lawyers", "yale-university-alumni", "university-of-minnesota-alumni", "university-of-minnesota-law-school-alumni", "military-personnel-from-minnesota", "united-states-army-officers", "american-military-personnel-of-the-spanish–american-war", "united-states-army-personnel-of-world-war-i", "presidents-of-the-new-york-city-bar-association", "solicitors-general-of-the-united-states", "attorneys-general-of-the-united-states", "hoover-administration-cabinet-members", "20th-century-american-politicians", "minnesota-republicans", "new-york-(state)-republicans"] description: "54th U.S. Attorney General" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_D._Mitchell" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 54th U.S. Attorney General ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	William D. Mitchell
image	William D. Mitchell cph.3b30394.jpg
caption	Mitchell in 1925
office	54th United States Attorney General
president	Herbert Hoover
term_start	March 4, 1929
term_end	March 4, 1933
predecessor	John G. Sargent
successor	Homer Cummings
office1	18th United States Solicitor General
president1	Calvin Coolidge
term_start1	June 4, 1925
term_end1	March 4, 1929
predecessor1	James M. Beck
successor1	Charles Evans Hughes Jr.
birth_name	William DeWitt Mitchell
birth_date
birth_place	Winona, Minnesota, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Syosset, New York, U.S.
resting_place	Oakland Cemetery, Saint Paul, Minnesota
party	Republican
spouse
children	2
education	Yale University
University of Minnesota (BA, LLB)
battles	Spanish–American War
World War I
serviceyears	1898-1918
branch	United States Army
Minnesota Army National Guard
rank	Colonel
unit	15th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment
United States Second Army Corps
3rd Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division
4th Infantry Regiment (National Guard)
6th Infantry Regiment ((National Guard)
::

William DeWitt Mitchell (September 9, 1874August 24, 1955) was an American attorney who had served as both Solicitor General of the United States under President Calvin Coolidge and United States Attorney General under President Herbert Hoover.

Early life and education

Mitchell was born in Winona, Minnesota, to William B. Mitchell, a Minnesota Supreme Court Justice, and the former Frances Merritt. Mitchell received his early schooling in Winona and the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey before enrolling in at Yale University in 1891. Though he originally entered Yale with an interest in electrical engineering, after two years his focus shifted to law and he subsequently transferred to the University of Minnesota. To make up for lost time, Mitchell simultaneously took law courses at night while finishing his undergraduate degree.

Mitchell graduated from the University of Minnesota with an A.B. degree in 1895, and subsequently enrolled at the University of Minnesota Law School, where he received his LL.B. degree in 1896. Shortly after graduating from law school, Mitchell was admitted to the Minnesota State Bar Association and practiced law in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He married the former Gertrude Bancroft on June 27, 1901. They had two sons which were William and Bancroft Mitchell.

Career

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Time-magazine-cover-william-mitchell.jpg" caption="''Time'']] magazine cover of William D. Mitchell, (January 27, 1930)."] ::

He formed the law firm of How, Taylor & Mitchell, which became prominent in the Midwest. This prestige allowed Mitchell access to both the regional council of the U.S. Railroad Administration in 1919, and then he served as chairman of the Citizens Charter Committee of St. Paul in 1922.

Military service

He served as a line officer with the 15th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment and later an acting judge advocate for the United States Second Army Corps during the Spanish–American War. From 1899 to 1901 he was an engineer officer for the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division and later adjutant for the 4th Infantry Regiment of the Minnesota Army National Guard. During the First World War he served with the 6th Infantry Regiment of the Minnesota Army National Guard and later served at Camp Taylor, Kentucky until the war was over. He reached the rank of Colonel.

Government service

His combined military service placed him in position to be appointed to the position of Solicitor General of the United States. Having served well in his position, President Hoover appointed him Attorney General of the United States from March 4, 1929, and he held that office until March 4, 1933, one of his principal acts having been to order the Bonus Army dispersed and their camp destroyed.

Later career

Mitchell then settled in New York City where he practiced law. He was named chairman of the Committee on Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and chief counsel of the joint congressional committee investigating the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Mitchell died there in Syosset, New York on August 24, 1955, at the age of 80.

References

[http://www.minnesotalegalhistoryproject.org/assets/Wm%20D.%20Mitchell%20Bar%20Memorials=KLK.pdf Microsoft Word - Wm D. Mitchell]
[https://books.google.com/books?id=cNQ6AQAAIAAJ&dq=William+Dewitt+Mitchell+military+service+spanish+american+war&pg=PA67 Biographical Sketches of the Attorneys General]

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::