WASHINGTON (AP) – Former FBI and CIA director William H. Webster, whose troubleshooting skills and integrity helped restore public confidence in these federal agencies, announced Friday. He was 101 years old.
Webster led the FBI from 1978 to 1987 and the CIA from 1987 to 1991. This is the only person leading the country’s top law enforcement agencies and its major intelligence gathering organizations.
By the time he came to Washington at the age of 53, Webster had been practicing law for nearly 20 years, serving as a federal prosecutor, spending almost nine years on the federal bench in his hometown of St. Louis. Those who opposed him in court or opposed his sentence have admitted that his integrity is unquestionable.
“All directors of the CIA or FBI should be prepared to resign if they are asked to know that he is wrong,” Webster said after agreeing to lead the spy agency.
Left William H. Webster is congratulated to President Jimmy Carter after being sworn in as the new director of the FBI in Washington on February 23, 1978 (AP Photo/Harvey George, File)
Former President George W. Bush said in a statement Friday night that Webster’s “passion for the rule of law and American greatness made him a model civil servant.”
President Jimmy Carter chose Webster, a Republican, for a 10-year term as FBI chief, who tried to improve the image that the bureau had been hurt by domestic spying, internal corruption and other abuses of power. He was believed to have developed his agents strict but fair, generally developing the ability to address new challenges such as terrorism.
President Ronald Reagan chose Webster to replace CIA chief William J. Casey.
Webster quickly sought to ease the tensions in Congress again in the role of outsiders without a political agenda. He regularly reported on the CIA’s activities to lawmakers responsible for Intelligence Reports oversight, avoiding the emergence of attempts to shape policies. After retiring from federal services in 1991, he joined a law firm in Washington, but still served on various policy-related committees and committees.
In 2002, the Securities and Exchange Commission selected Webster in a partisan vote to lead a board created by Congress to oversee accounting professions in the wake of a scandal involving Enron and other companies.
However, before the first meeting of the board, Webster resigned amid questions about his role as head of the Audit Committee of US Technology, the company itself accused of fraud. The controversy over his role in Webster’s appointment helped lead to the resignation of SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt.
William Hedgcock Webster was born in St. Louis on March 6, 1924. He grew up in the outskirts of Webster Groves, Missouri, and grew up as a farm owner and small business operator, his father’s father. He served as a liaison in the Navy during World War II and returned to active duty for two years during the Korean War. He graduated from Amherst University in 1947 with a bachelor’s degree and received his law degree in 1949 from Washington University Law School in St. Louis.
Webster practiced the St. Louis company and law until 1960, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed US lawyers for the Eastern District of Missouri. He resigned the following year after the election of President John F. Kennedy, and then spent most of the 1960s in private practice. Webster, appointed by President Richard Nixon to the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in 1971, established a reputation as a moderate jurist. Nixon lifted Webster to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1973.
Former FBI Director William H. Webster notes the bloodiest event in the station’s history, which was caught up in the 25th anniversary of the Miami Shootout in North Miami Beach, Florida on April 11, 2011 (AP Photo/Alan Diaz, File)
“I work myself from a restraint position, but I think I am ready to take the judicial action necessary to achieve the purpose of justice,” Webster said, closing his judicial career to join the FBI. However, critics accused him of his tendency to support the prosecutor in criminal cases.
The Liberals and conservatives praised Webster for their equal records on civil rights, despite being a member of the St. Louis social organization that ruled out minorities. He argued that he did not belong to a club that actively practices racism. As FBI Director, he brought more blacks and women to the bureau. On behalf of Clarence M. Kelley, Webster focused on the FBI’s organised crime, white-collar criminals and drug enforcement efforts.
Emphasizing attention to political corruption was ABSCAM STING, where authorities provided bribes to employees of the department pretending to be businessmen in the Middle East. Eleven people, including six members of the Congress, have been convicted.
Webster also strengthened the FBI’s anti-terrorism and anti-intensive activities and helped prepare for the CIA Post. Those who questioned his appointment as Director of Central Intelligence argued that his lack of operational experience and lack of diplomatic experience were disadvantageous.
Webster was believed to have boosted morale within the CIA and launched a transition away from the Cold War stance. The agency unfairly argued that it did not expect how quickly the Soviet Union and its eastern region would collapse and that Saddam Hussein would not invade Kuwait’s invasion in 1991.
Over nine years, including Webster’s term, CIA officer Aldrich Ames sold Soviet secrets, and compromised dozens of operations before being arrested in 1994 and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Webster and other CIA chiefs were criticized for not detecting Ames’ activity.
After resignation, Webster joined the Presidential Committee on Homeland Security following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and was a member of the committee investigating the lapse of security at the FBI.
Webster, a Christian scientist who never smoked, married Drusilla Lane Webster in 1950, who rarely enjoyed drinking, playing tennis and reading history. They raised two daughters and one son. After his death from cancer in 1984, he married Linda Jo Kluton in 1990.
Webster was survived by his second wife, three children and their spouses from his first marriage, seven grandchildren and spouses, and 12 great grandchildren. The commemoration will be held in Washington on September 18th.
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Daniel, the leading author of the obituary, retired from the Associated Press in 2023.
