William Omar Bittman (August 6, 1931 – March 1, 2001) was an American

trial lawyer A lawyer is a person who Practice of law, practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different Jurisdiction, legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney at law, attorney, barrister, canonist, canon l ...

and

federal prosecutor An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...

. He is best known for prosecuting Teamsters President

Jimmy Hoffa James Riddle Hoffa (born February 14, 1913 – disappeared July 30, 1975; declared dead July 30, 1982) was an American labor union leader who served as the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) from 1957 until 1971. F ...

. Bittman is also mentioned in Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward's 1974 book, All the President's Men, which details the reporting and investigation of the Watergate scandal which led to President Nixon's resignation.

Early life and education

William Bittman was born in 1931 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served in the United States Navy for two years during the Korean War. Later he attended Marquette University and was the school's football captain before graduating in 1956. Three years later, in 1959, Bittman graduated from the DePaul University College of Law with honors.

Career

Bittman began his legal career at the United States Attorney's Office in Chicago. He gained notoriety for the successful prosecution of

in 1964, which set Bittman up to rise to the top ranks of Washington lawyers. During his career as a federal prosecutor, Bittman also represented the United States against Lyndon B. Johnson's advisor and secretary of the Democratic Party Robert G. "Bobby" Baker on theft, conspiracy and tax evasion charges in 1963. Following the defense's closing arguments by Edward Bennet Williams which were lauded as "the most spellbinding arguments ever delivered to a Washington jury," Bittman began his closing saying: "You have just heard the greatest argument by the country's greatest lawyer. All I have is the facts." Baker was convicted and served 16 months in federal prison. Following the Baker case, Bittman left prosecution and was hired by

Hogan & Hartson Hogan Lovells is an American-British law firm co-headquartered in London and Washington, DC. The firm was formed in 2010 by the merger of the American law firm Hogan & Hartson and the British law firm Lovells. It employs about 2,400 lawyers acr ...

as a defense counsel where he represented conspirator

E. Howard Hunt Everette Howard Hunt Jr. (October 9, 1918 – January 23, 2007) was an American intelligence officer and author. From 1949 to 1970, Hunt served as an officer in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), particularly in the United States involvem ...

during the Watergate scandal and later Former Labor Secretary,

Raymond J. Donovan Raymond James Donovan (August 31, 1930 – June 2, 2021) was an American business executive and politician. He served as U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1985. He resigned after being the first serving member o ...

, during the Reagan Administration.

Death

William Bittman died at his home in Potomac, Maryland on March 1, 2001, from esophageal cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bittman, William 20th-century American lawyers Nixon administration personnel involved in the Watergate scandal 1931 births 2001 deaths Lawyers from Milwaukee Military personnel from Milwaukee DePaul University College of Law alumni Marquette Golden Avalanche football players Players of American football from Wisconsin Deaths from cancer in Maryland Deaths from esophageal cancer in the United States United States Navy sailors United States Navy personnel of the Korean War