Will Reid Wilson, Sr. (July 29, 1912 – December 14, 2005), was an American politician and lawyer who served as

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

from 1957-1963.Will R. Wilson, Sr.,

obituary An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Ac ...

, ''

Austin American-Statesman The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is owned by Gannett. The paper prints Associated Press, ''New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', and ''Los Angeles Times'' internationa ...

'', December 16, 2005

Career

Wilson was a senior partner in a Dallas law firm and also served as a Texas state Supreme Court justice, and Texas attorney general. He was head of the Criminal Justice Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in the Nixon administration.

Role in Nixon Use of Justice Department Against Political Enemies

Wilson was appointed by Attorney General John Mitchell in 1970 to supervise the Internal Revenue Service investigation into the tax returns of Alabama Gov.

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist a ...

, the governor's brother, Gerald Wallace, and financial supporters who had done business with the state of Alabama. Dubbed the Alabama Project by Mitchell, the oversight was a result of President Richard Nixon's keen interest in pressing for eventual indictment of George Wallace prior to the 1972 presidential election. (Wilson in 1970 had provided U.S. Rep. Gerald Ford with derogatory information about Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas in an effort to impeach or otherwise force Douglas to retire; Nixon had suggested to Wilson that he might be nominated to the court.) Shortly after Wallace decided to drop a third-party bid for president and focus on the Democratic nomination, the Nixon administration decided not to pursue the criminal case. Wilson was forced out of the Nixon administration after he became embroiled in a Texas stock scandal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Will 1912 births 2005 deaths Politicians from Austin, Texas Politicians from Dallas University of Oklahoma alumni Southern Methodist University alumni Burials at Texas State Cemetery Texas Attorneys General Justices of the Texas Supreme Court County district attorneys in Texas Ranchers from Texas Texas Democrats Texas Republicans United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army officers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American judges 20th-century American male writers Military personnel from Texas