February 28, 1985
The President today announced his intention to appoint William French Smith to be a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.
Mr. Smith is a partner of Gibson, Dunn Crutcher of Los Angeles. Previously, he served as Attorney General of the United States (1981 - 1985); senior partner of Gibson, Dunn Crutcher (1946 - 1981); director of Pacific Lighting Corp. of Los Angeles (1967 - 1981) and San Francisco (1969 - 1981); director of Jorgensen Steel Co. (1974 - 1981); and director of Pullman, Inc., of Chicago (1979 - 1980).
He has served as a member of the U.S. Advisory Commission on International, Educational, and Cultural Affairs in Washington (1971 - 1978); a member of the board of directors of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council since 1970 and its president since 1975; a member of the Los Angeles Committee on Foreign Relations (1954 - 1974); and a member of the Harvard University School of Government since 1971. He has also served as a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, since 1978 and as a member of the Stanton Panel on International Information, Education and Cultural Relations, Washington (1974 - 1975).
He was a member of the California delegation to the Republican National Convention in 1968, 1972, and 1976, serving as chairman of the delegation in 1968 and vice chairman of the delegation in 1972 and 1976.
Mr. Smith graduated from the University of California (A.B., 1939) and Harvard University (LL.B., 1942). He served in the United States Naval Reserve from 1942 to 1946 and attained the rank of lieutenant. Mr. Smith is married to the former Jean Webb, and they have four children. He was born August 26, 1917, in Wilton, NH.