Home > Vietnam War > J. William Fulbright Biography

Born April 9, 1905
Sumner, Missouri
Died February 9, 1995
Washington, D.C.

U.S. senator from Arkansas, 1945–1974

J. William Fulbright was the U.S. Senate's best-known critic of American policies in Vietnam during the mid-to-late 1960s, when U.S. troop commitments reached their peak. His views, which received added attention because of his chairmanship of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made him one of the most controversial members of Congress during the Vietnam War era.

From professor to politician

J. William Fulbright was born April 9, 1905, in Sumner, Missouri. The son of a prominent farmer and a journalist, he was an excellent student and athlete in high school and at the University of Arkansas. After graduating from Arkansas in 1925, he earned a Rhodes Scholarship to study at...