About William P. Rogers
William Pierce Rogers (June 23, 1913 – January 2, 2001) was an American politician, diplomat, and attorney. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Attorney General in the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower and as U.S. Secretary of State in the administration of Richard Nixon. Rogers was an ally of Nixon, but National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger overshadowed Rogers and eventually succeeded him as Secretary of State in September 1973. At the time of his death in 2001, Rogers was the last surviving member of Eisenhower's cabinet. == Early life and education == Rogers was born June 23, 1913, in Norfolk, New York. After the death of his mother, the former Myra Beswick, he was raised during his teen years by his grandparents in the village of Canton, New York, where he graduated from high school in 1930. He attended Colgate University, where he was initiated into the Sigma Chi fraternity. He then attended Cornell Law School, where he was an editor of the Cornell Law Quarterly. He received his LL.B. in 1937, graduating fifth in his class of 47 as a member of the Order of the Coif, passing the New York bar in the same year. == Career == After having served about a year as an attorney for a Wall Street law firm, he became an assistant district attorney in 1938 and was appointed by District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey to a 60-man task force aimed at routing out New York City's organized crime.
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