William Glendon

Who was William Glendon?

William R. Glendon was an American attorney who specialized in issues relating to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and represented The Washington Post in the Pentagon Papers case.

Glendon was born in Medford, Massachusetts and grew up in Stoneham, Massachusetts. He attended College of the Holy Cross and enlisted in the United States Navy in 1941 following graduation. He served on a troop transport ship as a communications officer and earned five battle stars for his participation in the amphibious invasions of North Africa, Italy and the Normandy Landings. He left the Navy with the rank of lieutenant.

After ending his military service, he attended the Georgetown Law School, graduating in 1947. He served as an assistant district attorney in Washington, D.C. and joined the firm of Rogers & Wells, and relocated to the firm's Manhattan office in 1956.

In 1971, the Nixon Administration sought to suppress publication the of the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret history prepared by the United States Department of Defense documenting American political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967, citing claims that publication of the classified material could cause irreparable injury to the national interest. On this basis court injunctions were issued to prevent publication of the material in these documents by The New York Times and The Washington Post.