William B. Saxbe

Infobox US Cabinet official
name=William B. Saxbe


order=70th
title=United States Attorney General
term_start=December 17, 1974
term_end=January 14, 1975
president=Richard Nixon
Gerald Ford
predecessor=Elliot L. Richardson
Robert Bork (acting)
successor=Edward H. Levi
office2=United States Senator
from Ohio
term_start2=January 4, 1969
term_end2=January 14, 1975
predecessor2=Frank J. Lausche
successor2=Howard Metzenbaum
order3=11th
office3=United States Ambassador to India
term_start3=February 3, 1975
term_end3=November 20, 1976
president3=Gerald Ford
predecessor3=Daniel P. Moynihan
successor3=Robert F. Goheen
office4=Ohio Attorney General
term_start4=1957
term_end4=1959
governor4=C. William O'Neill
predecessor4=C. William O'Neill
successor4=Mark McElroy
term_start5=1963
term_end5=1969
governor5=Jim Rhodes
predecessor5=Mark McElroy
successor5=Paul W. Brown
birth_date=Birth date and age|1916|6|24
birth_place= Mechanicsburg, Ohio
death_date=
death_place=
party= Republican
spouse=
profession=
religion=Episcopalian

William Bart Saxbe (born June 24, 1916) was an American politician of the Republican Party, who served as a U.S. Senator from Ohio and as U.S. Attorney General under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald R. Ford.

Saxbe was born in Mechanicsburg, Ohio, and received a bachelor's degree from the Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio), Class of 1940, where he was a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity. He served in the military during World War II, from 1940 to 1945 and during the Korean War, from 1951 to 1952. In 1948, Saxbe received a law degree from Ohio State University and afterwards practiced law in Columbus.

Saxbe served as an Ohio state representative from 1947 to 1954. He was then elected Ohio attorney general, defeating Democrat Stephen M. Young, and held that office from 1963 to 1968. He was a member of the Ohio Crime Commission from 1967 to 1968. In 1968, Saxbe was elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating Democrat John J. Gilligan. He served in the Senate until 1974, when he was appointed U.S. attorney general. (There was some minor controversy regarding Saxbe's appointment, as it appeared that it violated a minor provision of the Constitution. That provision stated that a legislator could not be appointed to an executive position during the same term that the legislator and legislature had voted to increase the salary of said position. However, because there was no perception that anything "intentional" had been done to benefit Saxbe, the matter was widely ignored.) Gilligan, who had been elected Governor of Ohio in 1970, appointed Howard Metzenbaum to fill out Saxbe's term. Later that year, former astronaut John Glenn, another Democrat, was elected to replace Saxbe.

Saxbe served as attorney general until 1975, when he was appointed United States Ambassador to India, in which capacity he served until 1977. After that, Saxbe returned to Mechanicsburg and resumed the practice of law.