Fulbright, J William

Fulbright, J(ames) William

(born April 9, 1905, Sumner, Mo., U.S.—died Feb. 9, 1995, Washington, D.C.) U.S. politician. After earning degrees from the Universities of Arkansas and Oxford, he taught law at Arkansas; he later served as its president (1939–41). In 1942 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where in 1943 he introduced a resolution supporting U.S. participation in what would become the UN. In the U.S. Senate (1945–75), he initiated the international exchange program known as the Fulbright scholarship. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (1959–74), he presided over televised hearings in 1966 on U.S. policy in the Vietnam War, from which he emerged as a leading advocate of ending the bombing of North Vietnam and opening peace talks. In 1974 he lost his bid for reelection.