William H. Lamar

Who was William H. Lamar?

William Harmong Lamar was an American lawyer.

He was born in Auburn, Alabama to Dr. William Harmong Lamar and his wife Ann. He received an A.B. from Alabama Polytechnic in 1881, his law degree from Georgetown University in 1884 and a Masters in Law in 1885 from the same.

He married Ms. Virginia Longstreet in 1887, with whom he would have four surviving children. He began his practice of law in Washington, D.C. and Rockville, Maryland shortly after graduation and was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1894 as a Democrat. During the Spanish-American War, he served as a captain in the Signal Corps and in public relations campaigns for the war.

He served as an assistant attorney for the United States Department of Justice from 1906 to 1913. Following the election of Woodrow Wilson, a fellow Democrat, as President, he was made assistant attorney general and Solicitor of the Post Office Department, because of which he was targeted by anarchists for assassination in the 1919 United States anarchist bombings. He left office after the election of Warren Harding, a Republican, as President in 1921 and served in private practice with his son until his death.