William Harry Goetzmann was an American historian and emeritus professor in the American Studies and American Civilization Programs at the University of Texas at Austin. He attended Yale University as a graduate student and was friends with Tom Wolfe while there. His work on the American West won him the highest prizes for historians, the Parkman Prize and the Pulitzer Prize. He has written and published extensively on American philosophy, American political history, and the American arts. An advocate for the importance of history as a public discussion, he has served in various capacities in television and film production, notably for PBS. He was most recently the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair Emeritus in History and American Studies. His last book published during his lifetime was Beyond the Revolution: A History of American Thought From Paine to Pragmatism (2009).
William Henry Hallahan III was an American Edgar-award winning novelist. He is best known for his work in the mystery, suspense and occult fields.
William H. Keith is an American author mainly contributing to military science fiction and military fiction and related game design, who writes also under several pen names, such as Ian Douglas, Robert Cain and H. Jay Riker. His newer original works are written under the name of Ian Douglas.
William Henry Lewis was an African-American pioneer in athletics, law and politics. Born in Virginia to freedmen, he graduated from Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he had been one of the first African-American college football players. After going to Harvard Law School and continuing to play football, Lewis was the first African American in the sport to be selected as an All-American.
William H. Maher (1846–1913) was an American businessman and author.
William Henry Davis "Alfalfa Bill" Murray was an American educator, lawyer, and politician who became active in Oklahoma before statehood as legal adviser to Governor Douglas H. Johnston of the Chickasaw Nation. Although not American Indian, he was appointed by Johnston as the Chickasaw delegate to the 1905 Convention for the proposed State of Sequoyah. Later he was elected as a delegate to the 1906 constitutional convention for the proposed state of Oklahoma; it was admitted in 1907.
William Hickling Prescott was an American historian and Hispanist, who is widely recognized by historiographers to have been the first American scientific historian. Despite having serious visual impairment, which at times prevented him from reading or writing for himself, Prescott became one of the most eminent historians of 19th century America. He is also noted for his eidetic memory.
William H. Pritchard is an American literary critic and the Henry Clay Folger Professor of English, Emeritus, at Amherst College.
William Hugh Robinson is an American engineer who is Professor of Electrical Engineering and Vice Provost for Academic at Vanderbilt University. His research considers sophisticated computer systems for consumer and industrial use. He is an advocate for improving access to engineering, and leads several investigations into programmes that better support people from marginalised groups.
William Henry Seward was an American politician who served as United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, and earlier served as governor of New York and as a United States Senator. A determined opponent of the spread of slavery in the years leading up to the American Civil War, he was a prominent figure in the Republican Party in its formative years, and was praised for his work on behalf of the Union as Secretary of State during the Civil War. He also negotiated the treaty for the United States to purchase the Alaska Territory.