William Steele Sessions was born May
27, 1930, in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He graduated from
Northeast High School in Kansas City, Missouri, in
1948, and in 1951 he enlisted in the United States
Air Force, receiving his wings and commission in
October 1952. Thereafter, he served on active duty
until October 1955. In 1956 he was awarded a Bachelor
of Arts degree from Baylor University, Waco, Texas,
and in 1958 received his LL.B. degree from the Baylor
University School of Law.
Judge Sessions was a private practitioner
of law in Waco, Texas, from 1958 until 1969, when
he left his firm, Haley, Fulbright, Winniford, Sessions,
and Bice, to join the Department of Justice in Washington,
D.C., as Chief of the Government Operations Section,
Criminal Division. In 1971, he was appointed United
States Attorney for the Western District of Texas.
In 1974, Judge Sessions was appointed United States
District Judge for the Western District of Texas,
and in 1980 became Chief Judge of that court. He
has served on the Board of the Federal Judicial Center
in Washington, DC, and on committees of both the
State Bar of Texas and the Judicial Conference of
the United States.
On November 1, 1987, Judge Sessions
resigned his position as United States District Judge
to become Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
and was sworn in on November 2, 1987.
Judge Sessions is a member of the American
Bar Association and has served as an officer or on
the Board of Directors of the Federal Bar Association
of San Antonio, the American Judicature Society,
the San Antonio Bar Association, the Waco-McLennan
County Bar Association, and the District Judges'
Association of the Fifth Circuit. Judge Sessions
was appointed by the President as a Commissioner
of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday Commission,
and, in November 1991, was elected for a 3-year term
as a Delegate for the Americas to the Executive Committee
of ICPO-Interpol.
Judge
Sessions has received many awards and honors, including:
honorary degrees from the
John C. Marshall Law School; St. Mary's University;
Dickinson School of Law; and Flagler College. He
also received the Baylor University Distinguished
Alumni Award; the Baylor Law School's "Lawyer
of the Year" for 1988; "Father of the Year" for
public service by the National Father's Day Committee;
the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy
of Achievement; the 1989 Law Enforcement Leadership
Award from the Association of Federal Investigators
and the DAR Medal of Honor; the Distinguished Eagle
Scout Award in 1990; the Good Scout Award; the "Person
of the Year" Award from the American Society
for Industrial Security; the 1990 Magna Charta Award
from the Baronial Order of the Magna Charta; and
the Ellis Island Congressional Medal of Honor in
1992.