William Cohen

William Cohen

William Sebastian Cohen is an American politician, lawyer and author from the U.S. state of Maine. He served as Secretary of Defense under Democratic President Bill Clinton. He was one of the first Republicans to break with his party, and voted for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. He is the author of the book “Chaos: A Memoir of a Moderate Republican in the Age of President Clinton”

About William Cohen in brief

Summary William CohenWilliam Sebastian Cohen is an American politician, lawyer and author from the U.S. state of Maine. He served as Secretary of Defense under Democratic President Bill Clinton. Cohen was born in Bangor, Maine, and attended Bowdoin College. He was one of the first Republicans to break with his party, and voted for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. He has been described as a career-long maverick with a reputation for fashioning compromise out of discord. In 1994 Cohen investigated the federal government’s process for acquiring information technology, and report, Computer Billions Wasted Buying Federal Computer Systems, generated much discussion. He chose not to run for another term in 1996; Susan Collins, who worked for him, was elected to succeed him in the Senate. He is the author of the book, “Chaos: A Memoir of a Moderate Republican in the Age of President Clinton”, published by Simon & Schuster, $16.99 (originally $20). He is also the co-host of the radio talk show, “The William Sebastian Cohen Show,” which airs on PBS stations across the country. He currently lives in Maine with his wife and their three children. They have a son and a daughter, both of whom have served in the United States Senate and the Maine House of Representatives. Cohen is a member of the Republican National Committee, and served as a Republican vice-chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1987 to 1991. He also served on the Senate Intelligence Committee from 1983 to 1991, serving as Vice Chairman from 1987–1991.

Cohen has been married to his wife, Susan, since 1998. He had a son, David, who served as United States Attorney for the District of Maine from 2003 to 2007. He and his wife have three children, two daughters and a son-in-law. He lives with his family in Augusta, Maine. His wife and three children live with their mother in Maine. Cohen also has a daughter who lives in New York City with her husband, Reuben Cohen, who was a Russian Jewish immigrant. Cohen served as mayor of Bangor from 1971 to 1972. He won a seat in Congress in 1972, representing Maine’s 2nd congressional district, succeeding Democrat William Hathaway. He became an assistant county attorney for Penobscot County and served on Bangor’s School Board. Cohen became a fellow at the John F. F. Kennedy Institute of Politics at Harvard University in 1972. In 1975, he was named as one of U. S. Jaycee’s \”ten outstanding young men\”. He was named one of Time magazine’s 200 Future Leaders. In 1974, he voted for impeachment of Richard Nixon, and said, “I have been faced with the terrible responsibility of assessing the conduct of a President that I voted for, believed to be the best man to lead this country. But a President who in the process by act or acquiescence allowed the rule of law and the Constitution to slip under the boots of indifference and arrogance and abuse”