William (Bill) Partlow Daniel (20 November 1915 – 20 June 2006), was a Governor of Guam and Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives. Born in Dayton, Texas, and a graduate of Baylor University, he spent the majority of his life working as a lawyer in Liberty County, Texas.

Bill Daniel was born into a wealthy and prominent Texas family, his older brother Price Daniel Sr. went on to become Governor of Texas, Texas Supreme Court Justice and a US Senator. Daniel made large donations to good causes especially to his alma mater Baylor University, several of the campus buildings are named after him, his late wife Vara and other members of the Daniel family. Baylor University campus buildings Bill Daniel's Baylor obituary

Political career

From 1949 to 1953 he served as a Democrat member of the Texas House of Representatives for the 14th District, his brother Price had previously held this office from 1939 - 1945.

In 1961 President Kennedy appointed him to the position of Governor of Guam, an office he held from May 20 1961 to January 20 1963.
His main achievement as Governor was persuading Kennedy to sign an Executive Order (No.11045), rescinding the one put in place during 1941 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The old travel restrictions required that all civilians wishing to visit Guam had to get approval from a senior US Navy officer based in Washington, D.C., this often took weeks to obtain. With this obstacle removed the US Territory was able to expand its economic wings, and the tourism industry was also able to fully develop.

Worthy of mention is the fact that both he and his brother Price were serving as US Governors at the same time, this was the first time in US history that this had occurred.

Trivia

Bill Daniel appeared in the John Wayne film The Alamo playing Colonel Neill. Daniel also provided the film with 400 longhorns and hundreds of horses from his ranch.

References