William Scranton

William Warren Scranton (July 19, 1917 – July 28, 2013) was an American Republican Party politician and diplomat. Scranton served as the 38th governor of Pennsylvania from 1963 to 1967, and as United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 1976 to 1977.

Born into the prominent Scranton family, William W. Scranton graduated from Yale Law School and served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. After the war, he practiced law and became active in the Pennsylvania Republican Party. He won election to the United States House of Representatives in 1960 and gained a reputation as an outspoken moderate during his time in Congress. He won the Republican nomination in Pennsylvania's 1962 gubernatorial election, defeating Democrat Richardson Dilworth in the general election.

As governor, Scranton presided over sweeping reforms to Pennsylvania's education system, including the creation of the state's community college system. Scranton entered the race for the 1964 Republican presidential nomination after the collapse of Nelson Rockefeller's candidacy, but Barry Goldwater won the nomination. Scranton was term-limited out of office in 1967 but remained active in politics. He chaired the President's Commission on Campus Unrest, served as a member of the transition team for President Gerald Ford, and served as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 1976 to 1977. He also served on the boards of several high-profile corporations and was associated with the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations.

William Scranton was born on July 19, 1917, while the Scranton family was on vacation at a cottage in Madison, Connecticut. He was the son of Worthington Scranton, a wealthy Pennsylvania businessman who was the president of the Scranton Gas and Water Company, and Marion Margery (Warren) Scranton, a member of the Republican National Committee for over two decades. Despite her own involvement in politics, his mother tried to dissuade him from entering politics because of his childhood struggles with asthma. She feared that the stress of campaigning would be detrimental to his frail health. She died just before her son's election to Congress in 1960.

Scranton family members, George W. Scranton and his brother Selden, were the founders and patriarchs of the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was the grandnephew of Joseph A. Scranton, a Representative from Pennsylvania. He was also a nephew by marriage of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Davis, a confidante of President Abraham Lincoln. His maternal ancestors came to America on the Mayflower.

Scranton's father was the son of William Walker Scranton (1844–1916) and Katharine Maria Smith (1851–1935). His father was an industrialist, general manager of the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company founded by George W. Scranton, among other interests in Scranton. Katherine Smith was the daughter of Worthington Curtis Smith, who served as a United States Congressman from Vermont. Katherine M. Smith's uncle was J. Gregory Smith, who served as Governor of Vermont. Her cousins included Edward Curtis Smith, who also served as governor. Her grandfather, John Smith, also served as a United States Congressman from Vermont. Scranton's genealogical line runs from John Smith (great-great-grandfather) to Worthington C. Smith (great-grandfather) to Katherine Maria Smith Scranton (paternal grandmother) to Worthington Scranton (father) to Scranton.

William Warren Scranton resided with his parents for many years at Marworth, an estate in Dalton, Pennsylvania, that was located roughly eight miles north of Scranton. Following the death of his parents, he inherited the estate. On October 9, 1976, Scranton and his wife hosted a "Day in the Country" party at Marworth. Among the guests in attendance were U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim and James Murray, British ambassador to the United Nations. In 1981, ground was broken for a new alcohol and drug rehabilitation center to be operated by the Geisinger Medical Management Corporation on the grounds at Marworth.

Scranton began his education at the Scranton Country Day School, which had been founded by his parents, completing his basic schooling at the Fessenden School in Newton, Massachusetts, and attended the prestigious Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut. Scranton graduated from Yale University in 1939. While at Yale, he was a member of the Yale Political Union and the Chi Psi fraternity, where he became friends with another fraternity brother from Delta Kappa Epsilon, future U.S. President Gerald Ford, and of the Berzelius Secret Senior Society (pictured with his Berzelius Class of '39 as