{{short description|American politician}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = William Laird III | honorific_suffix = | image = WilliamRLaird.jpg | image_size = 220px | jr/sr = United States Senator | state = West Virginia | term_start = March 13, 1956 | term_end = November 6, 1956 | appointer = William C. Marland | predecessor = Harley M. Kilgore | successor = Chapman Revercomb | birth_name = William Ramsey Laird III | birth_date = {{birth date|1916|6|2|mf=y}} | birth_place = Keswick, California, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1974|1|7|1916|6|2|mf=y}} | death_place = Montgomery, West Virginia, U.S. | party = Democratic | spouse = Clara Cooke | children = 3, including William IV | alma_mater = Greenbrier Military School<br/>King College<br/>West Virginia University | allegiance = {{flag|United States|1912}} | branch = United States Navy | battles = World War II }}
'''William Ramsey Laird III''' (June 2, 1916 – January 7, 1974) was a United States senator from West Virginia. Born in Keswick, California, he was educated in the public schools. He graduated from Greenbrier Military School, King College (in Bristol, Tennessee) and from West Virginia University in 1944. During the Second World War he served in the United States Navy. He was admitted to the bar in 1944 and commenced the practice of law in West Virginia; he was a member of West Virginia Board of Education in 1955 and a member of the board of directors of Merchants National Bank, Montgomery, West Virginia and the Upper Kanawha Valley Development Association. He was a member of the board of trustees of the Laird Foundation in Montgomery and was State tax commissioner in 1955–1956, when he resigned, having been appointed to the U.S. Senate on March 13, 1956, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Harley M. Kilgore. A Democrat, he served from March 13, 1956, to November 6, 1956. He was not a candidate for election to fill the vacancy and resumed the practice of law in Fayetteville and Montgomery.
Laird died in Montgomery in 1974; his remains were interred in Huse Memorial Park, Fayetteville.
He had three children, including William Laird IV.<ref name="Time 1956">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,824104,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081214104005/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,824104,00.html|url-status=dead|archivedate=December 14, 2008|title=Old School Tie|magazine=Time|date=March 26, 1956}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} {{CongBio|L000025}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-sen}} {{succession box | before = Harley M. Kilgore | title = Class 1 U.S. Senator from West Virginia | years = 1956 | after = W. Chapman Revercomb}} {{s-end}}
{{USCongRep-start | congresses= 84th United States Congress | state= West Virginia}} {{USCongRep/WV/84}} {{USCongRep-end}} {{USSenWV}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laird, William 03}} Category:1916 births Category:1974 deaths Category:20th-century American lawyers Category:20th-century United States senators Category:20th-century West Virginia politicians Category:American corporate directors Category:Businesspeople from Montgomery, West Virginia Category:Democratic Party United States senators from West Virginia Category:Greenbrier Military School alumni Category:King University alumni Category:Lawyers from Montgomery, West Virginia Category:Members of the West Virginia Board of Education Category:Military personnel from Montgomery, West Virginia Category:People from Fayetteville, West Virginia Category:People from Shasta County, California Category:Politicians from Montgomery, West Virginia Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II Category:United States Navy sailors Category:West Virginia Democrats Category:West Virginia lawyers Category:West Virginia University alumni