William D. Mitchell

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William D. Mitchell (1874–1955) was an American lawyer who held two of the highest U.S. legal jobs. He served as Solicitor General from 1925 to 1929 under President Calvin Coolidge and then as United States Attorney General from 1929 to 1933 under President Herbert Hoover. As attorney general, one of his noted actions was ordering the dispersal of the Bonus Army in 1932.

Early life and education
Mitchell was born in Winona, Minnesota, the son of William B. Mitchell, a Minnesota Supreme Court justice, and Frances Merritt. He attended the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, then went to Yale University in 1891. He initially studied electrical engineering but switched to law, transferring to the University of Minnesota. He earned his AB degree in 1895 and his LL.B. in 1896. He began practicing law in Saint Paul and married Gertrude Bancroft in 1901; they had two sons, William and Bancroft.

Career and military service
Mitchell built a successful law practice and formed the firm How, Taylor & Mitchell. He helped in public service roles, including work with the U.S. Railroad Administration in 1919 and chairing the Citizens Charter Committee of Saint Paul in 1922. He served in the military during his life: as a line officer in the Spanish-American War with the 15th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, later as an engineer and adjutant in the Minnesota Army National Guard, and during World War I with the 6th Infantry Regiment, eventually rising to the rank of colonel.

Later life
After leaving the Hoover administration, Mitchell moved to New York City to practice law. He became chairman of the Committee on Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and served as chief counsel for a joint congressional committee investigating the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Death
Mitchell died in Syosset, New York, on August 24, 1955, at age 80. He is buried at Oakland Cemetery in Saint Paul, Minnesota.