| Lawrence E. Walsh | |
|---|---|
| 4th United States Deputy Attorney General | |
| In office 1957 – 1960 |
|
| President | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Preceded by | William P. Rogers |
| Succeeded by | Byron White |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 8, 1912 Port Maitland, Nova Scotia |
| Political party | Republican |
| Alma mater | Columbia University Columbia Law School |
Lawrence Edward Walsh (born January 8, 1912) is an American lawyer and former judge and Deputy Attorney General who was appointed Independent Counsel in December 1986 to investigate the Iran-Contra affair during the Reagan Administration.
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Walsh was born in Port Maitland, Nova Scotia, Canada, the grandson of a sea captain, and the son of a family doctor.[1] Walsh grew up in Queens, New York, and attended Flushing High School.[1]
Walsh received an A.B. from Columbia University in 1932 and an LL.B. from Columbia Law School in 1935. After graduating from law school, he served a varied career in public life, including as special assistant attorney general of Drukman Investigation from 1936 to 1938 and as a deputy assistant district attorney of New York County from 1938 to 1941. After a period in private practice of law in New York City from 1941 to 1943, he served as assistant counsel to New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey from 1943 to 1949 and as Counsel to the Governor from 1950 to 1951. He was a Counsel for the Public Service Commission from 1951 to 1953, and the general counsel and Executive Director of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor from 1953 to 1954.
On April 6, 1954, Walsh was named by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to a newly created seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 27, 1954, and received his commission on April 28, 1954. He resigned on December 29, 1957 to become the Deputy Attorney General, in which capacity he served from 1957 to 1960.
After leaving the Eisenhower administration, Walsh resumed the private practice of law in New York City, where he practiced from 1961 to 1981 as a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell, where he worked on the Bendectin litigation and represented companies such as General Motors and AT&T.[1] In 1969, on the recommendation of his former boss, Secretary of State and former Attorney General William P. Rogers, Walsh was named as an ambassador in the U.S. Delegation to the Paris Peace Talks in 1969, but held the position for only a short period of time. He served as president of the American Bar Association from 1975 until 1976. In 1981, approaching Davis Polk's mandatory retirement age,[1] Walsh moved his practice to his wife's home town of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where he joined the firm of Crowe & Dunlevy.
On December 19, 1986, Walsh was named as the independent counsel in charge of the Iran-Contra investigation. His investigation led to the convictions of both former National Security Advisor John Poindexter and National Security Council member Oliver North, though both convictions were subsequently reversed. Walsh also brought an indictment on two counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice against former defense secretary Caspar Weinberger in June 1992, though much of the indictment was dismissed for technical reasons that September.
On the eve of the 1992 presidential election, on October 30, Mr. Walsh re-indicted Weinberger on one count of "false statements." The indictment conflicted with longstanding Justice Department policy of not bringing an indictment of a political figure out of a grand jury after August of an election year. Walsh went further, specifically implicating Bush in the scandal, though the accusation was irrelevant to the indictment. Bush had been closing the gap with Bill Clinton when Walsh made the indictment, and many believe Walsh's action put the final nail in his campaign.[2][3][4] Clinton administration attorney Lanny Davis called the decision to indict a week before the election rather than after the election "bizarre."[2] Judge Thomas Hogan dismissed the October indictment two months later for being outside the statute of limitations.[4] Weinberger's subsequent pardon by President George Bush in December 1992 preempted any trial. Walsh steadfastly denied that the investigation was politically motivated, as Bush and others criticized it as "the criminalization of policy differences."[1]
Walsh submitted his final report on August 4, 1993, and later wrote an account of his experiences as counsel, Firewall: The Iran-Contra Conspiracy and Cover-Up.
Walsh had two children in his first marriage to Maxine Winton, which ended with the death of his wife. In 1965, he married Mary Alma Porter, with whom he has a daughter.[1]
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by William P. Rogers |
United States Deputy Attorney General Served under: Dwight D. Eisenhower 1957–1960 |
Succeeded by Byron White |
| Preceded by newly created seat |
Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York 1954–1957 |
Succeeded by Lloyd Francis MacMahon |