1921 – He demonstrated an ability to write, became chairman of the Yale Record, and graduated.

1929 – He took on as partner Chester Bowles and founded the New York agency of Benton and Bowles.

1937 – Benton to come to the university as a vice president.

1945 – Benton resigned from the university to become U.S. assistant secretary of state.

         – He devoted sustained attention to Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., which he led on an unprecedented course of acquisition and expansion.

1946 – He also lobbied the Fulbright Scholarship Act and the Foreign Service Act through Congress.

1949 – Appointed to a vacant U.S. Senate seat from Connecticut.

1950 – Benton won reelection to the remaining two years of that term.

1952 – He was defeated for a full term in the Republican electoral landslide.

         – He published the 54-volume Great Books of the Western World and Enciclopedia Barsa.

         – He set in motion joint ventures leading to the publication of major foreign encyclopaedias.

1963–1969 – Served as U.S. representative.

         – He acquired Compton’s Pictured Encyclopedia, G. and C. Merriam Company.

1968 – Benton was honoured by the University of Chicago with the first William Benton Distinguished Service Medal.

1973 – Died on the 8th of March in New York.