
1900 – Born on the 1st of April in Minneapolis, Minn., U.S.
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.