Topic: William Weld

William Floyd Weld (born July 31, 1945, in Smithtown, New York) was the 68th Governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997. From 1981 to 1988, he was a federal prosecutor in the United States Justice Department. In November 2006, he rejoined the international law firm of McDermott Will & Emery as a partner in its New York office.

William Weld's ancestor Edmund Weld was among the earliest students (Class of 1650) at Harvard College. He would be followed by eighteen more Welds at Harvard, where two buildings are named for the family. General Stephen Minot Weld Jr. fought with distinction in many major battles of the Civil War.

William Weld has a sense of humor about his background; when Massachusetts Senate president Billy Bulger publicly teased him about his all-American heritage and wealth, pointing out that his ancestors had come over on the Mayflower, Weld rose on the dais with a correction: "Actually, they weren't on the Mayflower. They sent the servants over first to get the cottage ready."