William Crook (politician)

{{Short description|American preacher and politician}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix =

| name = William Crook

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| office = 11th United States Ambassador to Australia

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| term_start = 1968

| term_end = 1969

| president = Lyndon B. Johnson

| predecessor = Ed Clark

| successor = Walter L. Rice

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| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1925|04|18}}

| birth_place = Momence, Illinois, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1997|10|29|1925|04|18}}

| party = Democratic

| spouse = Eleanor Butt (m. 1954)

| children = 3

| relations = Howard Edward Butt Sr. (father-in-law)

}}

William Herbert Crook (April 18, 1925 – October 29, 1997) was an American preacher turned politician, national director of the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) program and U.S. Ambassador to Australia.{{cite news |author1=Robert McG. Thomas Jr. |author-link1=Robert McG. Thomas Jr. |title=William Crook, 72, Ambassador To Australia and Johnson Aide |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/31/us/william-crook-72-ambassador-to-australia-and-johnson-aide.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=1 April 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=31 October 1997 |page=D 23}}

William Herbert Crook was born in Momence, Illinois on April 18, 1925.{{cite book |title=Department of State Publication:Department and Foreign Service series, Issue 147 |date=1948 |publisher=United States Department of State |pages=208 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ohXOHOu2ZjIC&dq=William+Crook+1925+australia&pg=PA208 |access-date=24 September 2022}}{{cite book |title=Press Releases |date=28 June 1968 |publisher=United States Department of State |pages=153 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l9lIAQAAIAAJ&dq=William+Crook+1925+australia&pg=RA54-PA11 |access-date=24 September 2022}} In 1954, Crook married Eleanor Butt, daughter of Howard Edward Butt Sr., the founder of the H-E-B grocery store chain. They had three children, William Crook Jr., Elizabeth Crook, and Noel Moore. He died on October 29, 1997, at the age of 72.