William Cohen

**William Sebastian Cohen** (born August 28, 1940) is an American politician and author from the U.S. state of Maine. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Cohen was a member of the city council of Bangor, Maine from 1969 to 1972, and also was mayor of this city from 1971 to 1972.

He served as both a member of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate from Maine, and as Secretary of Defense (1997–2001) under Democratic President Bill Clinton.

BBC News hired Cohen as a world affairs analyst in May 2016. Cohen appears in this capacity on _BBC World News America_ and other broadcasts. He also serves as an Advisory Board member for the Partnership for a Secure America. Cohen is also a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One.

## Personal life

William Cohen is partly of Jewish descent (his father was Jewish).

On February 14, 1996, Cohen and Janet Langhart were married. Langhart is a former model, Boston television personality, and BET correspondent. Janet Langhart was known as the "First Lady of the Pentagon" during Cohen's tenure as Secretary.

Cohen served as Best Man in then-Senate Naval Liaison John McCain's second wedding (Gary Hart was a groomsman). McCain later became his Senate colleague.

## United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting

On the afternoon of June 10, 2009, Cohen was present at the United States Holocaust Museum, waiting for his wife Janet Langhart, for the world premiere of her one-act play, _Anne and Emmett_.  The play imagines a conversation between Anne Frank and Emmett Till. While Cohen waited, an elderly man with a long gun attacked the facility, fatally shooting a security guard before being wounded himself by the other guards. Cohen and his wife were not injured during the attack.

## 2016 U.S. presidential election

During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Cohen joined many Republicans in breaking with party ranks to oppose the candidacy of Republican nominee Donald Trump. He endorsed Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

## Other websites

- Official biography via the Department of Defense
- Thursday October  2009 Audio interview  about government terrorism, individual liberty and foreign war policies. University of Illinois in-depth radio programs on Focus 580
- William Cohen to Co-Chair Genocide Prevention Task Force
- Biography from the William S. Cohen Archive, University of Maine Fogler Library
- Voting record maintained by the Washington Post

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **image**: William Cohen, official portrait.jpg
- **office**: 20th United States Secretary of Defense
- **president**: Bill Clinton
- **deputy**: John Hamre
Rudy de Leon
- **term start**: January 24, 1997
- **term end**: January 20, 2001
- **predecessor**: William Perry
- **successor**: Donald Rumsfeld
- **office1**: Chairman of the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging, Senate Aging Committee
- **term start1**: January 4, 1995
- **term end1**: January 3, 1997
- **predecessor1**: David Pryor
- **successor1**: Chuck Grassley
- **office2**: Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Senate Indian Affairs Committee
- **term start2**: January 5, 1981
- **term end2**: January 3, 1983
- **predecessor2**: John Melcher
- **successor2**: Mark Andrews (politician), Mark Andrews
- **jr/sr3**: United States
- **state3**: Maine
- **term start3**: January 3, 1979
- **term end3**: January 3, 1997
- **predecessor3**: William Hathaway, Bill Hathaway
- **successor3**: Susan Collins
- **state4**: Maine
- **term start4**: January 3, 1973
- **term end4**: January 3, 1979
- **predecessor4**: William Hathaway, Bill Hathaway
- **successor4**: Olympia Snowe
- **birth name**: William Sebastian Cohen
- **birth place**: Bangor, Maine, U.S.
- **party**: Republican Party (United States), Republican
- **spouse**: Diana Dunn
Janet Langhart
- **alma mater**: Bowdoin College
Boston University School of Law, Boston University