Category:William Hayward (officer)

English: William Hayward was born in Nebraska City, Otoe County, Nebraska, in 1877. He graduated from the University of Nebraska and Willa Cather was his schoolmate. During Hayward’s undergraduate days, he was a member of the University’s corps of cadets. Lieutenant Pershing was its commanding officer from 1891-1895 and obtained a law degree from the University in 1893. Hayward himself graduated from the law school in 1897. In April 1898, Hayward was made a captain in the Second Nebraska Volunteer Infantry Regiment of the Nebraska National Guard, a unit not deployed outside the country during the Spanish-American War. He was made a colonel before he concluded his military service in 1901 and carried the title throughout his life. After his his father, Monroe Hayward, was elected in March 1899 a U.S. Senator from Nebraska, he served as his secretary. Hayward was elected chair of the Nebraska Republican State Central Committee three times from 1907 to 1909. From 1908 to 1912 he was the secretary of the Republican National Committee, holding this office during the Republican National Conventions of 1908 and 1912 held in Chicago. In 1913, he became an Assistant District Attorney in New York County under District Attorney Charles S. Whitman (1868-1947). During the world War I, he was a regimental commander of the 369th Infantry Regiment (United States), known as the Harlem Hellfighters. In June 1921-March 2, 1925, William Hayward served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Col. Hayward's son, was Broadway producer Leland Hayward'; and the writer Brooke Hayward is his granddaughter. (Source: James Thunder. Republican William Hayward: Commanding Officer of the Harlem Hellfighters, Spero News, Jul 29, 2015.)