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==Biography==
William was born in [[Chicago, Illinois]], September 17, 1888. His mother was Mary Elizabeth Avery before she married William P. MacCracken. Young William studied law at the [[University of Chicago]] and earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1911. His practice in Chicago was interrupted by his service as a [[flight instructor]] in the [[Air Service, United States Army|Air Service]] during World War I. He married Sally Lucille Lewis on September 14, 1918.<ref name=Pap>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080421135250/http://www.ecommcode2.com/hoover/research/historicalmaterials/other/maccrack.htm William P. Mac Cracken, Jr. Papers]</ref> From 1922 to 26 he was a member of the board of governors of the [[National Aeronautic Association]],<ref name=FAA>[https://www.faa.gov/about/history/milestones/media/The_First_Federal_Regulator_for_Aviation.pdf The First Federal Regulator for Aviation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171003030738/https://www.faa.gov/about/history/milestones/media/The_First_Federal_Regulator_for_Aviation.pdf |date=2017-10-03 }} from [[Federal Aviation Administration]]</ref> and from 1920 to 1938 he was a member of the [[National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics]].<ref name=ABA/>
MacCracken entered public service as assistant [[Attorney General]] of [[Illinois]] in 1923, and the following year assistant [[State's Attorney]] for [[Cook County]].<ref name=Pap/> MacCracken became the first federal regulator of commercial aviation when then-[[Secretary of Commerce]] [[Herbert Hoover]] named him the first Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics in 1926. He appointed [[Louis H. Bauer]] as the first medical director of the Aeronautics Branch.<ref name=FAA/>
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:MacCracken had a long experience in the legal aspects of flying and had built a thriving law practice representing aviation clients. He also had close ties to Hoover and Brown and had chaired the 1930 spoils conference. Not surprisingly the Black committee subpoenaed his documents. MacCracken refused to comply, pleading the confidentiality of the lawyer-client relationship...¶ MacCracken may have been motivated by a sense of ethics, but his own actions and those of his associates deeply compromised him. With the files still under subpoena, MacCracken and Gilbert Givvin, a secretary to [[Transcontinental and Western]] Air president Harris Hanshue, removed several items and mailed them to Hanshue. Another MacCracken client, L. H. Brittin of [[Northwest Airways]], secured permission from MacCracken’s law partner to remove approximately half a dozen letters Brittin considered personal. He then returned to his own office, tore the letters to pieces, and threw the fragments into the wastebasket...the attorney and his associates were summoned before the senate on contempt charges...With the other three defendants appearing before the senate as ordered, MacCracken went into hiding...After brief deliberation, the chamber acquitted Hanshue and Givven, but sentenced Brittin and MacCracken to ten days in the [[District of Columbia]] jail. While Brittin promptly served his sentence, MacCracken continued to resist the Senate’s authority. Ultimately, the [[U. S. Supreme Court]] unanimously rejected MacCracken’s plea and forced him to serve his sentence.<ref name=DDL>Daniel D. Lee (1991) "Senator Black's Investigation of the Air Mail 1933-34", [[The Historian (journal)|The Historian]] 53: 423–42</ref>{{rp|436}}
MacCracken had filed a petition of ''[[habeas corpus]]'' in federal courts to overturn his arrest, but after litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Congress had acted constitutionally, and denied the petition in the case [[Jurney v. MacCracken|''Jurney'' v. ''MacCracken'']].<ref>[http://supreme.justia.com/us/294/125/case.html Jurney v. MacCraken, 294 U.S. 125 (1935)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811095052/http://supreme.justia.com/us/294/125/case.html |date=2011-08-11 }} at [[Justia]]</ref> According to [[The Washington Post]], "Chesley Jurney, the [[Senate sargeant at arms]], had no place to hold MacCracken who, after being sentenced, showed up at Jurney's house and stayed the night. The next day he was confined to a room at the [[Willard Hotel]]".<ref>Philip Bump (January 18, 2018) [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/01/18/congress-ability-to-twist-arms-is-limited-unless-it-wants-to-arrest-bannon-itself/ Congress’s ability to twist arms is limited] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508072754/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/01/18/congress-ability-to-twist-arms-is-limited-unless-it-wants-to-arrest-bannon-itself/ |date=2019-05-08 }}, [[The Washington Post]]</ref>
From 1942 to 1968 MacCracken was an attorney for the [[American Optometric Association]].<ref name=FAA/> "His influence on optometry's recognition by the federal government was profound."<ref>
A biography of William P. MacCracken was assembled and published by [[Southern College of Optometry]].
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* Secretary, [[American Bar Association]] 1925 to 36<ref name=ABA>{{Google books|id=JRxtwqp3eEwC|title=William Patterson MacCracken, Jr. 1888 — 1969 |page=PA1065}}, Journal of the [[American Bar Association]] November 1969</ref>
*April 6, 1927 recipient of the first pilot certificate issued by the Aeronautics Branch of the Department of Commerce.
* [[Collier Trophy]] 1928 (Aeronautics branch of US Department of Commerce)<ref>[https://naa.aero/awards/awards-and-trophies/collier-trophy/collier-1920-1929-winners Collier Trophy winners 1920 to 29] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170609012128/https://naa.aero/awards/awards-and-trophies/collier-trophy/collier-1920-1929-winners |date=2017-06-09 }} from * [[National Aeronautical Association]]</ref>
* LL.D. [[Norwich University]], Northfield Vermont 1936<ref name=Pap/>
* [[Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy]] 1959
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