James Hamilton

James Hamilton (born 1938) is a former attorney who came to prominence for his role in the United States Senate Watergate Committee.

Biography

Early life and education Hamilton was born in Chester, South Carolina in 1938. During his childhood, he often spent summers in Montreat, North Carolina. He attended Davidson College before earning a law degree from Yale University in 1969. He then served in the United States Army, where he was an Army investigator. under Samuel Dash.

In 1976, he published The Power to Probe: A Study of Congressional Investigations through Random House. The book was described as "the definitive history of congressional investigations" in 2022.

In 1977, he was appointed administrator of the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration. He married Siri Kristina Hagglund in July 1979, a Swedish academic who taught at George Washington University while studying for her PhD in applied linguistics. At this time, he was also a partner at Ginsburg, Feldman & Bress.

Hamilton previously served on the President's Intelligence Advisory Board and has served on the board of the United Service Organizations since 2011. He spoke at the judiciary hearing regarding the Bill Clinton sexual assault and misconduct allegations in 1998.

During the 2000s, he vetted vice presidential candidates for presidential campaigns including the Al Gore 2000 campaign, the John Kerry 2004 campaign, the Barack Obama 2008 campaign and the Hillary Clinton 2016 campaign. In 2013, he represented Michael Mullen during the Investigations into the 2012 Benghazi attack. He was also a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.

In 2022, he published Advocate: On History's Front Lines from Watergate to the Keating Five, Clinton Impeachment, and Benghazi through University Press of Kansas. The memoir, which covers his life and career in Washington, D.C., was well received by critics.