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George J. Terwilliger III

lawyer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ179095 ↗
Source-derived summary

George James Terwilliger III (born June 5, 1950) is an American lawyer and public official. Since January 2024, he has been serving as an attorney and counsel at Terwilliger Law PLLC in Washington, D.C., continuing to represent clients on a selective basis, and prior to that, he served as a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of McGuireWoods LLP, where he served as head of the firm's Crisis Response practice and co-head of its white collar team from January 2015 to January 2024. Terwilliger, of Vermont, was nominated on February 14, 1992, by President George H. W. Bush to be United States Deputy Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). He succeeded William Barr. As United States Deputy Attorney General, Terwilliger became the second-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and ran the day-to-day operations of the department, serving in that position from 1991 through 1993. He was appointed to the position by President George H.W. Bush after serving as the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont, appointed by President Reagan. He also served as acting United States Attorney General in his capacity as United States Deputy Attorney General following the resignation of William Barr as the 77th United States Attorney General Terwilliger resigned at noon on January 20, 1993, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 508.

Early and family life

Terwilliger was born June 5, 1950, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He grew up in Metuchen, N.J., went to public school, graduated from Seton Hall University (B.A., 1973) with a degree in Communications and Antioch School of Law (J.D., 1978). Married, Terwilliger has three children and three grandchildren, and resides in Delaplane, Virginia, where he operates the family farm, Pleasant Vale Farm, and manages other business interests.

Editorial summary

“George J. Terwilliger III” enters the record as lawyer. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what George, Terwilliger and lawyer can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1950, 2024, 2015, 1992—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1950-06-05. Its strongest next move is a source search built around George, Terwilliger and lawyer.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“George J. Terwilliger III” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, George, Terwilliger and lawyer provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q179095. VIAF identifies the subject as 147009192. The Library of Congress control number is no2010171566. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1950, 2024, 2015 and 1992.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “George J. Terwilliger III”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow George J. Terwilliger III primary sources, George J. Terwilliger III archive and George research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “George J. Terwilliger III”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “George J. Terwilliger III” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.