title: William Knowland
text: William Fife Knowland (June 26, 1908 – February 23, 1974) was an American politician, newspaper publisher, and Republican Party leader. He was a U.S. Senator representing California from 1945 to 1959. He was Senate Majority Leader from August 1953 to January 1955 after the death of Robert A. Taft. In 1958, he made a failed run for Governor of California.
  
  On February 23, 1974, Knowland shot himself in the head at his summer home near Guerneville, California at the age of 65. He died owing over $900,000 to banks and impatient mobsters.
  
  References
  
  Other websites
   Retrieved on 2008-02-09
  
  Oakland Tribune Archives
  William F. Knowland Papers Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
  Knowland Family California at Political Graveyard
  William Knowland Political History
  Oral history interview 
  
  1908 births
  1974 deaths
  Suicides by firearm in the United States
  Anti-Communists
  American Methodists
  Minority leaders of the United States Senate
  Majority leaders of the United States Senate
  American military personnel of World War II
  Politicians who committed suicide
  United States senators from California
  Businesspeople from Oakland, California
  Politicians from Oakland, California