| Office: | 9th Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs |
| President: | Bill Clinton |
| Term Start: | November 18, 1999 |
| Term End: | January 20, 2001 |
| Predecessor: | Alice Stone Ilchman |
| Successor: | Patricia Harrison |
| Birthname: | William Banks Bader |
| Birth Date: | 8 September 1931 |
| Birth Place: | Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Spouse: | Gretta Bader |
| Relatives: | Edward L. Bader (grandfather) |
| Children: | 4, including Diedrich |
| Education: | Pomona College (BA) Princeton University (MA, PhD) |
| Allegiance: | United States |
| Branch: | /Reserves |
| Serviceyears: | 1955–1958 |
| Rank: | Captain |
William Banks Bader (September 8, 1931 – March 16, 2016)[1] [2] was an American diplomat who served as the assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs from 1999 to 2001.
Bader's paternal grandfather was Edward L. Bader, who was mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey and is of German and Scottish heritage.[3] [4] He was educated at Pomona College, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in 1953. He then studied as a Fulbright scholar at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the University of Vienna. During his time in Munich, Bader married his Pomona College classmate, sculptor Gretta Lange; they had four children, one of whom is actor Diedrich Bader. He served in the United States Navy from 1955 to 1958 on active duty and later transferred to the Reserves before retiring with the rank of captain. He then studied German history at Princeton University under Gordon A. Craig, earning a Master of Arts in 1960 and a PhD in 1964.
Bader joined the United States Foreign Service in 1965, and was posted to the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs in Washington, D.C. In 1966, Sen. J. William Fulbright (D-AR) invited Bader to join the staff of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations where he was a senior staff member overseeing international security and arms control from 1966 to 1969. During this time, he also worked for the United States Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs, chaired by Sen. Stuart Symington (D-MO).
In the early 1970s, Bader worked for the Ford Foundation in Paris. He became a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in 1974.
Bader returned to government in 1976 when he was appointed deputy under secretary of defense for policy. He returned to the staff of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 1979 as Staff Director at a time when the committee was considering the Camp David Accords, the Taiwan Relations Act, and SALT II.
In 1981, Bader became Vice President and Senior Officer of the Washington, D.C. office of SRI International. He moved to California in 1988 to become Vice President of SRI International's policy division.[5] He became president of the Eurasia Foundation in 1992. He spent 1996–97 as a visiting fellow at the World Bank Group.
In 1999, President of the United States Bill Clinton nominated Bader to be assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs and, after Senate confirmation, Bader held the office from November 18, 1999 until January 20, 2001.[1]
Bader and his wife had four children, the youngest being actor Diedrich Bader. The three elder children are academics working in the fields of linguistics, political science, and medieval history.[6] [7]