William Letwin (14 December 1922 – 20 February 2013) was an Anglo-American academic who ended his career as Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics. The son of a grocer, Letwin grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, living above his father's shop, and gained entry to the University of Chicago in a scheme to benefit the brightest students from poorer schools. He graduated BA in 1943, and joined the US Army, seeing Second World War active service in the Pacific as an intelligence officer on the staff of Douglas MacArthur. In 1944, while on leave, he married a fellow Chicago student, Shirley Robin Letwin (1924–1993). Leaving the U.S Army in 1946, Letwin returned to Chicago as a graduate student, then in 1948 transferred to the London School of Economics for two years with t