William Collins Whitney (July 5, 1841 - February 2, 1904) was an American political leader and financier.
William Whitney was born at Conway, Massachusetts of Puritan stock. He graduated at Yale in 1863, studied law at Harvard, and practised with success in New York City. He was an aggressive opponent of the Tweed Ring , and was actively allied with the anti-Tammany organizations, the Irving Hall Democracy of 1875-1890, and the County Democracy of 1880-1890, but upon the dissolution of the latter he became identified with Tammany. In 1875-1882, he was corporation counsel of New York, and as such brought about a codification of the laws relating to the city, and successfully contested a large part of certain claims, largely fraudulent, against the city, amounting to about $20,000,000, and a heritage from the Tweed regime. During President Cleveland's first administration (1885-1889), Whitney was United States Secretary of the Navy and did much to develop the navy, especially by encouraging the domestic manufacture of plate armour. In 1892, he was instrumental in bringing about the third nomination of Cleveland, and took an influential part in the ensuing presidential campaign. In 1896, however, disapproving of the "free-silver" agitation, he refused to support his party's candidate, William Jennings Bryan. Whitney took an active interest in the development of public transport
in New York, and was one of the organizers of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company . He was also interested in horse-racing, and in 1901 won the English Derby with Volodyovski, leased by him from Lady Meux.
