William Gerald McLoughlin (June 11, 1922 – December 28, 1992) was an American historian and prominent member of the history department at Brown University from 1954 to 1992.
His subject areas were the history of religion in the United States, revivalism, the Cherokee, missionaries to Native Americans, abolitionism, and Rhode Island.
from Princeton University in 1947, graduating Phi Beta Kappa after having taken a three-year hiatus from his studies to serve as a first lieutenant in the field artillery in World War II.
His many publications won him wide recognition, including the 1972 Frederic C. Melcher Prize for the best book on religion in America, for his New England Dissent (1971).
A major religion case that McLoughlin and the Rhode Island ACLU took on in 1984 was ultimately heard by the U.S. Supreme Court (Lynch v. Donnelly).