[1] He attended the College of the Holy Cross, where he was a member of the school's first Reserve Officers' Training Corps class.
Despite pressure to give the job to Foley Jr. or another well-known political figure, Governor Paul A. Dever appointed assistant district attorney Garrett H.
[2] In 1958, Foley ran for Suffolk County Register of Deeds, an office that became open when Leo J. Sullivan was appointed Boston police commissioner.
[10] During his tenure on the council, Foley was described as “rough, articulate” “skillful parliamentarian and an adept needler of witnesses and other councilors".
[11][10] In 1956, The Boston Globe‘s Joseph A. Keblinsky wrote that "Galleryites always could expect mellifluous oratory and passages from Shakespeare, Cicero, Pliny, Virgil and Homer whenever "Bill" stood up on the council floor, particularly when it was some measure by councilor Gabriel Francisco (sic) Piemonte".
[2] Other subjects of Foley's attacks included Boston Redevelopment Authority head Edward J. Logue, whom he called a “bad-for-Boston demagogue”, John E. Kerrigan, a fellow councilor and former ally whom he had a falling out with over urban renewal in South Boston, and councillor Katherine Craven, who once threw an ashtray at Foley after he insulted her.