William Julius Lederer was an American author, US Naval Academy graduate, and Cold Warrior . His first appointment was as the junior officer of a river gunboat on the Yangtze River. He eventually rose to the rank of Commander.

His most well known work was probably The Ugly American. It was co-written with Eugene Burdick. This work, and many of his other works had a strong anti-communist subtext. Other works were intended to be light-hearted and humourous fantasies. His early work, Ensign O'Toole and Me is both.

The generous and thoughtful Americans described by Lederer in the "fact-based" The Ugly American represented diplomatic ideals he and co-author believed the United States need to aspire to in order to win the "hearts and minds" of Southeast Asia and combat the spread of Communism in that region.

A partial list of his works follows:

• The Ugly American, 1958 (co-author, with Eugene Burdick)
• Sarkhan: a novel (co-author, with Eugene Burdick)
• The 480 (co-author, with Eugene Burdick)
• The Deceptive American, (co-author, with Eugene Burdick)

• The last cruise; the story of the sinking of the submarine, U.S.S. Cochino, 1950 (author)
• Ensign O'Toole and Me , 1957 (author)
• A Nation of Sheep, 1962 (author)
• All the Ship's at Sea , 1964 (author)
• McHale's Navy joins the Air Force, 1965 (co-screenwriter)
• Timothy's song, 1965 (author)
• The Story of Pink Jade, 1966 (author)
• Our Own Worst Enemy, 1968 (author)
• The anguished American, 1968 (author)
• I, Giorghos, 1984 (author)
• Complete cross-country skiing and ski touring, 1977 (author)
• Marital Choices: Forecasting, Assessing, and Improving a Relationship, 1981 (author)
• A Happy Book of Happy Stories, 1981 (author)
• New Complete Book of Cross Country Skiing, 1983 (author)
• Creating a Good Relationship, 1984 (author)
• The Mirages of Marriage, 1990 (co-author)