[1] A former editor of The Washington Post during the Watergate era, he later created two television dramas and is the author of five books including the Ted Turner biography Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way.

When the cast and crew of the Robert Redford movie All The President's Men descended on the newsroom to conduct research for the film, Williams served as the assignment editor on the article about the experience behind the scenes.

[5] In 1986, ABC produced a three-hour movie of the week, Under Siege, written by Bob Woodward, Richard Harwood and Williams based on their terrorism reporting.

[8][9] Williams crewed for Ted Turner aboard Tenacious for the 1979 Fastnet race, which was the event of the largest yacht racing disaster in modern times where out of 303 boats, only 86 yachts finished, of which Williams was aboard the race-winning boat.

[13] Philosophy of Sailing: Offshore in Search of the Universe, published in 2018, attempts to apply techniques of phenomenology and other forms of inquiry to the experience of isolation and solitude.

[15] His novel, Rarotonga, (East Wind Press, 2019), explores the attempt of a controversial millionaire to flee family, the IRS and a murder charge in search of paradise alone on his luxury sailing yacht.