He later served as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson and as chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court.

During World War II, he served four years in the United States Navy as an air combat intelligence officer in the South Pacific.

He later served as the deputy director of the Office of Price Administration from 1946 to 1947, and was named to the Michigan Liquor Control Commission in 1947.

He appeared on the cover of Time's September 15, 1952, issue, sporting his signature green bow tie with white polka dots.

Williams believed the Michigan Department of Corrections was underfunded and outdated, and that the state's prisons were dangerously overcrowded.

While visiting Marquette Branch Prison in July 1950, Williams was attacked and briefly held hostage by a group of three inmates hoping to escape.

He used the attack to his political advantage, blaming it on budget cuts made by the Republican-controlled Michigan Legislature.

After leaving office in 1961, Williams assumed the post of Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the administration of President John F. Kennedy.

[13] Whites in South Africa and Rhodesia, and in the British and Portuguese colonies contended that Williams wanted them expelled from the continent.

"[14] He served in this post until early 1966, when he resigned to unsuccessfully challenge Republican US senator Robert P. Griffin.

Williams was elected to the Michigan Supreme Court in 1970 and was named chief justice in 1983, serving in that capacity through 1986.

His New York Times obituary said of Williams's diplomatic service: "Traveling widely, he studied the needs of countries in the birth pangs of independence and brought their pleas for American investment and trust to Washington.

First year students draft a dispositive motion and brief in support as part of their writing course, and argue their position before a mock tribunal.