He had a history of supporting racial segregation but complied with a federal court order to finally desegregate Mississippi's public schools.

In November 1941, he enlisted with the United States Army Air Corps and served as a pilot during World War II.

He retired from active service after losing the lower part of his left arm as a result of a bomber crash in 1944.

[1] In November 1946, Williams was elected at the age of 27 (he turned 28 in December) to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat from southwestern Mississippi.

After the Supreme Court issued its Brown v. Board of Education ruling on May 17, 1954, which outlawed racial segregation in public schools, Williams made a speech on the House floor branding the day 'Black Monday',[2] and subsequently signed the 1956 Southern Manifesto.

In the general election, Williams handily defeated Democrat-turned-Republican Rubel Phillips, in his second unsuccessful campaign for governor.

Phillips' running mate for lieutenant governor in 1963, Stanford Morse, a member of the Mississippi State Senate from Gulfport from 1956 to 1964, endorsed Williams in the 1967 race.

In December 1978, 24 years after Brown v. Board of Education, the Mississippi legislature officially removed from the state constitution the mandate that schools be segregated.