John Sharp Williams

John Sharp Williams

John Sharp Williams (* thirtieth July 1854 in Memphis , Tennessee ; † 27. September 1932 ) was an American politician of the Democratic Party , of the state of Mississippi in both houses of the US Congress represented.

Life

John Sharp Williams was born in Tennessee but spent much of his youth in Yazoo County , Mississippi, after losing his parents during the American Civil War . After studying at five different universities, including Heidelberg University , he graduated from the University of Virginia in 1876 ​​with a law degree . After a brief return to Memphis, where he married Elizabeth Dial Webb in 1877, he returned to Yazoo County, where he ran his family's plantation between 1878 and 1893 and worked as a lawyer.

politics

After being elected to the US House of Representatives in 1893 , Williams quickly rose to become one of the leading figures in the Democratic minority faction, not least thanks to his talent as a speaker. In 1903 he took over the position of minority leader , which he held until 1908. Like most Southern Democrats of the time, he made a name for himself as a supporter of the silver currency and an opponent of high tariffs; however, he differed from them in that he did not make any racist statements that should have increased his popularity with the electorate.

Williams then faced one of Mississippi's leading racists, James K. Vardaman , when he ran for a seat in the US Senate in 1910 . He prevailed against the incumbent and, as a senator, was one of the staunchest supporters of US President Woodrow Wilson from his nomination by the party in 1912 to the loss of the fight for US membership in the League of Nations in 1920. During this time he also served as chairman of the Committee to Establish a University of the United States . This committee achieved its goal of creating a "University of the United States" but failed; Williams was its last chairman before it was dissolved in 1921.

In 1923 John Sharp Williams, who, due to his Welsh origins, always proudly pointed out the contribution of his "compatriots" to the construction of the USA, left the Senate. He returned to his family's plantation, where he spent the last decade of his life. John Williams was a cousin of Congressman Sydenham Benoni Alexander .

Web links

Commons : John Sharp Williams  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

• John Sharp Williams in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• The John Sharp Williams Collection at the University of Mississippi
• John Sharp Williams at The Political Graveyard (English)