John Bell Williams

John Bell Williams (December 4, 1918 – March 25, 1983) was an American Democratic politician who represented Mississippi in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1968 and served as the 55th governor of Mississippi from 1968 to 1972. He was first elected to Congress in 1946, representing southwestern Mississippi. At just 27 years old, he was the youngest man to be elected U.S. Representative from Mississippi. He was re-elected repeatedly to Congress through the 1966 election in what was then a one-party Democratic state but was stripped of his congressional leadership positions after he supported Republican Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election. Williams was elected Governor in 1967, defeating numerous candidates. He had a history of supporting racial segregation but complied with a federal court order to finally desegregate Mississippi's public schools. Early life and education John Bell Williams was born in 1918 in Raymond, the county seat of Hinds County, near the state capital of Jackson. He graduated in 1938 from Hinds Community College, then known as Hinds Junior College. He attended the University of Mississippi at Oxford and graduated in 1940 from Mississippi College School of Law, then known simply as the Jackson Law School.