John S. Williams
Williams in 1923
House Minority Leader
In office March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1909
Deputy	James Tilghman Lloyd
Preceded by	James D. Richardson
Succeeded by	Champ Clark
Leader of theHouse Democratic Caucus
In office March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1909
Preceded by	James D. Richardson
Succeeded by	Champ Clark
United States Senator fromMississippi
In office March 4, 1911 – March 3, 1923
Preceded by	Hernando Money
Succeeded by	Hubert D. Stephens
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromMississippi
In office March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1909
Preceded by	Joseph H. Beeman
Succeeded by	James Collier
Constituency	5th district (1893–1903) 8th district (1903–1909)
Personal details
Born	John Sharp Williams (1854-07-30)July 30, 1854 Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
Died	September 27, 1932(1932-09-27) (aged 78) Yazoo City, Mississippi, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Betty Webb
Children	8[1]
Education	University of the South University of Virginia, Charlottesville (LLB)
Signature

John Sharp Williams (July 30, 1854 – September 27, 1932) was a prominent American politician in theDemocratic Party from the 1890s through the 1920s, and served as theMinority Leader of the United States House of Representatives from 1903 to 1908.

Williams was born inMemphis, Tennessee, but raised inYazoo County, Mississippi, after he was orphaned during theAmerican Civil War. After graduating from theKentucky Military Institute in 1870, he studied at theUniversity of the South before transferring to theUniversity of Virginia, Charlottesville, where he wasPhi Beta Kappa but did not complete all his science courses for hisbachelor's degree.^[2] He spent two years in Europe at theUniversity of Heidelberg and what is now theUniversity of Burgundy before returning to the University of Virginia to receive his law degree in 1876.^[2] After a brief return to Memphis (where he married Elizabeth Dial Webb in 1877), Williams returned to Yazoo County, where from 1878 to 1893 he ran the family plantation and kept a law practice.

Elected to theUnited States House of Representatives in 1893, Williams soon became a leader of the Democratic minority, renowned for his speaking skill and wit. Like most other Southern Democrats of the day, he was a proponent of coining silver and an opponent of high tariffs. In 1906, when Great Britain launchedHMSDreadnought, Williams flippantly proposed that the name of an American battleship being built in response at the urging ofTheodore Roosevelt be changed fromMichigan toSkeered o' Nothin' and that the ship's first mission be to challengeDreadnought to a duel off the coast of Long Island, Roosevelt's home, with Roosevelt and most of his cabinet on deck.^[3]

During his time as ranking Democrat in the Republican-controlled House, Williams was given the privilege of choosing the Democrats assigned to committees by theHouse SpeakerJoseph Gurney Cannon (by the rules of the House, Cannon was entitled to make all appointments himself), giving him tremendous power within the minority party. In gratitude, Williams was known to omit Democrats whom Cannon found particularly objectionable from committee assignments. Recognizing his status vis-à-vis Cannon, Williams jokingly described his relative political impotence in the Cannon-dominatedCommittee on Rules, "I am invited to the seances but I am never consulted about the spiritualistic appearances."^[4]

By beating one of Mississippi's leading racebaiters,James K. Vardaman, Williams moved to theUnited States Senate in 1911 after anearly election on 21 January 1908. He became one ofWoodrow Wilson's strongest supporters, from Wilson's nomination for the Presidency in 1912 to the losing battle to ratify American participation in theLeague of Nations in 1920. During his time as a senator, he also served as a chairman of theCommittee to Establish a University of the United States.

He made a notorious denunciation of the black race when he declared on December 20, 1898: "You could ship-wreck 10,000 illiterate white Americans on a desert island, and in three weeks they would have a fairly good government, conceived and administered upon fairly democratic lines. You could ship-wreck 10,000 negroes, every one of whom was a graduate ofHarvard University, and in less than three years, they would have retrograded governmentally; half of the men would have been killed, and the other half would have two wives apiece."^[5]

After retiring from the Senate in 1923, Williams returned to his family plantation, where he spent the last decade of his life, dying in late 1932.

• Osborn, George Coleman (1932).Career of John Sharp Williams in the House of Representatives, 1893-1909. University of Indiana.
• Osborn, George C. (1943).John Sharp Williams: Planter-Statesman of the Deep South. Louisiana State University Press.

• United States Congress."John Sharp Williams (id: W000521)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

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John Sharp Williams

• The John Sharp Williams Collection (MUM00480) at University of Mississippi, Archive and Special Collections
• John Sharp Williams atFind a Grave

• 1854 births
• 1932 deaths
• Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Mississippi
• Democratic Party United States senators from Mississippi
• Minority leaders of the United States House of Representatives
• People from Yazoo County, Mississippi
• Politicians from Memphis, Tennessee
• Candidates in the 1904 United States presidential election
• University of Virginia alumni
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• Mississippi lawyers
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• Sewanee: The University of the South alumni
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