Pat Williams | |
|---|---|
 Williams, c. 1995 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMontana | |
| In office January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1997 | |
| Preceded by | Max Baucus |
| Succeeded by | Rick Hill |
| Constituency | 1st (1979–1993) At-large (1993–1997) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Patrick Williams (1937-10-30)October 30, 1937 Helena, Montana, U.S. |
| Died | June 25, 2025(2025-06-25) (aged 87) Missoula, Montana, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Carol Griffith |
| Children | Griff Williams, Erin Williams,Whitney Williams[1] |
| Relatives | Evel Knievel (cousin) |
| Education | University of Montana William Jewell College University of Denver (BA) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch | Montana National Guard Colorado National Guard |
| Service years | 1961–1969 |
John Patrick Williams (October 30, 1937 – June 25, 2025) was an American politician who representedMontana in theUnited States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1997, as a member of theDemocratic Party.[2] He was Montana's longest serving U.S. Congressman.[3]
Williams was born inHelena, Montana on October 30, 1937. He attended theUniversity of Montana inMissoula,William Jewell College, and theUniversity of Denver, Colorado, earning a BA.[4] From 1961 to 1969, he was a member of theNational Guard in Colorado and Montana, and was a teacher inButte, Montana.[5] His cousin wasEvel Knievel, an American daredevil and showman.[6]
In 1966, Williams was elected to theMontana House of Representatives in District 23 ofSilver Bow County, winning reelection in 1968. From 1969 to 1971, he served as the executive assistant to Montana RepresentativeJohn Melcher. Williams was a member of the Governor's Employment and Training Council from 1972 to 1978 and served on the Montana Reapportionment Commission from 1972 to 1973.
In 1974, Williams ran an unsuccessful primary election campaign against future SenatorMax Baucus for theDemocratic Party nomination forMontana's U.S. House 1st District Representative. Baucus went on towin the November election, defeatingRepublicanDick Shoup. In 1978, Baucus retired torun for U.S. senator and Williams ran a successful primary campaign againstDorothy Bradley to win the Democratic nomination for the 1st District of Montana. That November, Williams defeated RepublicanJim Waltermire in one of Montana's largest door-to-door campaigns,winning 57% of the vote and gaining election to the96th U.S. Congress.
Williams was a vocal champion for Federal Arts Funding, and is credited with saving theNational Endowment for the Arts (NEA)[7] for his staunch advocacy of the NEA, Williams garnered national attention during the Culture Wars of the late 1980s and early 1990s.John Frohnmayer, who served as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts during that tumultuous era, said "(Williams) was a tireless and fearless supporter of the arts", and that he "risked his political career in doing so".[7]
In September 1987, theSoutheastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, received a grant of $75,000 from the NEA to support the seventh annual Awards in the Visual Arts program. One of the works selected was photographerAndres Serrano'sPiss Christ.[8] Nearly a year later, in July 1988, the University of Pennsylvania'sInstitute of Contemporary Art (ICA) received an NEA grant and used it to fund a retrospective exhibition ofRobert Mapplethorpe's work which included some graphic sexual imagery. The furor over the Serrano and Mapplethorpe images began whenDonald E. Wildmon of the conservativeAmerican Family Association (AFA) saw the catalogue containing Serrano's photograph. Spurred by the AFA and other conservative groups, prominent Republican leaders in both theHouse andSenate urged that immediate action be taken against the Endowment. Thousands of citizens across the country flooded Congress with protests.[8] Williams chaired theHouse Education and Labor's Postsecondary Education subcommittee which oversaw the reauthorization of the Endowment. On May 17, 1990, Wildmon threatened to send copies of works by Mapplethorpe to voters in Williams’s district.[9] A month later, Rev.Pat Robertson took out a full-page newspaper advertisement addressed to members of Congress, which read: "Do you also want to face the voters with the charge that you are wasting their hard earned money to promotesodomy,child pornography andattacks on Jesus Christ?... There is one way to find out. Vote for the NEA appropriation just like Pat Williams, John Frohnmayer, and the gay and lesbian task force want. And make my day."[10]
Congressional criticism of the NEA was spearheaded by senatorsJesse Helms (R–NC) andAlfonse D'Amato (R–NY).[8] Senator D'Amato tore up a copy of a catalogue featuringPiss Christ on the floor of the Senate.[11] Later, on July 26, 1989, Helms offered an amendment to prevent federal support for"obscene and indecent" art.[12] Aware of the NEA's desperate situation, and the impossibility of pulling together a core of support for a straight, five-year reauthorization, Representative Williams worked throughout the summer to formulate a compromise bill. In October, he announced that he and RepresentativeEarl Thomas Coleman had devised legislation, the Williams-Coleman compromise, that would alter the structure of the Endowment's grant-making procedure;[13] leave the obscenity determination to theU.S. Supreme Court; increase the percentage of NEA funding for state and local arts agencies; and provide for increased public access to the arts through increased funding for rural and inner-city areas and arts education.[10] After fierce debate, the language embodied in the Williams-Coleman substitute prevailed. During the House-Senate conference on the Interior appropriations bill, the Williams-Coleman language prevailed over the amendments from Helms andOrrin Hatch (R–UT), and subsequently became law.[14]
His support for the NEA led him to be branded 'Porno Pat' by his opponents, and sign-carrying protesters confronted him at airports in both Washington, D.C. and Montana.[15]
From the time he left the House of Representatives in 1997, Williams continued to voice his support for the arts wherever he could, regularly spending time inHelena, Montana, where he spoke with members of the state legislature about arts policy and funding. In 2010, Montana governorBrian Schweitzer honored Williams with the Governor’s Arts Award for his efforts in saving National Endowment for the Arts.[7] In 2017, reflecting on his time in Congress, Williams said "the opportunity to defend freedom of expression in a meaningful way" was one of the "great thrills" he had in the Congress. When asked aboutPresident Trump's threats to defund the agency once again, Williams said, "art can flourish without politics. The reverse is not true. Art reflects the diversity and pluralism of our society, which is free. And freedom is our bulwark against tyranny."[15]
In1980, Williams won reelection against Jack McDonald with 61% of the vote; in1982 against Bob Davies with 60%; in1984 against Gary Carlson with 67%; in1986 against Don Allen with 62%,1988 against Jim Fenlason with 61%; in1990 againstBrad Johnson. In1992 Montana lost its second seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, leaving Williams to campaign against fellow incumbentRon Marlenee.
Williams narrowly won with 50% of the vote. In1994, he was elected to his ninth and final term, defeating Cy Jamison with 49% of the votes. He chose not to run for reelection in1996, andRepublicanRick Hill defeatedBill Yellowtail to become Montana's new U.S. Representative that year. As of 2024, Williams is the lastDemocrat to have represented Montana in the U.S. House.
Williams was Senior Fellow and Regional Policy associate at the Center for the Rocky Mountain West, and served on the boards of directors for the National Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges,[16] the National Association of Job Corps, and The President's Advisory Commission for Tribal Colleges.
Williams was on the board of directors of theStudent Loan Marketing Association, the now-disbandedGSE subsidiary of U.S.A. Education (Sallie Mae). Williams also wrote newspaper columns on occasion.[17]
Nominated for a seat on the Montana Board of Regents of Higher Education in 2012 by then-governorBrian Schweitzer, Williams endured opposition to his pending confirmation. It arose due to publication of an out-of-context statement made to aNew York Times reporter regarding half-a-dozen players on theUniversity of Montana football team who had recently run afoul of the law. He referred just to those six as "thugs", but his statement was taken as referring to the entire team and program.[18] Confusion was caused by Williams's continued attempts to clarify his statements. He was first quoted byESPN saying, "Montana recruits thugs". Clarification of his statement did not come until his confirmation hearing; by that time the damage had been done. His confirmation to the Board of Regents was blasted to the Senate floor, and the Republican-majority Senate rejected his appointment.[19]
Williams was a member of the ReFormers Caucus ofIssue One.[20]
Williams died at a hospital inMissoula, Montana, on June 25, 2025, at the age of 87.[4][21]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMontana's 1st congressional district 1979–1993 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMontana's at-large congressional district 1993–1997 | Succeeded by |
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| Two at-large seats (1913–1919) |
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| One at-large seat (1993–2023) |
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| International | |
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| National | |
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