Biographical Sketch

Harrison Arlington Williams, Jr. (1919-2001) represented New Jersey in the U.S. Senate from 1959 until 1982. Originally from Plainfield, NJ, Williams also served in the House of Representatives as Congressman from New Jersey's Sixth Congressional District (Union County) from 1953 through 1956. Known since infancy by the nickname “Pete,” Williams was a member of the Democratic Party during a period when Democrats held a majority in the Senate. Consequently, until a Republican majority took office in 1981 toward the end of his career, Williams held the chairmanships of a number of committees and subcommittees over the years. Further, Williams played important roles as a leader within the Democratic Party, notably as a member of the Democratic Senate Steering Committee, the group responsible for committee assignments.

Throughout his Senate career, Williams was a member of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources, becoming its Chairman for the entire decade of the 1970s. (This committee was called the Committee on Human Resources in 1977 and, prior to 1977, the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare.) From this committee, Williams was at the forefront of legislative reforms in the areas of occupational safety, pension protection, access to education, equal employment opportunity, women’s rights, minimum wage, and much more. A victim of alcoholism himself, as he informed the public in 1970, Williams supported legislation aimed at the prevention and treatment of drug and alcohol abuse, among other health initiatives. Senior citizens were frequently the focus of Williams's initiatives, perhaps especially concerning housing, health services, and the extent to which the elderly were often victims of fraud.

Williams also spent his entire Senate career on the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs (known as the Committee on Banking and Currency before 1971). The wide scope of this committee positioned Williams to act on his interest in housing, mass transportation, and open space as part of a broader vision of a federal role in managing the natural and built environment of the United States, particularly with respect to urban centers and their greater metropolitan areas. Additionally, as Chairman of the committee’s Securities Subcommittee throughout the 1960s and most of the 1970s, Williams sought to increase the regulatory oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to improve disclosure in securities offerings and in corporate takeover attempts, to enforce equitable lending practices, and to implement other market reforms.

Williams's career began to close in February 1980 when the press reported that he was a target of an FBI undercover operation, known as Abscam. In October 1980, he was indicted for bribery and other related charges. Williams was found guilty on all counts in 1981, leading to his eventual resignation from the Senate in March 1982 and a prison term. Throughout the ordeal, Williams argued that he was innocent and that the FBI had abused its power. Williams's contentions were important ones that resulted in fierce debate in the news media and in Congress where hearings were held on the FBI’s investigative tactics. After his release from prison in 1986, Williams returned home to retirement in Bedminster, NJ, where he had lived since 1974. Williams died on November 17, 2001.

The above is an abstract from the biographical sketch written for the catalog of the 2009 exhibition “Crossroads: Harrison A. Williams, Jr. and Great Society Liberalism, 1959-1981.”