John Bell Williams (4 December 1918-25 March 1983) was a member of the US House of Representatives (D-MS 7) from 3 January 1947 to 3 January 1953 (succeeding Dan R. McGehee), from MS-4 from 3 January 1953 to 3 January 1963 (succeeding Thomas Abernethy and preceding W. Arthur Winstead), and from MS-3 from 3 January 1963 to 16 January 1968 (succeeding Frank Ellis Smith and preceding Charles H. Griffin), and Governor of Mississippi from 16 January 1968 to 18 January 1972 (succeeding Paul B. Johnson Jr. and preceding Bill Waller).
Biography[]
John Bell Williams was born in Raymond, Mississippi in 1918, and he served in the US Air Force during World War II and lost his lower left arm in a bomber crash. He served in the US House of Representatives from 1947 to 1968, becoming his state's youngest ever representative at the age of 27, and he advocated for states' rights and segregation and supported Strom Thurmond's 1948 presidential bid. He also endorsed Barry Goldwater in 1964, and he served as Governor from 1968 to 1972 and was forced to comply with desegregation laws. He died in 1983.