An Arkansan who advised three prominent U.S. senators for a quarter of a century has died.
Floyd Lee Williams II, 89, died Wednesday morning at his home in Arlington, Va.
Williams was a key figure in Washington, D.C., behind the scenes for three powerful senators -- J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, Mike Mansfield of Montana and Robert Byrd of West Virginia.
Williams was responsible for giving Bill Clinton his first job in Washington, and he drafted the legislation that created the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, said Marsha Scott, who was hired by Williams to work in Fulbright's office.
"Sen. Fulbright was a smart man and a good statesman, but Lee made him a great senator," Scott said. "Lee was his closest confidant and adviser."
Williams, a former Fayetteville resident, worked for Fulbright for about 20 years -- from 1955 to 1959 as a legislative assistant, and from 1959 to 1974 as administrative assistant, a job that is now called chief of staff.
Hoyt Purvis, a journalism professor at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville who worked with Williams in Fulbright's office, said he remembers that Williams was devoted to public service and international education.
"Lee was also a mentor to some young people who went on to success, including Bill Clinton," Purvis said.
While Clinton was a student at Georgetown University, Williams hired him to be a messenger and clerk for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff, Purvis said. Fulbright was chairman of the committee.
Williams told Clinton that there were two part-time jobs available: one paying $5,000, and another paying $3,500. Clinton said he wanted them both.
Williams responded, "You're the guy I'm looking for. Be here Monday," Purvis said.
Scott said former President Clinton called Williams' family Wednesday morning to offer his condolences.
"They were friendly rivals on the golf course," she added.
In 1969, Clinton conferred with Williams about joining the UA's Reserve Officer Training Corps as an option instead of the draft, according to newspaper articles in 1992. Clinton "didn't ask anyone to influence anyone on his behalf," Dee Dee Myers, his spokesman, said during Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign.
Williams was born in Denver on July 7, 1925, to Floyd Lee Williams and Effie (Lingo) Williams, Purvis said. The family later moved to Arkansas, and Williams earned a law degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville after serving in World War II.
Williams is survived by his wife of almost 70 years, Vicky; his son, Floyd, and daughter-in-law, Carol; grandchildren Lisa and Carter; and great-grandchildren Leila, Lucas, Jude and Hattie.
Scott said Williams' death was sudden. He got up Wednesday morning and got dressed as usual, then died about 8 a.m.
"He was still very active until a few days ago, playing golf," she said. "He was not suffering the ailments of old age with any dignity. He was screaming and fighting it the whole way."
After working for Fulbright, Williams served as general counsel to the Senate Democratic Policy Committee from 1974-1978, and was an adviser to Senate majority leaders Mansfield and Byrd.
Williams also served as senior vice president and legislative counsel for the National Retail Federation and later was a partner with Public Strategies Washington, a public affairs and consulting firm.
From 1990-1992, he was a fellow-in-residence at the Fulbright Institute of International Relations at UA.
In 1993, Clinton appointed Williams to the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, which oversees the international educational exchange programs conceived by Fulbright. Williams served on the board for a decade.
In 2006, the University of Arkansas announced the establishment of the Lee Williams Fellowship in Public Service at the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock, awarded annually to a graduate of the university's Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences in Fayetteville.
Skip Rutherford, dean of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, said the fellowship varies from year to year, but it normally pays for a year's tuition for at least one student.
"It is a very important and prestigious scholarship at the Clinton School in honor of a great Arkansan in saluting the work of two other great Arkansans, Fulbright and Clinton," Rutherford said.
Scott said Williams wanted no funeral service.
"He hated monuments to the dead and had forbidden anyone to have any kind of service," she said. "The family will have him cremated at a some point and will have a gathering of friends in Fayetteville and Washington."
Although Williams served in the Army, "We never could get him to go to the World War II memorial in Washington," Scott said.
"He thought the memories people have of you were sufficient," she said. "He didn't believe in honoring death, only life."
Metro on 06/04/2015