Honest John Williams: U.S. Senator from Delaware. (Book Reviews).

Honest John Williams: U.S. Senator from Delaware. By Carol E. Hoffecker. Cultural Studies of Delaware and the Eastern Shore. (Newark: University of Delaware Press and London: Associated University Presses, c. 2000. Pp. 277. $45.00, ISBN 0-87413-713-6.)

John J. Williams represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate from 1947 to 1971. A Republican, he made a name for himself investigating corruption and fraud in the federal government. In this work Carol Hoffecker explores Williams's roots in southern Delaware, the experiences that shaped his approach to politics and government, and the key events in his Senate career.

Williams came of age just as the roads and railroads brought to the state by progressive reformers began to yield their fruit in the form of a booming poultry industry. Though from a traditionally Democratic family, Williams allied himself with the rising Republican Party, which won over many in the state with its promises of reform and modernization. Williams established a poultry feed company that grew quickly, and in 1939 he assumed the leadership of the Delaware Poultry Improvement Association.

His experiences with the politics of poultry during the Second World War shaped Williams's political outlook for the rest of his career. Wartime price controls led to a black market in poultry, but government efforts to break this market hurt local farmers far more than the profiteers. These events convinced Williams that the government had a tendency to act unfairly and inefficiently. He ran for the Senate with little political experience but a conviction that government must be held in check by constant vigilance.

Williams won election to the Senate by portraying himself as an average citizen frustrated with government mismanagement and by hinting that his opponent had ties to the Communist Party. His election contributed to the Republican landslide in 1946 that ended sixteen years of Democratic control of the Congress. In his first term he allied himself with the isolationist wing of the party by voting against the Marshall Plan. He also fought policies he found socialistic--those that expanded federal authority and responsibility-such as the National Science Foundation, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and federal aid to education.

His most noteworthy accomplishments while in the Senate involved uncovering scandals, bribery, and influence-peddling. In his first term he helped reveal corruption and graft in the Bureau of Internal Revenue (the predecessor of the Internal Revenue Service). Hoffecker suggests that Williams's revelation of the "mess in Washington" (p. 112) helped Eisenhower's 1952 election to the presidency. In 1963 Williams investigated Robert G. (Bobby) Baker, a long-serving secretary to President Lyndon B. Johnson during his previous tenure as Senate majority leader. A subsequent Rules Committee investigation led to a trial, and Baker was convicted of tax evasion, theft, conspiracy, and other charges.

This book has limited appeal except for those interested in particular specialized issues. Williams's long-standing critique of federal agricultural policy and career-long crusade against the oil depletion allowance might be noted by those studying farm and energy policies. His conservative position on civil rights and role in forcing the DuPont Company to divest itself of General Motors stock might also be of interest to some.

PIPPA HOLLOWAY
Middle Tennessee State University