Robert L. Williams - Governor of Oklahoma

Governor of Oklahoma

What Governor Haskell initiated and Governor Cruce started, Governor Williams finished. On January 1, 1917, Williams officially moved into the Oklahoma State Capitol before it was completed. On July 1 of that year the State officially took control over the Capitol. The next year on March 18, 1918, the Oklahoma Legislature would hold its first meeting in its new permanent home. Despite the State’s adoption of the building, the Capitol was not completed until 1919, however the building lacked a dome. This problem was solved when in 2000, Governor Frank Keating proposed that a dome be added. The Capitol was finally “completed” with the erection of the dome on November 16, 2002.

When Williams took office, Oklahoma was suffering terrible economic troubles. Hoping to save the State, implemented policies that he believed would solve these problems and bring improvement. First Williams proposed legislation levying new taxes while appropriations for all state institutions were decreased in order to reduce the State’s deficit in the budget.

One of William’s greatest advances in the state’s economy came when he instituted the Oklahoma State Board of Affairs, which provided central purchasing services to all state agencies. Through this Board, many of Oklahoma’s boards, agencies, and institutions were consolidated. Williams influenced Oklahoma’s budget by making appointments and setting salaries. Due to his direct administrative role and concentration of power, Williams would stem the drain of executive power that Cruce’s administration had left on the Governorship.

William’s main mindset throughout his administration was reform. Through legislative action and program policy changes, Oklahoma instituted a highway construction bill, a State insurance bond, created the office of pardon and parole and a State fiscal agency. Williams and the Legislature amended the laws regarding to impeachment of State officials, provided for the aid of agriculture, and created oil and gas divisions within the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. Also, Williams changed the composition of the Oklahoma Supreme Court from six justices total to nine.

Two things are remembered about William’s administration above all others. The first being the landmark Supreme Court of the United States case Guinn v. United States in 1915. When state officials enforced Oklahoma’s Jim Crow laws, an appeal was made to the Supreme Court of the United States. When the Court ruled that laws that “serve no rational purpose other than to disadvantage the right of African-American citizens to vote violated the Fifteenth Amendment,” many state officials were indicted and by sentenced for violation of federal election laws. This prompted Williams to call the Legislature into special session in 1916 to determine more constitutional methods of black suffrage. The result was the institution of a literary test to Oklahoma. However, the voters of Oklahoma voted the message down, enabling many African-Americans to right to vote for the first time.

The second major event in William’s governorship was that the United States was forced to deal with World War I in 1916. The Great War would cast its shadow over the remainder of William’s term in office. For the most part, many domestic policies were dropped in favor of the mobilization of Oklahoma in preparation for war. The Oklahoma military was swelled through local draft boards, the maximum food production was encouraged to feed the USA’s allies across the sea, promotion for fuel and food conservatism was enacted, and Williams personally acted as moderated between pro- and anti-war forces throughout the State.

By the time January 13, 1919 rolled around, Williams was happy to leave the Governorship behind him. Oklahoma had elected to replace him James B. A. Robertson, whom Williams had defeated in the 1914 Democratic primaries for Governor.