Politics / Law
G. Mennen Williams
1911–1988 · governor of Michigan, diplomat, chief justice
Detroit-born heir to the Mennen toiletries fortune ('Soapy') who as six-term governor (1949–1961) forged Michigan's Democratic alliance of labor, Black voters and liberals.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 76- Birth name
- Gerhard Mennen Williams
- Also known as
- Soapy Williams
- Detroit years
- 1911–1988
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
G. Mennen Williams was born in Detroit in 1911 into a wealthy Republican family; his mother was the daughter of Gerhard Mennen, founder of the Mennen toiletries company, which earned him the lifelong nickname 'Soapy.' He grew up in Grosse Pointe, went east to prep school and Princeton, where he wrote his senior thesis on the social significance of Henry Ford, and then took his law degree at the University of Michigan, where he became a Democrat. Elected governor in 1948 with the backing of the United Auto Workers, he served six two-year terms, the longest in state history, and built the coalition of unions, Black Detroiters and liberals that dominated Michigan politics for decades. He pushed civil rights, better schools and the Mackinac Bridge, and wore his trademark green polka-dot bow tie. He later served as Kennedy's assistant secretary of state for African affairs, ambassador to the Philippines and chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. He died in Detroit in 1988.
Highlights
- 41st governor of Michigan, 1949–1961 (six terms)
- Assistant secretary of state for African affairs, 1961–1966
- U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, 1968–1969
- Chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, 1983–1987