an understanding of science. Williams understood, and wrote about the influence that the press had in regards to public opinion. He promoted the idea that a good journalist required a strong academic background. In an article, "Journalism Week at University of Missouri," published by the University Missourian, on Friday, May 17, 1912, Williams was quoted as saying, during a speech he gave titled The profession of Journalism, '"the purpose of the journalist...is to interpret society. The newspaper should always lead."' Responding to criticism that newspapers reveal too many unsavory details regarding social and political conditions, Williams replied: In 1913, he served as president of the American Conference of Teachers of Journalism, and he was also on the senate of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. After his death, two members of the senate, John Huston Finley and Reverend Oscar M. Voorhees, served as honorary pallbearers. Williams led the first journalism jury, in awarding the first Pulitzer Prizes in 1917. Unable to come to a consensus of candidates for awards in the Public Service category, they declared the New York Times editorial on the anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania as the winner in Editorial Writing and Herbert Bayard Swope as the winner in Reporting for his coverage of life in wartime Germany. In a letter to Swope, Williams wrote, "You did a great public service, you did it with unassuming loyalty and fidelity to the best standards of journalism, and you labor in a field where recognition ... is rarest." The awards were issued at a time when Woodrow Wilson was a wartime president and Germanophobia was permeating society; Nicholas Murray Butler declared a moratorium on academic freedom, and dismissed two faculty members for what he perceived as disloyal behavior. The university had suspended classes during the spring term, and had established a Washington news service on campus. Wlliams was named professor emeritus in 1919. He was also a trustee of Amherst College and the Constantinople College for Women from 1909 to 1919. He was the recipient of numerous honorary doctorates from institutions including the University of Pennsylvania and Brown College. Civic and political involvement Williams was a member of the American Oriental Society and the American Philosophical Society; he served with the National Security League, and on the Committee for Organized Education; he was a member of Economic Club of New York, and was one of the featured