How a Rexburg man became the first Latter-day Saint to serve as Idaho’s governor
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Editor’s note: This is the sixth in a series of stories about former Gem State Governors from eastern Idaho.
REXBURG – When Arnold Williams became Idaho’s 21st governor, there was quite a political outcry.
It was November 1945 and the end of World War II had put the Gem State in the midst of a post-war economic boom. The 47-year-old Rexburg man’s predecessor, Charles Gossett, had taken office 10 months earlier and had resigned to fill a U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the death of John Thomas.
As Gossett’s lieutenant governor, Williams had been appointed to finish out his term, a two-year commitment at that time.
Idaho now had a senator and a governor whom voters had not elected, something that sparked “cries of outrage,” according to Robert Sims in the book, “Idaho’s Governors.”
Additionally, Williams was the first member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to serve as governor and he was also a Democrat. It would be another 30 years before Idahoans would elect LDS church member John Evans as their governor, who was also a Democrat.
Though the Legislative session had been “one of the least active and productive on record” under Gossett’s administration, it had also been “relatively dissension-free.”
Gossett’s focus had been “financial soundness” in the post-war reconstruction era. In April, he had called for $190 million in federal funds to aid in improving Idaho’s economy. When Williams assumed office in November, he “promised to continue his predecessor’s policies,” and it was highly contentious.
Williams’ public service pre-governor
Williams was born in Fillmore, Utah on May 22, 1898. He moved to Rexburg when he was 17 and went on to serve in World War I. When he returned home, he married Luella Huskinson of Idaho Falls. The couple had two children.
“Williams operated a dry cleaning and tailoring establishment in Rexburg, and late in 1945 acquired an automobile dealership in St. Anthony,” according to an essay from Warren Tozer. “He proved to be equally successful as a Democratic politician.”
Williams got his start in politics as a Madison County Commissioner. In 1936, he was elected to the Idaho House of Representatives for the first of two terms. He served as the Democrat’s majority floor leader in 1941.
Williams was selected as the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 1944 and assumed office the following year.
Several months after being sworn-in as governor, he called for a series of funding requests during a special legislative session to address what he deemed were “perennial state problems.”
He made seven different requests, one of which was focused on veterans. Williams wanted 18-year-old veterans to be given employment preference on public works projects. He also wanted legislation that addressed a statewide teacher shortage and an increase in exemptions for income taxes.
As Tozer points out, Williams’ requests got a lot of criticism not only because of how many there were, but also because the regular session had ended 10 days previously.
The teacher shortage issue was a hot-ticket item that year.
“Since Williams had failed to specify how to alleviate the teacher shortage, the Republicans decided to sponsor a teachers retirement program,” Tozer writes. “The bill proved to be popular, especially with teachers since Idaho was the only state lacking such benefits.”
The proposed retirement plan established 60 as the retirement age and made retirement at 70 mandatory.
The Democrats’ attempt to pass a salary increase for teachers failed, but the retirement program was approved.
During the special session, Williams refused to appoint a lieutenant governor so Republicans denied his request for an extra $500 to be allotted for the lieutenant governor’s office.
Immediately after the 10-day special session ended, Williams called another one three hours later at the request of legislators to address compensation for state officials.
“They passed a joint resolution proposing a constitutional amendment to raise their salaries from $5 to $10 per day, but limited to a total of $600 during a regular session,” Tozer writes.
About two weeks later, Williams appointed A.R. McCabe, a Democratic representative from Benewah County, as the new lieutenant governor.
Seeking re-election and post-governor life
Governor Williams was embroiled in a legal battle at the end of his term over the blocking of a charter for the Idaho Bank of Commerce in Rexburg. Williams fired one banking official, claiming he refused to approve the charter because he wanted to keep competition out of Rexburg. Though Williams’ actions had the support of Rexburg voters, it didn’t score him any legal points.
Over the next 18 months, a competing bank still attempted to block the charter. But on June 24, 1948, six months after Williams left office, the Idaho Bank of Commerce opened in Rexburg.
Williams’ efforts failed to earn him a re-election bid, but it wasn’t necessarily due to anything he did personally, Tozer writes. The election of 1946 resulted in a complete Republican sweep of state offices. Tozer says division within the Democratic Party played a role in that, along with its endorsement of the Columbia Valley Authority, a program modeled after the Tennessee Valley Authority, that would’ve given control of the Pacific Northwest’s water, power and wildlife resources to the federal government.
“Any federal threat to the state’s water rights always upset Idaho farmers, and raised the specter of ‘socialism,'” the Idaho Statesman reported at the time, according to Tozer. “The CVA issue had set ‘the whole Snake River Valley aflame.'”
Williams stepped away from public office for the next 12 years before being elected Secretary of State in 1959. He served in that position for seven and a half years until a heart attack forced him to resign in 1966.
Williams died on May 25, 1970 at age 72. His obituary in the Lewiston Tribune attributes his cause of death to a heart ailment.
“It is difficult to imagine Idaho and the Democratic Party without the presence of Arnold Williams,” then state Democratic Chairman E.T. Waters said. “The people of Idaho can be eternally grateful for the conscientious service of this man.”
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