Franklin Williams

Franklin Williams   (lawyer, civil rights leader)
Born	October 22, 1917 Flushing, Queens, New York, USA
Died	May 20, 1990 (Age 72) Manhattan, New York, USA
Nationality	US
Ethnicity	Afro-American
Alma mater	Lincoln University (Pennsylvania), Fordham University
Member of	Council on Foreign Relations/Historical Members
US spooky civil rights leader and diplomat who oversaw the 1966 Ghana coup. Attended Bilderberg/1979.  US/Ambassador/Ghana  In office January 17, 1966 - May 3, 1968

Franklin Hall Williams was a lawyer and civil rights leader in the United States. As 'Ambassador to Ghana, he oversaw the 1966 CIA-arranged coup against President Kwame Nkrumah. He later sat on the board of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Early life and education

Williams was born in Flushing, Queens. He graduated from Pennsylvania's Lincoln University in 1941, where he was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, Nu chapter. In 1945, he earned a law degree from the Fordham University School of Law.

Career

As an assistant to Thurgood Marshall he represented the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People before courts in criminal cases throughout the South. In 1950 he was appointed director of the NAACP's western region where for 9 years he directed drives involving open housing, school desegregation and civil rights.

In 1959, Williams became assistant attorney general of California and in 1961, the Kennedy administration appointed him to assist Sargent Shriver in organizing the Peace Corps. As a delegate to UNESCO, he championed establishment of an international counterpart to the Corps.

Under President Johnson, Williams became the first black representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

1966 CIA Ghana coup

He was appointed ambassador to Ghana in early 1966. During his three-year tenure at this post oversaw the 1966 CIA Ghana coup and the aftermath. Before taking up his position, he exchanged private correspondences with friends bragging that he would soon be running the country.

On January 22nd, 1966, he accompanied President Kwame Nkrumah and Edgar Kaiser, President of Kaiser Industries Corporation, as they opened the Volta River Project, the crowning achievement of years of political and financial negotiation between Nkrumah's government and US state and corporate interests that would provide the young nation electricity and an aluminum industry. Western economic interests wanted the project completed while minimizing Nkrumah's power, seen as too leftist.

Williams claimed that he knew nothing about the coup, despite years of correspondence between officials in Washington and the US embassy in Ghana tracking the coup plotters actions.

Later career

Leaving government work in 1968 Williams headed the Columbia University Urban Center, issuing the study "Human Uses of the University – Planning a curriculum for Urban and Ethnic Affairs at Columbia University."

For 20 years, Williams was president of the Phelps Stokes Fund, officially established to facilitate the education of African, Afro-American and Native American students.

During this time he sat on several boards, among them: Lincoln University (Pennsylvania), the Council on Foreign Relations, the New York Board of Higher Education, the Boys' Choir of Harlem, Consolidated Edison, Chemical Bank, and the American Stock Exchange.

In 1989 he chaired the New York State Judicial Commission on Minorities. The commission has since continued as the Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission.

 

Event Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/1979	27 April 1979	29 April 1979	Austria Baden Clubhotel Schloss Weikersdorf	27th Bilderberg, 95 guests, Austria

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