 A stimulating lecturer who attracted the interest of non-history majors, Williams routinely taught overflow numbers of attentive students in auditorium-sized classrooms.He was said to have been a stern taskmaster but effective mentor to several generations of graduate students aspiring to be professional historians.Harold B. McSween, then a young English major from Alexandria, recalled having visited Williams' lectures without being enrolled in the course, for he wanted inspiration and not college credit and the requirement to take notes