In 1946, he founded the review "Politics and Letters", a journal which he edited with Clifford Collins and Wolf Mankowitz until 1948. Williams published "Reading and Criticism" in 1950; he joined the Editorial Board of the new journal "Essays in Criticism". In 1951 he was recalled to the army as a reservist to fight in the Korean War. He refused to go, registering as a conscientious objector. He expected to be jailed for a month, but the Appeal Tribunal panel, which included a professor of classics, was convinced by his case and discharged him from further military obligations in May 1951.