In 1971, Williams endorsed former U.S. Representative Gillis William Long in the Democratic primary for governor, a race ultimately won by Edwin Washington Edwards. Harold B. McSween, whom Gillis Long unseated in the 8th district congressional primary in 1962 but who after a reconciliation was backing Long for governor, was asked to introduce Williams. The historian would in turn present Long to viewers of a statewide television hookup from the Rivergate in New Orleans. McSween said that he learned at the time of that occasion that Williams was "still obsessed with the subject of Huey Long but also with the significance of [Long's] place in the nation's political evolution: perhaps a new interpretation."