This is Bob Myers from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan history moment. Everyone called him Soapy, and he won six terms as Michigan's governor. G. Mennen Williams was born in Detroit in 1911. He was the son of the founder of the Mennen brand of men's personal care products. Those included soap and shaving cream. When Williams and his brothers spent the summer at a Colorado ranch, the ranch hands nicknamed them Lather Suds and Soapy. Williams went by Soapy for the rest of his life. Despite his wealthy upbringing, Soapy was a staunch liberal. His religious convictions, the impact of the Great Depression and his marriage to social worker Nancy Quirk convinced him that government had an obligation to the poor and to ensure equal rights for all. As a politician, he alienated Adlai Stevenson, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and other leaders of the Democratic Party by criticizing their refusal to commit to racial equality. When running for governor, Soapy campaigned for 18 to 20 hours a day. He started at 5:30am Shaking hands at factory shift changes. Once, while campaigning at a county fair, people mistook him for a raffle ticket salesman. He sold 160 tickets in a half an hour. At campaign breakfasts, he often met with the cooks and waitresses whom he called the real Democrats. Soapy Williams adopted a green and white polka dot bow tie as his symbol. He started wearing bow ties after his necktie dangled into a bowl of soup during a dinner given for former Michigan Governor Frank Murphy. In later campaigns, his billboards did not even include his name, only the bow tie. Williams even wore his bow tie with a cutaway formal coat. At President Kennedy's funeral, he refused to compromise on civil rights. In 1960, he criticized John F. Kennedy's lukewarm endorsement of civil rights. He demanded that Kennedy promise not to select Lyndon Johnson as his running mate. When Kennedy picked Johnson anyway, it was Soapy Williams who bellowed no on national television at the Democratic Party convention. Amid fights with the state legislature and Michigan's near bankruptcy in the recession of 1960, Williams opted not to run for another term as governor. He served on the Michigan Supreme Court from 1970 to 1987 and died the following year at the age of 76. Soapy Williams rests today in the Protestant cemetery on Mackinac Island. This Michigan history moment was brought to you by michiganhistorymagazine.org.