Larry R. Williams

Larry R. Williams
Williams in 2023
Born (1942-10-06) October 6, 1942 (age 81)
Miles City, Montana, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of Oregon
Occupation(s)Author, stock and commodity trader, politician
Notable workWilliams %R, Ultimate Oscillator
Political partyRepublican
SpouseCarla Williams
Children2, including Michelle
AwardsSignificant Sig
Websitewww.ireallytrade.com

Larry Richard Williams (born October 6, 1942) is an American author, stock and commodity trader, and 1970s–80s political candidate in the state of Montana. He is the father of actress Michelle Williams.

Early life

Williams was born on October 6, 1942, in Miles City, Montana, the son of Sylva Berthea (née Brurs) and Richard Sigwart Williams.[1] He is of Welsh, Norwegian, and German ancestry.[2] In 1960, he graduated from Billings High School, in Billings, Montana. He is a graduate of the School of Journalism, class of 1964 at the University of Oregon in Eugene. He was a member of Alpha Delta Sigma (honorary professional fraternity) while at Oregon and served as national president.[3]

Williams was one of the founders of the "Rock N Roll Marathons" that have raised in excess of $320 million for charities throughout the world.[4]

Career

Williams is the author of 11 books, most on stocks and commodity trading. Other books include The Mount Sinai Myth, based on an archeological search for Mount Sinai in Egypt. This book was featured in Vanity Fair in a rewrite by Howard Blum.[5]

Confessions of a Radical Tax Protestor discusses his battle with the Internal Revenue Service, which led to a trial on three charges of tax evasion. On February 5, 2010, those charges were dropped and he pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor charges of failing to file income tax returns on time (for tax years 1999, 2000, and 2001).[6][7][8]

Williams has created numerous market indicators, including Williams %R, Ultimate Oscillator, COT indices, accumulation/distribution indicators, cycle forecasts, market sentiment, and value measurements for commodity prices.[9][10] Williams won the 1987 World Cup Championship of Futures Trading from the Robbins Trading Company, where he turned $10,000 to over $1,100,000 (11,300%) in a 12-month competition with real money. Ten years later, his daughter, actress Michelle, won the same contest.[11] His son, Jason, a psychiatrist, has written a book on the personality of winning traders, The Mental Edge in Trading.[12]

In November 2014, at the Traders Expo in Las Vegas, Larry Williams recorded a series of four videos discussing his 50+ years of trading. In 2018, he appeared as a guest on the NPR economics podcast Planet Money to discuss the story of his tax protest, extradition and trial.[13]

Williams funds a six-figure scholarship at the University of Oregon in honor of his college professor, Max Wales, restricted to "journalism and communication students who... have demonstrated creative talent, but may not have a high grade point average."[14]

Politics

Williams was twice the Republican Party nominee to the United States Senate in Montana. In 1978, he defeated Bill Osborne and Clancy Rich in the Republican primary with 35,479 votes (62%),[15] and then lost to Democratic U.S. Representative Max Baucus in the general election by 160,353 votes (56%) to 127,589 (44%).[16] In 1982, he defeated attorney Willie Dee Morris in the primary by 49,615 votes (88%) to 6,696 (12%),[17] and was then defeated in the general election by incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator John Melcher by 174,861 votes (55%) to 133,789 (42%).[18][19]

He sponsored Initiative 86, which made Montana the first state to index tax brackets for inflation.[20]

Books

  • Williams, Larry (1979). How I Made One Million Dollars… Last Year… Trading Commodities. Windsor Books. ISBN 978-0930233105.

References

  1. ^ Vitale, Sarah A. (1992). Who's who in California. Who's Who Historical Society. p. 349. ISBN 1-880142-01-5.
  2. ^ "Michelle Williams: Biography". imdb.com. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  3. ^ "Sigma Chi Significant Sigs". sigmachi.org. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  4. ^ "Rock N Roll Marathon- San Diego". teamintraining.org. Archived from the original on January 12, 2012. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  5. ^ "Howard Blum – Vanity Fair". vanityfair.com. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  6. ^ Williams, Larry R. Confessions of a Radical Tax Protestor, p. 200, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2011). ISBN 978-0470915769
  7. ^ See generally United States v. Williams, case no. 3:06-cr-00787-H, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (San Diego Div.).
  8. ^ Planet Money podcast Episode 685: "Larry vs. the IRS", February 19, 2016.
  9. ^ "Williams Percent R Indicator (%R)". williamspercentr.com. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  10. ^ "Intraday Seasonal Cycle Forecast Trading Charts of Major Markets". intradayseasonals.com. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  11. ^ "Robbins Trading Company - World Cup Challenge". Archived from the original on January 6, 2010. Retrieved November 8, 2009.
  12. ^ (McGraw Hill, 2012).
  13. ^ "Episode 685: Larry vs. The IRS". NPR. April 4, 2018.
  14. ^ "Larry R. Williams Scholarship in honor of Max Wales". University of Oregon. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  15. ^ "MT US Senate – R Primary 1978". Our Campaigns. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  16. ^ "MT US Senate 1978". Our Campaigns. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  17. ^ "MT US Senate – R Primary 1982". Our Campaigns. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  18. ^ "MT US Senate 1982". Our Campaigns. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  19. ^ "Report of the official canvass by County of votes cast at the general election, held in the State of Montana ... (exclusive of votes cast for members of the legislature) : Montana. Secretary of State : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". 1970. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  20. ^ "Report of the official canvass by County of votes cast at the general election, held in the State of Montana ... (exclusive of votes cast for members of the legislature) : Montana. Secretary of State". 1970. Retrieved April 4, 2014.

External links

Party political offices
Preceded by
Hank Hibbard
 Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Montana
(Class 2)
1978 		Succeeded by
Chuck Cozzens
Preceded by
Stanley Burger
 Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Montana
(Class 1)
1982 		Succeeded by