Even now, Williams worried about his public image, fretting to Larry Lucchino that he did not want to be regarded simply as a baseball owner, or even a brilliant lawyer.He wanted to be seen as a man who was concerned with the great events of the day - a "wise man" who counselled the powerful even if he did not hold public office himself.
Jesse Jackson certainly saw him that way. "No matter who was in, Williams was never out," said the black political leader. "You came to him." Jackson would call Williams to chat about politics and power jn Washington at least once a month, and often once or twice a week. Once, at a party thrown by Donald Trump before a heavyweight boxing championship, Jackson had amused the glittery fight crowd by dropping to his knees before Williams and kissing his hand. "Godfather...!" said Jackson.
Jackson was taken with Williams. "You could trust him. He was a mediator, a matchmaker. He won no matter who lost,"said Jackson. Williams told the minister, who had been born poor and iligitimate,[actually not true] about his own struggle to climb out of the Irish ghetto in Hartford. "He had an acute sense of poverty," said Jackson. They talked about their sons as well. Williams' son Ned played football at Georgetown Prep; Jacksons' played for the more exclusive Episcopal school, St. Albans. "The message was that Ed and Jesse were soul brothers, taking on the establishment together," said a lawyer who participated in the Anheuser-Busch negotiations.
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