John Alfred Williams was born near Jackson, Mississippi, on 5 December 1925. His parents, who were living in Syracuse, New York, at the time, went to their native Mississippi for his birth but then returned to Syracuse where Williams was raised and where he graduated from Central High School. Williams joined the Navy before his eighteenth birthday, and after the service he married his first wife, Carolyn Clopton (1947); they have two children, Gregory and Dennis. Williams went to Syracuse University where he received his B.A. in 1950. He worked for the county welfare department in Syracuse before moving into public relations and then journalism.

Williams worked as a staff member for special events programs at the Columbia Broadcasting System (1954-1955) and then became the publicity director for Comet Press Books. A fictional version of his experiences at Comet appears in his first novel, The Angry Ones (1960, reprinted with his original...