Arkansas Blog

Back 36 years ago Bumpers was one of a half-dozen running for governor. He was an unknown lawyer from Charleston, Arkansas. I listened to the televised debate and got in his corner immediately. A friend and I took up 5 dollar donations from willing locals and ran an large ad in our local paper in support of Bumpers. I am sure others did the same in other communities and Bumpers won. I remember a few years later CBS did a special on the new southern governors who were elected without appealing to racism: Bumpers of Arkansas, Askew of Florida and Carter of Georgia.

But the man really responsible for Bumpers being able to be elected in Arkansas was Win Rockefeller. He pretty well destroyed the Democratic Machine entrenched by the Faubus crowd. I campaigned and worked in Rockefeller's campaigns until Bumpers came along and the main reason I did work for Rockefeller was so people like Bumpers, Pryor, Clinton, Tucker could be elected.

Thanks, Win. You were a good governor and did a lot to help "modernize" Arkansas in political matters.

I enjoyed this article. I wasn't old enough in 1970 to understand much about what was happening in politics, but the article pointed out some of those matchups that were familiar to my memory, but only in a shallow way.

It makes me want to dig a little deeper into Arkansas politics from, say, post WWII on. Can anyone recommend a good book or two on the subject?

(Actually it was Cato's reply that got me to thinking about Arkansas politics from those days.)

See, Cato, you did the right thing. Ads and cash first, then the news releases and interviews.

Hugh,
I recommend Diane Blair's book, "Do the People Rule?"

Thanks, BR. She's the U of A History professor, right?

Diane passed several years ago. She was a professor of political science.

Jay Barth also did a nice job on the 2nd edition of Diane's book "Arkansas Politics and Government."

Hugh, if you do read up, you will read about Marion Crank, the "breath of fresh air" from Foreman the Faubus bunch tried to get elected. I'm sure Crank was ok....just hardly a breath of fresh air. Louie may remember him and even carried a few of his ads.....

I think probably Dale Bumpers was a better candidate than Jimmy Carter and could have beat Ford in 1978, but we'll never know. Dale did a fine job as it is and shouldn't have any regrets except for being born so long ago. His parents were injured just west of Fort Smith and died in Sparks Hospital.

It would be most most helpful if Mr. Bumpers would share his views of our current problems. It wouldn't hurt his legacy at all if he'd pull a Barry Goldwater and speak his mind, give his advice and damn those that need a good damning right now.

What Democrats lack at the present time is courage to speak the truth. To offer new ideas and explain why crooks like Bush-Cheney should be tossed out the window. Our country needs the wisdom of Dale Bumpers right now. Bill Clinton spoke out a while ago and it was like water to a dying man. Look at the power Clinton's words had on the Democrats!

Now is the time for every good Democrat to come to the aid of his or her party. David Pryor needs most of all to talk to his son and then speak his mind in a public forum. Clinton needs to keep piling it on and we sure enough need to hear from Dale Bumpers.

I am happy with Howard Dean, he speaks the truth, but one lone voice in the wilderness cannot battle the well oiled Republican Spin Machine.

The 70% needs a leader right now! Wake up all the old guys and let's hear what they have to say in our hour of crisis. Help us Mr. Bumpers!

I have a very ineresting old political phamplet (sic) featuring Geo. Fisher illustrations of M. Crank titled, "Cranking Out (Up?) The Old Machine". It's pretty funny.

My family always voted democratic, but I have vivid memories of wearing a WR'66 lapel pin my step-grandfather gave me during that election. Faubus' colors had shown a little too brightly for them to tolerate him any longer.

Thanks for the book recommendations. Jay Barth is a very bright fellow; I'll try to check out his book, too.

I've always been fond of Dale Bumpers and David Pryor. I went to school with a couple of the Pryor boys. I agree...after a little recuperation David should have a chat with his son, the junior senator.

To learn more on the era read Sid McMath's book Promises Kept; Roy Reed's book Faubus and Dale Bumpers' Best Lawyer in a One Lawyer Town. Those cover the water front. I haven't read a biography of Rockefeller but my feelings toward him are very positive. He didn't have to care, but he did. His problems and his inability to speak and be the glad hander that we want kept him from succeeding. He laid the ground work for Bumpers, Pryor and Clinton. Hopefully Beebe can reignite the flame that at times has burned brightly under the Huck and at others flickered under his ego and pomposity.

Bumpers speech defending Clinton during the impeachment BS was a hide burner.
Wish he would cut an ad for Beebe.

Been watching ballgames all day and just logged on again.
Diane Blair became a close friend of Bill and Hillary, and they attended her funeral in 2000.
Her books are very informative. When she died, I felt like I'd lost a friend,

Mr. Marion Crank was a fine man from Little River County who did not succeed in his gubernatorial bid. Sort the politics of elections aside and let his name stand as a man who worked hard for his constituency. He was outgunned by a Rockefeller at the end of the Faubus era. There's no shame in losing that contest.

Because of Mr. Marion and "that Faubus bunch," poor and tiny Little River county, in the years before the election, got some newer school buildings, rural electricity, their gravel roads graded, a lake built (Millwood) and well, not much more - but it was enough to keep it from slipping entirely into oblivion. Mr. Marion was a man of his time and a decent public servant. Those times changed when Mr. Rockefeller was elected.

He left a nice family, all decent and kind people. These many years later it pains me to think that all that would be mentioned of Mr. Marion was one failed election. There was much more to his life than that. He was my friend and I will always stick up for him.

Propaganda can be powerful, especially when it is skillfully presented. I always liked George Fisher. I guess he was an up-and-comer when he was hired to do that pamphlet that slighted Mr. Crank.

I had never heard of Marion Crank until I bought that little book for a quarter at the garage sale of the woman who would become my wife.

It was already 40 years obsolete when I picked it up, but it left me with the notion that he was not the right guy for the office. Little did I know; little did it seem to matter so long after that election held even before my birth.

But I'm glad to know more about him now.

Cato,
I knew Mr. Marion Crank's son, Robert, when I was an undergrad at UA. Robert was in law school, and was an excellent person. I believe his father got tarred by the Faubus bunch's brush.

Dale Bumpers always said, "We it not for the Arkansas Gazette, people like me, David Pryor and Dale Bumpers would never have been elected."

Dale Bumpers always said, "Were it not for the Arkansas Gazette, people like me, David Pryor and Bill Clinton would never have been elected."