Orval Faubus

Orval Eugene Faubus (7 January 1910–14 December 1994) was a six-term Democratic Governor of Arkansas, famous for his 1957 stand against integration of Little Rock, Arkansas schools in defiance of U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

End of political career

Faubus was elected governor six times and served for 12 years, maintaining his defiant, populist image while at the same time shifting toward a less confrontational stance with the federal government, particularly during the administrations of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, with each of whom he remained cordial. In 1962, Faubus broke with the White Citizens Councils and other far right groups, who endorsed Congressman Dale Alford in that year's gubernatorial election. Faubus cast himself as a moderate, barely winning a majority in the Democratic primary over Alford, McMath and 3 other candidates. While outcast by black leaders, Faubus nevertheless won large percentages of the black vote (81% overall in 1964). While he carried black precincts in Crittenden and other East Arkansas machine counties (where wealthy planters paid up their workers' poll taxes en masse and hauled them to the polls on election day, carefully recording how each voted) by better than 9 to one margins, he also carried substantial majorities in black urban precincts dominated by African American clergymen, to whom Faubus operatives paid thousands of dollars in "expense money." However, after the abolition of the poll tax by the 24th Amendment in 1964 and the adoption of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, African American voters became more independent, although still largely influenced by their church leaders. This was a substantial shift in political power in Arkansas, although it has been argued that an electorate manipulated by preachers is no more democratic than one manipulated by plantation owners.

Related Topics:
Kennedy - Johnson - 1962 - 1964 - Voting Rights Act - 1965 - African American

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Faubus chose not to run for re-election to a 7th term in 1966. The segregationist Jim Johnson, by then an elected state supreme court justice, narrowly won the Democratic nomination, but he was defeated in the general election by Republican reformer Winthrop Rockefeller, who became the state's first GOP governor since Reconstruction.

Related Topics:
1966 - Jim Johnson - Winthrop Rockefeller - Reconstruction

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During the 1969 season, Faubus was hired by new owner Jess Odom to be general manager of his Li'l Abner themepark in the Ozarks, Dogpatch USA. According to newspaper articles of the time, Faubus is said to have commented that managing the park was very similar to running the state and some of the same tricks applied to both.

Related Topics:
1969 - Jess Odom - Li'l Abner - Dogpatch USA

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Faubus did seek the governorship again in 1970, 1974, and 1978 but was defeated in those years' Democratic primaries by Dale Bumpers, David Pryor and Bill Clinton, respectively, each of whom went on to win in November. Faubus lost considerable public support when he divorced his wife of 40 years in 1969 to marry a much younger woman. Alta Faubus had been a gracious and dignified first lady and won her own loyal following over the couple's many years in public life. In addition, electioneering in Arkansas had undergone a sea change in response to the moderating influence of television on candidate imagery. The Democratic party had reformed its own policies in response to public acceptance of the progressive polices followed by Rockefeller. With these changes, a new generation of appealing Democratic candidates easily contrasted themselves favorably in voters' minds with Faubus' old-style politics.

Related Topics:
1970 - 1974 - 1978 - Dale Bumpers - David Pryor - Bill Clinton - 1969

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