Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and U.S. senator, dies at 90

[alp227]

Last edited Sat Jan 2, 2016, 09:35 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Dale Leon Bumpers, a former U.S. senator and Arkansas governor, died Friday, family members said. He was 90.

His son, Brent Bumpers, wrote in an email that his father fell and broke his hip three weeks ago, requiring surgery.

It has been a "downward spiral" since the fall, Brent Bumpers said.

Dale Bumpers, a Democrat and county lawyer from Charleston in Franklin County, was Arkansas' governor from 1971-75 and U.S. senator from 1975-99.

Read more: http://arkansasonline.com/news/2016/jan/02/dale-bumpers-former-arkansas-governor-and-us-senat/

[LiberalArkie]

1. Arkansas has raised a very good crop of Statesmen over the years. I just wished we

were still producing them.

[daleo]

2. I read a book by him

The Best Lawyer in a One Lawyer Town, if I recall correctly. He seemed like a good guy. He was a voice of sanity during the Lewinsky flap. Plus, he was a Dale.

[The Wizard]

3. His summation on Bill Clinton's behalf

at the impeachment fiasco was brilliant. "When they say it's not about sex, it's about sex."

[Hestia]

4. He was also instrumental in integrating the first school district in Ark. before LR Central.

Charleston did it very quietly and successfully.

[Art_from_Ark]

5. I remember when he first ran for governor

It was against a progressive Republican, Winthrop Rockefeller, who actually helped to get the state to move away from its hillbilly / redneck image. That was one of the reasons why my family supported "WinRock" in 1970. Before the election, my teacher took a poll of who was voting for Bumpers, and who was voting for WinRock. Only two kids out of about 30 raised their hands for WinRock. I was one of those two.

Of course, Bumpers won, and served 2 terms (4 years) as governor. Then in 1974 (the same year Bill Clinton launched his political career), Bumpers challenged J. William Fulbright, a 5-term Senator, Vietnam War opponent, and Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the Democratic primary. I was kind of unhappy about that, because Fulbright was a true statesman, and I thought it would have been better for Bumpers to have remained the governor. But Bumpers won both the primary and the general election, and went on to serve a distinguished career in the Senate.

I actually met him once, at a Jefferson-Jackson Day picnic in Little Flock (not to be confused with Little Rock). Although he had replaced one of the biggest luminaries in the Senate a few years before, I got over that and was glad that Senator Bumpers was representing my state.

RIP, Senator Bumpers.