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Lowe described Winthrop Rockefeller as "a very unusual guy with the best interest of Arkansas and its people at heart. If he made a mistake, it was not because he wanted to do so."<ref name=lowe/> Lowe said that his early years as chairman came at a time when the Arkansas GOP was "about as flat on our back as a party could be. By 1980, we had come from one state legislator to a governor, [[Frank D. White]], and two members of the U.S. House", John Paul Hammerschmidt and Edwin Ruthvin Bethune, Jr.<ref name=lowe/>

Lowe served three two-year terms as chairman, having been succeeded in June 1980 by the vice chairman who became the interim chairman, Jeraldine D. "Jeri" Pruden,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi|title=Social Security Death Index|publisher=ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=December 29, 2009}}</ref> of Hope in Hempstead County, the birthplace of Bill Clinton. In December 1980, [[Harlan "Bo" Holleman]] was elected and served as chairman until his death in March 1982. Like Lowe, Holleman was also a former candidate for the U.S. Congress.<ref>''Arkansas Outlook,'' December 1976.</ref>

On August 10, 1975, Lowe and then State Representative Carolyn Joan Pollan of Fort Smith hosted U.S. President Ford, who attended a reception of some thirty Arkansas Republican leaders held at the Sheraton Inn in Fort Smith. Earlier in the day, Ford had toured Fort Chaffee, accompanied by Senator [[John McClellan]] and other Democratic members of the Arkansas congressional delegation. Ford's stops included the Vietnam Refugee Resettlement Center there.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/LIBRARY/document/diary/pdd750810.pdf|title=The Daily Dairy of President Gerald R. Ford|date= August 10, 1975|publisher=fordlibrarymuseum.gov |accessdate=December 27, 2009}}</ref>