Difference between revisions of "Arkansas"
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==Politics of Arkansas== | ==Politics of Arkansas== | ||
− | Arkansas typically votes | + | Arkansas typically votes Republican in presidential elections; George W. Bush won the state 51%-46% in 2000, 54%-45% in 2004 and John McCain 59%-39% in 2008. <ref>http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president/map.html</ref> However, Democrats dominate local government. They hold a supermajority in the state legislature and every statewide office in the state. |
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+ | Senator Blanche Lincoln, a Democrat up for reelection in 2010, has lost favor with the voters, according to recent polls. Lincoln won the approval of only 36% for the job she does as senator, with 44% disapproving, according to an Aug. 21-24 Public Policy Polling survey. It showed Lincoln running even or even slightly trailing, when matched up against three potential Republican challengers -- even though none of those GOP contenders is well known statewide. | ||
==Economy== | ==Economy== |
Revision as of 12:04, August 27, 2009
Capital | Little Rock |
---|---|
Nickname | The Natural State |
Official Language | English |
Governor | Mike Beebe, D |
Senator | Blanche Lincoln, D (202) 224-4843 Contact |
Senator | Mark Pryor, D (202) 224-2353 Contact |
Ratification of Constitution/or statehood | June 15, 1836 (25th) |
Flag of Arkansas | Motto: Regnat Populus (The People Rule) |
Arkansas became the twenty-fifth state of the Union on June 15, 1836. The capital of Arkansas is Little Rock.
Contents
History
While Arkansas was originally a slave state, they did not secede from the Union until May 6, 1861 after Abraham Lincoln called on troops to respond to the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter.
Arkansas would again make headlines after the Supreme Court case Brown v. Topeka Board of Education in 1957. Then Governor Oval Faubus sent the Arkansas National Guard to prevent African Americans from entering Little Rock's Central High School. President Eisenhower sent troops to help escort the students into the school.
Politics of Arkansas
Arkansas typically votes Republican in presidential elections; George W. Bush won the state 51%-46% in 2000, 54%-45% in 2004 and John McCain 59%-39% in 2008. [1] However, Democrats dominate local government. They hold a supermajority in the state legislature and every statewide office in the state.
Senator Blanche Lincoln, a Democrat up for reelection in 2010, has lost favor with the voters, according to recent polls. Lincoln won the approval of only 36% for the job she does as senator, with 44% disapproving, according to an Aug. 21-24 Public Policy Polling survey. It showed Lincoln running even or even slightly trailing, when matched up against three potential Republican challengers -- even though none of those GOP contenders is well known statewide.
Economy
Arkansas is home to the major retailers Tyson Foods, Wal-Mart and J.B. Hunt.
Famous Natives
Former President Bill Clinton and his wife Sen. Hillary Clinton are from Arkansas (although Hillary did not grow up in the state). Bill was the 50th governor of the state prior to his run for presidency in 1992. 2008 Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is also a former governor of Arkansas.
Elected officials
Federal
- Senator Mark Pryor (D)
- Senator Blanche Lincoln (D)
- Rep. Robert Berry [D, AR-1]
- Rep. Victor Snyder [D, AR-2]
- Rep. John Boozman [R, AR-3]
- Rep. Mike Ross [D, AR-4]
Statewide
- Governor Mike Beebe (D)
- Lt. Governor Bill Halter (D)
- Attorney General Dustin McDaniel (D)
- Secretary of State Charlie Daniels (D)
List of Governors
# | Name | Assumed office | Left office | Party | Lt. Governor | Major events in term | Oversaw which historical period |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | James Sevier Conway | September 13 1836 | November 4 1840 | Democrat | American Slavery | ||
2 | Archibald Yell | November 4 1840 | April 29 1844 | Democrat | Resigned office; won seat in United States House of Representatives | Slavery | |
— | Samuel Adams]] | April 29 1844 | November 5 1844 | Democrat | President of the state senate; served remainder of Yell's term | Slavery | |
3 | Thomas Stevenson Drew | November 5 1844 | January 10 1849 | Democrat | Resigned office | Slavery | |
— | Richard C. Byrd | January 10 1849 | April 19 1849 | Democrat | President of the state senate; served portion of Drew's term until special election | Slavery | |
4 | John Selden Roane | April 19 1849 | November 15 1852 | Democrat | Special election to serve Drew's unexpired term. | Slavery | |
5 | Elias Nelson Conway | November 15 1852 | November 16 1860 | Democrat | Slavery | ||
6 | Henry Massey Rector | November 16 1860 | November 4 1862 | Democrat | Oversaw the secession of Arkansas from the Union prior to the American Civil War | Slavery | |
7 | Harris Flanagin | November 4 1862 | April 18 1864 | Democrat | Flanagin fled Little Rock for Washington, Arkansas to run a government-in-exile during American Civil War, September 10 1863 | Slavery ended by Union force | |
8 | Isaac Murphy | April 18 1864 | July 2 1868 | Republican | Elected provisional governor by pro-Union loyalists, assuming office April 18 1864 | Ratification of 13th, 14th Amemendments to U.S. Constitution | |
9 | Powell Clayton | July 2 1868 | March 17 1871 | Republican | Resigned for seat in the United States Senate | Reconstruction | |
— | Ozra Amander Hadley | March 17 1871 | January 6 1873 | Republican | President of the state senate; served remainder of Clayton's term | Reconstruction | |
10 | Elisha Baxter | January 6 1873 | November 12 1874 | Republican | Removed from office; Brooks-Baxter War. | Reconstruction | |
11 | Augustus Hill Garland | November 12 1874 | January 11 1877 | Democrat | Implementation of Jim Crow laws | ||
12 | William Read Miller | January 11 1877 | January 11 1881 | Democrat | Jim Crow | ||
13 | Thomas James Churchill | January 11 1881 | January 13 1883 | Democrat | Jim Crow | ||
14 | James Henderson Berry | January 13 1883 | January 17 1885 | Democrat | Jim Crow | ||
15 | Simon Pollard Hughes, Jr. | January 17 1885 | January 8 1889 | Democrat | Jim Crow | ||
16 | James Philip Eagle | January 8 1889 | January 10 1893 | Democrat | Jim Crow | ||
17 | William Meade Fishback | January 10 1893 | January 8 1895 | Democrat | Jim Crow | ||
18 | James Paul Clarke | January 8 1895 | January 12 1897 | Democrat | Jim Crow | ||
19 | Daniel Webster Jones | January 12 1897 | January 8 1901 | Democrat | Jim Crow | ||
20 | Jeff Davis | January 8 1901 | January 8 1907 | Democrat | Jim Crow | ||
21 | John Sebastian Little | January 8 1907 | February 15 1907 | Democrat | Resigned; nervous breakdown | Jim Crow | |
— | John Isaac Moore | February 15 1907 | May 14 1907 | Democrat | President of the state senate; served portion of Clayton's term until legislature adjurned | Jim Crow | |
— | Xenophon Overton Pindall | May 14 1907 | January 11 1909 | Democrat | New president of the state senate; acted as governor until expiration of his senate term | Jim Crow | |
— | Jesse M. Martin | January 11 1909 | January 14 1909 | Democrat | Acting governor for three days between end of Pindall's senate term and next elected governor | Jim Crow | |
22 | George Washington Donaghey | January 14 1909 | January 16 1913 | Democrat | Jim Crow | ||
23 | Joseph Taylor Robinson | January 16 1913 | March 8 1913 | Democrat | Jim Crow | ||
— | William Kavanaugh Oldham | March 8 1913 | March 13 1913 | Democrat | President of the state senate; acting governor for six days until election of new senate president | Jim Crow | |
— | Junius Marion Futrell | March 13 1913 | July 23 1913 | Democrat | President of the senate; acting governor until special election | Jim Crow | |
24 | George Washington Hays | July 23 1913 | January 10 1917 | Democrat | Office created; left vacant | Elected in special election to fill remainder of term. | Jim Crow |
25 | Charles Hillman Brough | January 10 1917 | January 11 1921 | Democrat | vacant | Jim Crow; World War I | |
26 | Thomas Chipman McRae | January 11 1921 | January 13 1925 | Democrat | vacant | Jim Crow | |
27 | Tom Jefferson Terral | January 13 1925 | January 11 1927 | Democrat | vacant | Jim Crow | |
28 | John Ellis Martineau | January 11 1927 | March 4 1928 | Democrat | Harvey Parnell (1st Lt. Gov) | Resigned; Appointed federal judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas | Jim Crow |
29 | Harvey Parnell | March 4 1928 | January 10 1933 | Democrat | William Lee Cazort | Became first Lt. Governor to act as governor | Jim Crow; beginning of Great Depression |
30 | Junius Marion Futrell | January 10 1933 | January 12 1937 | Democrat | William Lee Cazort | Jim Crow | |
31 | Carl Edward Bailey | January 12 1937 | January 14 1941 | Democrat | Robert L. Bailey | Jim Crow | |
32 | Homer Martin Adkins | January 14 1941 | January 9 1945 | Democrat | Robert L. Bailey, James L. Shaver | Jim Crow | |
33 | Benjamin Travis Laney | January 9 1945 | January 11 1949 | Democrat | James L. Shaver, Nathan Green Gordon | Jim Crow | |
34 | Sid McMath | January 11 1949 | January 13 1953 | Democrat | Nathan Green Gordon | Jim Crow | |
35 | Francis Cherry | January 13 1953 | January 11 1955 | Democrat | Nathan Green Gordon | Jim Crow | |
36 | Orval Faubus | January 11 1955 | January 10 1967 | Democrat | Nathan Green Gordon | Prevented Little Rock Nine from entering Central High School, Little Rock; his segregation policies prompted President Eisenhower to send in 101st Airborne to ensure the Nine's safety | Jim Crow (ends late 1960's); beginnings of Civil Rights Movement in state |
37 | Winthrop Rockefeller | January 10 1967 | January 12 1971 | Republican | Maurice Britt | ||
38 | Dale Bumpers | January 12 1971 | January 3 1975 | Democrat | Bob C. Riley | ||
— | Bob C. Riley | January 3 1975 | January 14 1975 | Democrat | Acting governor for unexpired term. | ||
39 | David Pryor | January 14 1975 | January 3 1979 | Democratic | Joe Purcell | ||
— | Joe Purcell | January 3 1979 | January 9 1979 | Democrat | Acting as governor for six days | ||
40 | Bill Clinton | January 9 1979 | January 19 1981 | Democrat | Joe Purcell | ||
41 | Frank D. White | January 19 1981 | January 11 1983 | Republican | Winston Bryant | ||
42 | Bill Clinton | January 11 1983 | December 12 1992 | Democrat | Winston Bryant, Jim Guy Tucker | Resigned; elected President of the United States | |
43 | Jim Guy Tucker | December 12 1992 | July 15 1996 | Democrat | Mike Huckabee | Resigned; felony conviction (mail fraud) in the Whitewater scandal | |
44 | Mike Huckabee | July 15 1996 | January 9 2007 | Republican | Winthrop Paul Rockefeller | Created "Tax-Me-More" fund to highlight Democrat/liberal hypocrisy on tax contributions | |
45 | Mike Beebe | January 9 2007 | Current | Democrat | Bill Halter | Term expires in 2011 |
references
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