Orval Faubus
Orval Eugene Faubus (/ˈfɔːbəs/ FAW-bəs; January 7, 1910 – December 14, 1994) was an American politician who served as the 36th Governor of Arkansas from 1955 to 1967, as a member of the Democratic Party. In 1957, he refused to comply with a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, and ordered the Arkansas National Guard to prevent black students from attending Little Rock Central High School. This event became known as the Little Rock Crisis. He was elected to six two-year terms as governor.
Orval Faubus
December 14, 1994 (aged 84)
Conway, Arkansas, U.S.
Combs, Arkansas, U.S.
1942–1946
Early life and career[edit]
Orval Eugene Faubus was born in the northwest corner of Arkansas near the village of Combs to John Samuel and Addie (née Joslen) Faubus.[1] Although Sam Faubus was a socialist, and enrolled Orval at the socialist Commonwealth College, the latter went on to pursue a very different political path from that of his father.[2]
Faubus's first political race was in 1936 when he contested a seat in the Arkansas House of Representatives, which he lost. He was urged to challenge the result but declined, which earned him the gratitude of the Democratic Party. As a result, he was elected circuit clerk and recorder of Madison County, a post he held for two terms.[3]
His book, In This Faraway Land, documents the military period of his life. He was active in veterans' causes for the remainder of his life. When Faubus returned from the war, he cultivated ties with leaders of Arkansas' Democratic Party, particularly with progressive reform Governor Sid McMath, leader of the post-war "GI Revolt" against corruption, under whom he served as director of the state's highway commission. Meanwhile, conservative Francis Cherry defeated McMath's bid for a third term in the 1952 Democratic primary. Cherry became unpopular with voters, and Faubus challenged him in the 1954 primary.
1960 presidential election[edit]
During the 1960 presidential election, at a secret meeting held in a rural lodge near Dayton, Ohio, the National States Rights Party (NSRP) nominated Faubus for President and retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral John G. Crommelin of Alabama for Vice President. Faubus, however, did not campaign on this ticket actively, and won only 0.07% of the vote (best in his native Arkansas: 6.76%), losing to the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson ticket.
Later life and death[edit]
Faubus chose not to run for re-election to a seventh term in what would likely have been a difficult race in 1966. Former gubernatorial candidate James D. Johnson, by then an elected Arkansas Supreme Court Justice, narrowly won the Democratic nomination over another justice, the moderate Frank Holt. Johnson was then defeated in the general election by Winthrop Rockefeller, who became the state's first GOP governor since Reconstruction. Years later, Johnson himself became a Republican and supported Governor Frank D. White, later a benefactor of Faubus.[4]
In the 1968 United States presidential election, Faubus was among five people considered for the vice-presidential slot of third-party presidential candidate George Wallace. However, in light of the public perception of both as segregationists, Wallace selected retired General Curtis LeMay. During the 1969 season, Faubus was hired by new owner Jess Odom to be general manager of his Li'l Abner theme park in the Ozark Mountains, Dogpatch USA. According to newspaper articles, Faubus was said to have commented that managing the park was similar to running state government because some of the same tricks applied to both.
Faubus sought the governorship again in 1970, 1974, and 1986 but was defeated in the Democratic primaries by Dale Bumpers, David Pryor, and Bill Clinton, respectively, each of whom defeated Republican opponents. In the 1970 race, two other Democratic candidates in the running, Joe Purcell and Hayes McClerkin, failed to make the runoff, and Bumpers barely edged Purcell for the chance to face Faubus directly. In his last race, 1986, he polled 174,402 votes (33.5 percent) to Clinton's 315,397 (60.6 percent).[16]
In 1984, Faubus was one of the few white politicians to support civil rights activist Jesse Jackson for President of the United States.[17] He supported Jackson again in the 1988 Democratic primaries.[18]
Faubus, a life-long Southern Baptist, died of prostate cancer on December 14, 1994, and is interred at the Combs Cemetery in Combs, Arkansas.[1]
Electoral history[edit]
1954 Democratic Primary for Governor
Francis Cherry (inc.) 47%
Orval Faubus 34%
Guy H. "Mutt" Jones 13%
Gus McMillan 6%
1954 Democratic Primary Runoff for Governor
Orval Faubus 51%
Francis Cherry 49%
1954 General Election for Governor
Orval Faubus (D) 62%
Pratt Remmel (R) 38%
1956 Democratic Primary for Governor
Orval Faubus (inc.) 58%
James D. Johnson 26%
Jim Snoddy 14%
Stewart K. Prosser 1%
Ben Pippin 1%
1956 General Election for Governor
Orval Faubus (D) 81%
Roy Mitchell (R) 19%
1958 Democratic Primary for Governor
Orval Faubus (inc.) 69%
Chris Finkbeiner 16%
Lee Ward 15%
1958 General Election for Governor
Orval Faubus (D) 82%
George W. Johnson (R) 18%
1960 Democratic Primary for Governor
Orval Faubus (inc.) 59%
Joe Hardin 16%
Bruce Bennett 14%
H.E. Williams 8%
Hal Millsap 2%
1960 General Election for Governor
Orval Faubus (D) 69%
Henry Britt (R) 31%
1962 Democratic Primary for Governor
Orval Faubus (inc.) 52%
Sid McMath 21%
Dale Alford 19%
Vernon H. Whitten 5%
Kenneth Coffelt 2%
David A. Cox 1%
1962 General Election for Governor
Orval Faubus (D) 73%
Willis "Bubs" Ricketts (R) 27%
1964 Democratic Primary for Governor
Orval Faubus (inc.) 66%
Odell Dorsey 19%
Joe Hubbard 10%
R.D. Burrow 4%
1964 General Election for Governor
Orval Faubus (D) 57%
Winthrop Rockefeller (R) 43%
1970 Democratic Primary for Governor
Orval Faubus 36%
Dale Bumpers 20%
Joe Purcell 19%
Hayes C. McClerkin 10%
Bill Wells 8%
Bob Compton 4%
J. M. Malone 2%
W.S. Cheek 1%
1970 Democratic Primary Runoff for Governor
Dale Bumpers 58%
Orval Faubus 42%
1974 Democratic Primary for Governor
David Pryor 51%
Orval Faubus 33%
Bob C. Riley 16%
1986 Democratic Primary for Governor
Bill Clinton (inc.) 61%
Orval Faubus 34%
W. Dean Goldsby 5%