Bill Clinton: I have been asking some people since 1974, early ‘74, to make sacrifices for me, sacrifices of their time and energy and money to help you in a campaign. You ought to try to call as many as you can and try to explain to them personally what your decision is, why you’ve reached it, and ask them personally for their help before there is a formal announcement.
Kyle Kellams: We do not have to tell anybody who that was.
Randy Dixon: Oh man, do we not. But that version of that person was much younger than we know these days. That was actually the Arkansas attorney general, Bill Clinton, discussing the possibility of a gubernatorial campaign. That was in 1978. He was 32. I guess you would easily say Arkansas’ most famous politician.
In his early days, he had moved back to Arkansas to become a law professor, and then he ran for 3rd District Congress against John Paul Hammerschmidt. Lost. But then he won a statewide race in ‘76 to become attorney general. He served one term, but then he was ready to move up.
Clinton: I’ve had invaluable experience as a lawyer and as a teacher, especially in criminal justice and most importantly, as your attorney general. When I tried to be a good lawyer for our state and a good lawyer for our people, especially through the Consumer Protection Division and through our intervention in utility rate cases, to try to hold the rates down and to try to change unfair billing procedures.
We are on the verge of a great economic prosperity boom in our state. The question is whether we are also on the verge of an era of excellence. Comprehensive rural road program. I’d like to see an agriculture commission to try to help save our family farms and promote our agricultural exports.
Most important of all, I’d like to work with you, with the state legislature and the state government, to bring out the best of our potential to take us into the future in an era of excellence, according to the standards that we all believe in and that we know we can achieve. I hope you’ll help me to do that on May the 30th.
Kellams: Here’s something I haven’t done yet. I haven’t told people you’re Randy Dixon with the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History.
Dixon: Hi, Kyle, I’m Randy Dixon.
Kellams: Yes, you are. And we are continuing our examination of governors of the modern era.
Dixon: That’s right. And we come to Bill Clinton, his first term, when he was the 40th governor of Arkansas. He entered the primary that year in ‘78 against four other opponents, and there was no runoff and easily beat his Republican opponent, Lynn Lowe, in the general election.
Clinton: This is a victory for the future of Arkansas. It belongs to many people, to my wife and family, to my campaign manager and our fine staff, to my administrative assistant and the devoted public servants in the attorney general’s office. And most important, to the legions of supporters from every county.
Kellams: So you have this very young man now, governor, youngest in the country.
Dixon: Yeah. And on Inauguration Day, this was in January of ‘79, KATV covered all day and into the evening, live wall-to-wall coverage. And Steve Barnes, of course, with Amy Oliver hosted all the broadcasts.
Anchor: He is a man who is known, I think, as we’ve covered him, he’s known as a detail man. His predecessor, Gov. Pryor, was widely regarded as more of a conceptual thinker, as an executive, as a manager than his predecessor, Dale Bumpers, who, like Mr. Clinton is reported to be, was very much a detail man.
Gov. Clinton, Gov. Bumpers, I know, could always be counted on to know precisely how many state vehicles were in the Arkansas fleet at any given time and how many professors in all the state-supported colleges and universities had doctorates or above. And Bill Clinton is supposedly that sort of man.
Dixon: Here’s another interesting bit from that coverage. This is Amy Oliver with the new first lady, Hillary Clinton. I’m sorry.
Kellams: Yeah. No, she.
Dixon: Yeah. Hillary Rodham and, well, that’s an issue that comes up.
Amy Oliver: I think we have with us the lady who in a few minutes will be the first lady of Arkansas, Hillary Rodham. Hillary, we know that you are an attorney. What kind of plans have you made to be first lady of Arkansas?
Hillary Rodham: Well, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about the kinds of work that we want to do on behalf of the state and some of the activities that we will be active in, but we haven’t made any final plans. We hope to be able to involve as many people from around the state, and as many different interests and walks of life as we can, in projects to better the state and our people.
And I intend to continue practicing law, because I think that it’s important that I both stay in touch with people other than through political life, so that I see people in contexts other than at receptions like this, or people being nice to me and asking me questions on TV. And I think it’s also something I want to do because I’ve worked hard to attain these skills.
Dixon: I hate to say that it became an issue, but it did. That she went by Hillary Rodham. And if you see the video, the name superimposed on the screen actually said Rodham, Hillary Rodham.
Kellams: Mrs. Clinton. Arkansas wasn’t ready for this.
Dixon: So I think the word to summarize Clinton’s first term would be ambitious. Unfortunately, many thought it was way too ambitious.
Kellams: Now, let’s just kind of put this in context though, because after Faubus you had Win Rock, who was ambitious.
Dixon: Yes.
Kellams: Then you had Dale Bumpers.
Dixon: Yes.
Kellams: Who was ambitious.
Dixon: Yes.
Kellams: You had David Pryor, who was ambitious.
Dixon: Yes.
Kellams: So you’ve had three governors in a row.
Dixon: Yes. But this is a young guy. His staff, there aren’t many Arkansans. And think about the late ’70s in Arkansas. A lot of people were not very progressive.
Kellams: That is correct. And Hillary Rodham, Mrs. Clinton.
Dixon: Yes. And I think a lot of his staff were young, kind of long hair, and they thought they were kind of hippies and kind of took offense to it. Clinton pushed a lot of these initiatives of his that I think some people thought, well, that young whippersnapper’s just trying to do too much. The main thing he wanted, improve roads.
Kellams: Which is such a hippie thing to want.
Dixon: Well, it was the way he did it and the fact that, and I hadn’t realized this till I went back and started looking through the archives, he first announced this plan to improve roads and, well, in this case, raise car tag license fees to improve the roads. And he did it on his inaugural address to the legislature.
Clinton: As you probably know, I have asked for this opportunity to address you today to talk about our highways, roads and streets. And I suppose you also know, since it has been discussed and documented at depressing length for several years, our road system in Arkansas is in sore financial need. We spend much less money than any of our neighboring states on our roads. Well, that I need not belabor this point with you.
The dollar figures that have been suggested as necessary to satisfy the needs of our road system, however, range from the incredible to the merely astronomical. A total solution to the monetary problem would impose a staggering tax burden that we have no right to ask our citizens to bear, or would require the assumption on our part of an enormous debt at currently high interest rates and in defiance of our traditional desire to pay as we go.
It is therefore a hard truth, but a truth nonetheless, that an ideal highway system is not presently attainable. Although generally I am and will continue to be hostile to the invention of new taxes, I am persuaded, after reflection and extensive discussion with many advisers, including many of you in this body, that this measure is just and equitable. The tax itself is not overly large, but what tips the balance in its favor is its direct relation to road use.
Dixon: Remember that?
Kellams: Yeah. They become important.
Dixon: Oh, it comes up to bite him.
Dixon: It’s a major issue in the next campaign, but so is this next event that occurs that really he got the blame for it, but he had no control over this. Here’s President Jimmy Carter.
Jimmy Carter: I’d like to make a statement to you and to the nation about the extremely critical problem with the Cuban citizens who are escaping from their country and coming to our shores in a very haphazard and dangerous way. Tens of thousands of Cubans are fleeing the repression of the Castro regime under chaotic and perilous conditions.
Dixon: Clinton had strongly supported Carter. They were friends. And then suddenly there are thousands and thousands of these Cuban refugees being housed and processed at Fort Chaffee up in Fort Smith. When this happened, it was a huge deal. KATV actually broke the story and Bob Steel was live at the Governor’s Mansion. I talked to Bob. So here we have a little bit of Bob and what happened?
Bob Steel: The Cuban refugee crisis is what it came to be known as. But we had learned through sources that several thousand Cuban refugees were going to be housed at Fort Chaffee in Arkansas on the orders of President Carter. And we went out to the Governor’s Mansion and requested a live shot with Bill Clinton. And he confirmed that our information was true. And he was not at all happy about it, as I recall.
Anchor: News Scene 7. Bob Steel is standing by at the Governor’s Mansion with Gov. Bill Clinton. Bob?
Steel: The governor has consented, Steve, to join us here live. He just got off the phone, I’m told, with Sen. David Pryor. Gov. Clinton, what do you know about this matter this morning?
Clinton: Bob, I called the White House to protest the reduction in security up there. I called and strongly protested, and at that time I was told that the White House seemed to think there was no other alternative than to use Fort Chaffee as a consolidation center. At that time I was predictably dismayed, and I told them I thought they ought to do two things.
First of all, I thought they should call Sen. Bumpers, Sen. Pryor, our congressional delegation, those who are involved in this, and they should consider the implications of what they were about to do. I placed a call to the president. I intend to discuss it with him. I think that the manner in which this decision has been made, in view of earlier commitments to our senators and to me on Fort Chaffee, is regrettable.
Steel: Do you think you still have a chance to reverse their decision?
Clinton: I don’t know, but I’m sure trying.
Steel: Do you feel double-crossed at all?
Clinton: I just think they’ve made a mistake.
Dixon: What did he say to you after the shot?
Steel: After?
Dixon: Yeah. After the live shot.
Steel: The governor said, “This will cost me the election.” And I couldn’t believe he was being so forthright with me. But he said this will cost me the election because the voters are already mad at me for raising their car tax. And this will be the, he didn’t say the death of me, but this will decide the election, he said. And I’m going to lose the election as a result.
Dixon: Tensions were high. Residents were mad.
Kellams: Right.
Dixon: And the refugees were mad.
Kellams: Yeah.
Dixon: Here’s a report from ABC.
Reporter: When all hell broke loose, about a thousand Cubans began marching down the main post road toward the front gate. They then stormed the front gate, jumping over the fence. About 300 began pelting National Guard and state troopers with rocks, slightly injuring several men and breaking car windows. The troopers also ...
Kellams: Keep in mind that at this point, gubernatorial terms are just two years. So in the midst of this, Bill Clinton is thinking about reelection.
Dixon: Well, yeah, and that’s what was bad about those two-year terms is you introduced this new governor. He gets to, what, meet with the legislature once, and then you got to start running again.
Kellams: Yeah.
Dixon: And so, yeah, during all this, Clinton announces for a second term.
Clinton: I don’t think I’ve made much of a secret about it. I’ve always said I intended to run for reelection. I have not filed yet simply because Monday’s the best day for my schedule. I’ve been rather busy working on a number of things, trying to get ready for the special session, and I intend to go on with my job as usual for the next couple of months anyway, I hope I can.
But I’m going to ask for a second term tomorrow, and I hope the people will let me have one. And in my second term, I’m going to concentrate much more on developing policies which will help them with the essentials of life and with either holding down the costs or otherwise coping with the burdens of the essentials.
Kellams: All right. That’s March of 1980. So a few months before the November election.
Dixon: Right. And he really didn’t have any opposition in the Democratic primary, which in those days, that was the big race. He was running against a turkey farmer from Kingsland named Monroe Schwarzlose.
Kellams: One of my all-time favorite names.
Dixon: Yeah, he ran, I believe, three times. It was just kind of, he was a regular. You’d see on the ballot, but he was just this old turkey farmer. But it was the general election. Oh, I do want to add that Monroe Schwarzlose did get 31% of the vote in the primary.
Dixon: Looking back, that should have been some sort of guide to what might happen.
Kellams: Right. But I don’t think it was seen at that time.
Dixon: No, I don’t think so. And they weren’t really expecting what happened next. And that was, OK, Frank White was the director of the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission under David Pryor. Well, he was convinced by the Republican Party to switch parties and run against Clinton in the general election. And this is what Clinton was facing.
White: Hi. Nice to meet you. I’m running for governor of Arkansas.
Reporter: He says it simply, quickly and with feeling. Frank White is a candidate for governor, a candidate who moved fast at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff today, shaking hands and under a sign appropriately labeled, trying to give what he says are the facts of his campaign.
White’s visit to Pine Bluff comes only three days after Gov. Clinton was in the city, where he implied that White was appealing to the frustrations of the Arkansas voter. A charge White answered as he walked across campus.
White: Well, I think the frustration of the Arkansas voter is a governor who doubled their car tax last year in a very difficult economic year, and a governor who keeps a Washington office at a cost of $300,000 for his own political gain, and then refuses to give the teachers the pay raise that they’re entitled to. And he’s mismanaged state government.
Kellams: So we come to the first Tuesday in November 1980.
Dixon: That’s right. Early in the evening, I remember that ABC projected Clinton as the winner. And as the night went on, White kept this about 2% edge over Clinton. And it dragged on and on. I think KATV went off the air, we finally did, about 2 o’clock in the morning, and the race had not been called. It wasn’t until the next morning that the Clintons appeared on the back lawn of the Governor’s Mansion to concede.
Clinton: Hillary and I have shed a few tears for our loss of last evening, but we accept the will of our people with humility and with gratitude for having been given the chance to serve our state. I want to congratulate my opponent of yesterday, Frank White, for his victory and pledge him my full cooperation in the transition so that we might preserve essential state services and permit our government to function as it must. I wish him well.
I regret that I will not have two more years to serve as governor because I have loved it. I have probably loved it as much as any person who ever had this office. I’m proud of the record that we’ve made in these two years, and I want every one of you to be proud of it, too.
No matter what happens to me in my life, I will always believe that because of you, I’m the luckiest person I’ve ever known. And no matter what happens to this state, I will always know that no public servant ever got better help, ever had stronger friends, or ever loved the people of this state more than I do on this day. Thank you very much and God bless you all.
Dixon: So the youngest governor in America becomes the youngest ex-governor in America. So I wanted to play this. It’s Clinton’s final address to the legislature. And this is a report from KATV’s Randy Weber.
Randy Weber: When all the new members in both the Senate and House had been gathered with the old under one roof, it was time to say goodbye to an old friend. On his next-to-the-last day in office, Bill Clinton gave his farewell address. Though mostly upbeat and filled with accomplishments of the past two years, Clinton deviated to a subject that has probably left a bitter aftertaste.
Clinton: And I must say a special word about Fort Chaffee. Last week I received a letter from a career National Guard officer which said, and I quote, “I was at Fort Chaffee last June, the night of the riot, and I am convinced that the actions you initiated saved lives.” Those actions by the State Police and the National Guard, as well as the security agreement we won from the federal government, have saved our state from a disaster which could have scarred us for years to come. And whatever others may say who were not there and who did not have the responsibility, I remain confident that I took the proper course.
Weber: Tomorrow, Bill Clinton will no longer be the nation’s youngest governor, but he hopes his two years will be remembered for what he did and what he tried to do for Arkansas. This is Randy Weber reporting for News Scene 7.
Kellams: I’m glad we’re doing this series because it gives us a chance to focus on some of these, like this one-term governor Bill Clinton.
Dixon: Yes.
Kellams: And be lost to the dustbin of history if we didn’t talk about this one-term governor.
Dixon: Well, not to give anything away, but we’re going to be doing a little bit more on him later on. But first there’s Frank White, and he was fun to cover.
Kellams: Yes.
Dixon: I just want to give you a little taste.
Kellams: OK.
Dixon: We’re going to have next week. This was, I mean, this was probably 1 in the morning at Frank White’s headquarters during KATV’s coverage.
Steel: Why are you running as well as you are?
White: Because those people out there want me to be governor.
Steel: Steve, I haven’t been around this kind of noise since the time that Arkansas beat Texas A&M. I don’t know any other way to describe it. There is electricity here, and we will be here until we know the outcome of this race. And we’ll be coming back several times.
Anchor: I’m sure there may be other reasons, Bob, than simply, are more to it than just, “Those people out there want me to be governor.”
Steel: We’ll have a lot more time to work on that later.
Kellams: Well, this is going to be fun.
Dixon: It will be fun. We will have some stories to tell.
Kellams: Yes, we will. That’s next week. He’s Randy Dixon, I’m Kyle Kellams. Thank you, Randy.
Dixon: We’ll see you, man.
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