A Look Back at Arkansas Governors From 1901 to Present

With the recent inauguration of Arkansas’s first female Governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, many are rightfully wondering what the future holds for our state. However, this historic event also provides an excellent opportunity to look back at the state’s past and see where history might be made or where it might repeat itself.

To that end, here is a brief overview of every elected Governor of Arkansas, from the beginning of the 20th century to the current day. A previous article covered Arkansas’s time as a territory to the final governor of the 19th century.

Jeff Davis, Democrat, 1901-1907
1. Named after the Confederate president, Jeff Davis was an extremely divisive governor. He was a white supremacist and populist who found a power base in rural farmers by blaming their problems on corporations and city elites – a technique that earned him many enemies as well as supporters. During a visit by President Theodore Roosevelt, Davis delivered a speech in defense of lynching. Despite his divisive politics, he managed to win three gubernatorial elections and followed by a term as senator. His legislative efforts were focused mainly on antitrust laws and penal reform.
John Sebastian Little, Democrat, 1907
1. John Sebastian Little suffered a nervous breakdown merely two days after his inauguration and resigned the next month, leaving a succession of acting governors to finish out his term. The debacle contributed heavily to the eventual establishment of the office of Lieutenant Governor.
George Washington Donaghey, Democrat, 1909-1913
1. Likely the most progressive Governor to take office by that time, George Washington Donaghey was a powerful advocate for education and penal reform, though he was also a staunch segregationist. He was directly or indirectly involved in the establishment of six out of the ten publicly supported universities in Arkansas. In protest against the use of prisoners for contract-leased labor, he pardoned over a third of the state’s prisoner population before leaving office. This left the leasing system with too small of a workforce to continue and the practice was soon ended. He was also responsible for a constitutional amendment that established initiative and referendum for the state, making Arkansas the only southern state to have any kind of initiative and referendum law for the next seventy years.
Joseph Taylor Robinson, Democrat, 1913
1. Joseph Taylor Robinson was governor for only 55 days. U.S. Senator Jefferson Davis had died just before his inauguration, and Robinson was selected to take his place. Robinson is notable as the last U.S. senator elected by a state legislature rather than by a general election. His brief tenure saw the adoption of the state flag and the establishment of the Arkansas Highway Commission.
George Washington Hays, Democrat, 1913–1917
1. Chosen in a special election, George Washington Hays was accused of being a generally inactive governor who did not push for change. Important changes did occur during his term, however, such as the enactment of statewide prohibition, the completion of the new state capitol building, and labor laws protecting women and children.
Charles Hillman Brough, Democrat, 1917-1921
1. Under Charles Hillman Brough’s tenure, Arkansas became the first state in the south to allow women to vote, though only in party primaries. Yet he was also responsible for the official response to the Elaine Massacre, one of the worst cases of racial violence in U.S. history, which allowed those involved in the massacre to go unpunished.
Thomas Chipman McRae, Democrat, 1921-1925
1. A somewhat populist banker and lawyer, Thomas Chipman McRae worked to streamline the state government, improve and centralize the highway situation, and fund education. He found limited success due to an uncooperative legislature.
Thomas Jefferson Terral, Democrat, 1925-1927
1. Seeking to improve his gubernatorial election chances, Thomas Jefferson Terral attempted to join the Ku Klux Klan but was denied entry in Arkansas, and instead joined a chapter from his native Louisiana. His term saw the creation of Arkansas’s first state park, Petit Jean Mountain.
John Ellis Martineau, Democrat, 1927-1928
1. John Ellis Martineau is often regarded as one of Arkansas’s best governors for his effective leadership of relief efforts following a major flood along the Mississippi River in April 1927 and for sending the National Guard to stop a riotous mob after the lynching of John Carter in Little Rock. His term also saw the first Lieutenant Governor take office since Reconstruction.
Harvey Parnell, Democrat, 1928–1933
1. Formerly the lieutenant governor to Martineau, Harvey Parnell was a progressive democrat who appointed the first woman to the U.S. Senate, Hattie Caraway. He introduced new taxes including the state’s first income tax to pay for important government services such as education and infrastructure to help attract industry. The onset of the Great Depression soon left the state without revenue, however, rendering much of his agenda unattainable.
Junius Marion Futrell, Democrat, 1933-1937
1. A fiscal conservative during the Depression, Junius Marion Futrell enacted austerity measures that cut the state’s expenses by 51.6%. In particular, he slashed funding for high schools, forcing many to close or illegally charge tuition. Despite these efforts, the state would have fallen into bankruptcy were it not for federal aid money from the New Deal.
Carl Edward Bailey, Democrat, 1937–1941
1. A supporter of President Roosevelt’s New Deal, Carl Edward Bailey’s administration established the Department of Public Welfare, the Arkansas State Police, and the first civil service laws in a southern state. These civil service laws were later repealed by the legislature during his second term.
Homer Martin Adkins, Democrat, 1941–1945
1. Homer Martin Adkins was a former member of the KKK, whose political influence helped Adkins rise to power. He pushed back against black civil rights gains that had been made during WWII and even supported a 1943 law that would have prohibited anyone of Japanese descent from owning property in Arkansas.
Benjamin T. Laney, Democrat, 1945–1949
1. Nicknamed “Business Ben,” Benjamin T. Laney was a conservative whose work as governor was focused on improving the state’s economy and consolidating the state government. He was responsible for the 1945 Revenue Stabilization law, which improved the way government programs were funded and prohibited debt spending. He was equally well known for opposing civil rights efforts like federal laws to outlaw lynching and poll taxes.
Sid McMath, Democrat, 1949–1953
1. Sid McMath was a close friend of President Truman and refused to join the “dixiecrat rebellion” prompted by the Democratic party’s support of civil rights. He advocated for rural electrification, civil rights, an increased minimum wage and supported the creation of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Francis Adams Cherry, Democrat, 1953-1955
1. Francis Adams Cherry was relatively unknown before becoming governor. He proceeded to make a string of highly unpopular decisions like selecting cabinet members from out-of-state and became the first governor since 1927 to serve only one term.
Orval Faubus, Democrat, 1955-1963
1. In stark contrast to his predecessor, Orval Faubus served six terms as governor, longer than any other in state history. He was deeply progressive and populist in some respects, overhauling the State Hospital for the mentally ill, establishing the Arkansas Children’s Colony and even giving financial support to historically black colleges. He is notorious, however, for his handling of the Little Rock Nine crisis in sending in the National Guard to block the nine students from entering Central High School. This action actually increased his popularity in Arkansas, allowing him to wing four more terms.
Winthrop Rockefeller, Republican, 1967-1971
1. Winthrop Rockefeller was the first Republican governor of Arkansas since reconstruction. Having left behind his family’s oil empire, Rockefeller was a progressive who sought to reform the state but struggled against an almost entirely Democratic legislature. His administration was far more accepting towards Black Arkansans, who had cast the deciding votes in Rockefellers favor. He signed one of the country’s strongest and most comprehensive Freedom of Information Acts into law, reformed the state prison system, completed the integration of state schools and was the only southern governor to hold a public ceremony of mourning following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Dale Bumpers, Democrat, 1971-1975
1. Dale Bumpers was a progressive much like Rockefeller had been, though he found far greater success in working with the legislature to enact reforms. Bumpers streamlined the state government, raised income taxes to fund teacher salaries, gave more power to cities, expanded the state park system and improved social services for elderly, disabled, or mentally challenged Arkansans.
David Pryor, Democrat, 1975–1979
1. David Pryor continued in the progressive direction of his predecessor, attempting to reform the state constitution and supporting the establishment of what is now the Division of Arkansas Heritage. He also appointed a relatively high number of African Americans and women to high-profile positions.
Bill Clinton, Democrat, 1979-1981
1. Best known as the first U.S. President from Arkansas, Bill Clinton was also noteworthy for serving separate terms as Arkansas governor and for being the youngest governor in state history. In his first term, he worked towards a major highway program supported by a highly unpopular motor vehicle tax. This, alongside riots by Cuban refugees who had been sent to Fort Chaffee, led to his defeat in the 1980 general election.
Frank White, Republican, 1981-1983
1. Bridging the gap between Clinton’s terms as governor, Frank White was highly conservative and signed a bill that required public schools to teach creationism alongside evolutionary theory. He later drew severe criticism by admitting that he did not read the bill before signing it, and the law was eventually struck down in a court case.
Bill Clinton, Democrat, 1983-1992
1. Bill Clinton’s second tenure as governor proved to be much more durable than the first, making him the state’s second-longest ruling governor. He spearheaded successful efforts to increase funding for schools and develop the state economy with high rates of job creation. It was also during this time that the term for governors was once again extended to four years.
Jim Guy Tucker Jr., Democrat, 1992-1996
1. Jim Guy Tucker Jr. reduced funding to state agencies that could generate their own revenue, such as state parks, and took a hard stance against the rising rate of juvenile crime. He is best known, however, for having his second term cut short when he resigned due to his role in the Whitewater scandal.
Mike Huckabee, Republican, 1996–2007
1. The first governor of the 21st century, Mike Huckabee cut statewide spending while also seeing a net increase in tax revenue. He created new programs to provide health insurance for children and improve grade-school education. He also worked to rebuild the state’s highway system and secured new funding for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and similar organizations. Following a court case that ruled the state’s school funding system to be unconstitutional, Huckabee proposed a controversial plan to consolidate small school districts across the state, which was later passed through a significant amount of compromise.
Mike Beebe, Democrat, 2007-2015
1. Mike Beebe remained highly popular throughout the eight years of his tenure as governor despite the collapse of the Democratic party in Arkansas. He almost entirely eliminated the state’s grocery tax, raised school funding to the point of ending the lawsuit that had troubled Huckabee’s administration and increased taxes on tobacco and natural gas.
Asa Hutchinson, Republican, 2015-2023
1. Asa Hutchinson saw many successes thanks to a Republican supermajority in the legislature including major tax cuts, new computer science programs in Arkansas schools, work requirements for Medicaid enrollees and the criminalization of abortion. He attracted national attention and controversy over the planned execution of eight death-row inmates over a span of 11 days, half of which were ultimately executed.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Republican, 2023-
1. As Arkansas’s first female governor, Sanders has already passed a number of executive orders during her brief time in office. She has announced her dedication to major education reform, the elimination of the state income tax and a strong opposition to government overreach. Only time will tell what the legacy of her tenure will be.