Dale Bumpers
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Dale Bumpers Folder Citation: Collection: Records of the 1976 Campaign Committee to Elect Jimmy Carter ; Series: Noel Sterrett Subject File; Folder: Dale Bumpers; Container 69 To See Complete Finding Aid: http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/library/findingaids/Carter-Mondale%20Campaign_1976.pdf ·Fulbright vs. Bumpers: The · Despite its relatively small size Ar us all on and, instead, to define issues kansas probably h·as · more Iegisiative he has to make against the record of PO\i•er in Washington than any other . Bill Fulbright." · _ state in the Union. Its senior senator· Bumpers, the Gazette points out, "has John McClellan, is chairman of the Sen: 30 years of Fulbright's record to ex ate Appropriations Committee. Its juniot· amine, and surely he must object to scl1alor is J. W. Ful�right, cliairman of something Fulbright has done . So far; !he Senate Foreign Relations Commit Bumpers is just running against Con tee. In !he House, another supremely gress and 'foreign relations' ... He is powerful Arkansan , Wilbm·. Mills is . very nearly standing in contempt of hi3 ch'airm;in of the key Ways and 1\I�ans · own constituency." Committee. · Arkansas has had a special pride h 'Fu!bdght, who is now running for a Fulbright since his youth. He wRs the s_ixth term, is "junior" only because captain of the university of Arkan�as McClellan, 78, has served even longer football team; he won a Rhodes Schol in the Senate. It's hard to recall any arsltip, and he returned to become the state ever having at one time . su'ch a state university's youngest president. In concentration of influence on Capitol 1942, as a freshman congressman, he in Hill. New York and California are each troduced the historic Fulbl'igbt resolu a·bout 10 times larger in population than tion, which -became a· beacon for U.S. AHiansas, but between them they can't post-World War II foreign policy. cl.aim the chairmanship of a single ma But the nation' has also come to have j or· committee. a stake in his career, for he has turned ··In a few weeks, though, Arkansas · out to be a towering figure as chairman could lose· some of its pre-eminence if of th_c Senate Foreign H.clations Com i lS star, Bill Fulbright, is defeated for mittee · where, puttilig partisanship re11ominalion by Dale Bumpers, a young aside, he has steadfastly and effectively two-term govcn1oi· \rho aspires to Ful oppo�ed the war-mongering or both bi· ight 's seat. The, election (said to be Democratic anrl Hepublican Presidents. toitch and go) is acutely uncomfortable Supported by a remarkably united fo�-- many' voters who have previously committee, he was in the forefront of sL1Plwrtcd both men, but who 11011· un- . the fight to end the,Vietnamesc war and happily, have to choose between th�m. the bombing of Cambodia. Under hlm, =Bumpers has been a populat: governor the Tonkin Gulf resolution was re- wnose moderate policies have won the . pealed, and the Senate reasserted its stJpport of many 'voters who would hav'e constitutional covers over warmaking. preferred to· have him seek a third Restraints have been placed on military teh:n as governor on 1\-Jay 28 (considered . aid to military dictatorships, along with a-sure thing), and then run for the Sen re-examination of U.S. foreign commit ate- four years from now when Sen. ments. As a result, headstrong Presi McClellan is expected to retire at the dents will no longet· find it easy to drag .age of 82. the Uniif'd States into recklzss interven Since Bumpers has generally support tions abroad. ed Fulbright's actions in Congress, it ic: Nevertheless. d espite his opposition hard Iot· mall\' to understand whv he to !he President ·over Vietnam, Ful suddenly decicled to run for the Senate bright is now working extremely closely. ll!is year. The best explanation seems I with Mr. Nixon's secretary of state, to lie that he is simply a young man in rt "Arl.-an!;as has luHl SfJedal fJricle in Fulbright siuce his youth." Henry KJssingcr, in trying to bring �-hurry who wants to si rike while his about a viable peace settlement in the JA:i!itical iron is hot. 1\-liddle East and a reliable d etente 'vith : ·As the campaign nears the stretch, The Bumpers dilemma has been sharply ple lo tum· out a veteran incumbent Russia. It is· no secret that Dr: KissingeJ' ho\yever, this situation is causing him analyzed' -by the slate's leading news senator, one of the most honored men S n t e even feels J1is e a e collaborator is playing some embarrassment, for he is not in a - paper, . the esteemed Arkansas Gazette ever r ared in Arkansas, wi't:hout I an indispensable role. making a c<Jse against him!" The paper I position to complain - about Fulbright of Little Rock. st�nds that he has previously approved. Bumpers, it says, ''.is asl).ing the peo- challenged the govemor "to stop puttinG © 1974, LGS Angeles 'l'illles I I(' <Rowland. Evans and Robert No·vali ·'"' _, �Sen. Fulbrigli( 'OnlY a l'v!iracle>Can Save Him' • � '.:0�\ ; . �· ! . � l.' � :·: -<_, ' HOCK, Ark:-Th'e e s n . him il e � than over the ena . ' �obscuritv a small�to\\•n lawye 't· :, ;_:LJTTLE r a o ·:· t or 2-to-1 s tor of: fout· just a popularity contest: It's the most ·;;-for the probable defeat of n. ;J. W ..-: f\n_ti-ful'b ight sentiment has so hard-, jear� a go t_o score _ -_ Se - � a stunning upset : crucial election in America." The vig' · ,:-Fulbright:· by Gov., Dale� ened th f"()nly a · n ·i� - o Butnpe1:s·: in-: a i11'iracle ca save him. -f r governol' 'over 'Orval Faubus and orously pro-Fulbright Arkansas Gazette the i\fay 28 Sen te Democrati� pi·itnary, . : That" stems 'partly fro a feeling _ nt rop Hockefeller, Bumpers at 48 e a m Wi h _ r fers to the governor editorially as ;�an e ·ent that ·would propel an impor here that Fulb ight who' mai 1l::tins no is one of t.he mos popular politicians \ - r , i t , "Smilev" Bumuers. •dant new figu e into ·national politics, :. residence_ in Arkansas; has become dis- in the state's, hist r -. _ . , , · r o y. _ But �tronge;· medicine is needed to - _,,can be · r ly ex·plainecLby 'a tant and -.unapproachable as cliairm� n Bu pers nationa1 image is ' pa t v{hispereCI The m that beat Bumpers, a superb campaigner :,.comment to Bumpers at _ a 'roadside of the Foreign Relations Committee in of a new ·breed southei·n liberal. but· ' and stump speaker whose· "governor: · · - · · ' - Wash ngton. "Bill's a s t ihan ' restaurant. i . lot mar er he vie1\ s hi1hself in ore as· a centrist ship h3s been widely acclaimed. T here [,;, A retired Nlethodist. minister pledged the rest of us in Arkansas," says a :and privately derides. '.'limousine lib- · is.eonsequeutly apprehension in_ the : Bumpers his vote;. then confided: "But. · country lawyer who formerly sup- ' · erals!' �\Iost importimt; lower-income Bllli1pers camp that Fulbright's digni- do tell· the truth, governor I'd, even . ported him but no backs· Bumpers. whites who backed Wallace r la , - · w .can e te fied and- restrained criticism will .in- man '. l "If d ' believe t at ''to '• , vote for a colored - against Fu - " you · on t h , just ask Bumpers as they cannot to Ful- teiJsify ii1to all-out 'assault as election' I · . ;<bright.'?:. uch incidents 'are con1mon-·· him.:'; � _ · . , . · '· · · bright. : S . · - _ . : _ a _ h I , . d y 11ears. T at prospect. terrifies: :jplace. leading to this con sensu : Beyond<'· personalit -· considerations - · 1\lthough Prof. At'thur Schlesinger s Any- y Bumpers supporters, not because it 1 ul Fulbright in �s a murky icleol.ogic )nco pati?il- ·-body co d beat · Arkansas �i al !ll ,Jl', and _ the l'!'ew Repu�lic have com- may defeat hi:n but becaus·e it ll)�Y j i:i 1974. · 1ty betw�en Fulbnght- <md ·his native" me c d - n e - puhhc mourmng over ·the scar him for a fu ture national role. j , Thus. his defeat would stem-not from state. To blue-collar workers �n.d farm- proi)able loss of Fulbright for ,the l)b-� , When Bumpers was considering· the ' ed 'Arkan·sas· :..the; ,\ atcrgatc . syndrome ·polluting--·'- ers· who carri for George· eral cause in foreign. policy, Fulht·ight · - 1'aM' against Fulbright· early··this··y�ar, 'Was i gton p iticians, - r ev n _ Wall ace in 1968, i le no on n o e o · ; h n ol n_o _ e Fulbr ght's- batt - k ws h1s ly_ cha ce t surv}v is n -. ar(aide asked an Arkansas labor-leader, -- g ' : · · �·.Bumpers�-· -,unquestioned; :popularity. a ainst· )he Yietnam ·w ar_ confirms·--- more mundane iss.ues.: "$c-nio'rity is ·an ; his' opinion.c Bumpers wol!ld' win; the ''1fa'ther, ··aft�i--.36-:' t eir instinctive identification him asset to· a o an-omalous years of h of small state," ��� t ld uncom-: ' union man said, but th'e battle would representing Arkansas in th as a "liberal"_ ancl "egghead" (though, prehencling s u en s est r un o e Senate, t d t at, W a k .J i r b e so 'bitter that Bumpers' nationar e in o i re ord is that ege m the string• has finally· run out on th fact, his y t ng c not all Coll , in Fort S ith this week.