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James P. Clarke

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For the Canadian composer, see James P. Clarke (composer).
James Paul Clarke
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
In office
March 13, 1913 – October 1, 1916
Preceded byJacob H. Gallinger
Succeeded byWillard Saulsbury Jr.
United States Senator
from Arkansas
In office
March 4, 1903 – October 1, 1916
Preceded byJames K. Jones
Succeeded byWilliam F. Kirby
18th Governor of Arkansas
In office
January 8, 1895 – January 12, 1897
Preceded byWilliam Meade Fishback
Succeeded byDaniel Webster Jones
Attorney General of Arkansas
In office
1893–1895
GovernorWilliam M. Fishback
Preceded byWilliam E. Atkinson
Succeeded byE. B. Kinsworthy
Member of the Arkansas Senate
from the 14th district
In office
January 10, 1889 – January 9, 1893[1]
Preceded byGeorge B. Peters[2]
Succeeded byHenry N. Word[3]
Member of the Arkansas House of Representatives
from the Phillips County district
In office
January 10, 1887 – January 10, 1889[4]
Serving with R. B. Macon, J. N. Donohoo[5]
Personal details
BornAugust 18, 1854
Yazoo City, Mississippi
DiedOctober 1, 1916(1916-10-01) (aged 62)
Little Rock, Arkansas
Resting placeOakland Cemetery
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Sallie (née Moore) Wooten
​
​
(m. 1883)​
ChildrenJames P. Clarke, Jr.
Julia Clarke
Marion Clarke
RelativesClarke Tucker (great-great-grandson)
Alma materUniversity of Virginia
ProfessionLawyer
Signature

James Paul Clarke (August 18, 1854 – October 1, 1916) was a lawyer and politician from the Arkansas Delta during the Progressive Era. He served in public office over a period of almost 30 years, rising from the Arkansas General Assembly to Attorney General of Arkansas and later 18th Governor of Arkansas, ending his career in the United States Senate. In a period of Democratic Party hegemony known as the "Solid South", Clarke blended positions of the budding Populist movement, such as free silver and railroad regulation, with white supremacy and his gifted skills as an orator to popularity and electoral success.

Early life

Clarke was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta. His father Walter, an architect, died when Clarke was seven years old, and he was raised by his mother, Ellen (née White), daughter of a prominent planter class family.[6] Clarke attended public schools as well as Tutwilder's Academy in Greenbrier, Alabama.[7] After briefly editing a newspaper in Yazoo City, Clarke graduated with a law degree at the University of Virginia in 1878. Clarke was admitted to the bar in 1879, and settled briefly in the small Arkansas River Valley town of Ozark, Arkansas prior to moving to Helena, Arkansas in the Arkansas Delta.[8]

Clarke married Sallie (née Moore) Wooten of Moon Lake, Mississippi on November 10, 1883. Wooten had a son from previous marriage, Alonzo Stuart "Lonnie" Wooten; the couple had two daughters and a son.[9]

Career

James Paul Clarke

Arkansas General Assembly

Eight years into his legal career, Clarke won election to the Arkansas House of Representatives to represent Phillips County in 1886. He was seated alongside R. B. Macon and J. N. Donohoo in the 26th Arkansas General Assembly on January 10, 1887.[5] Following a single term in the Arkansas House, Clarke won election to the Arkansas Senate.[9] Clarke represented the 14th District, which covered Phillips and Lee counties beginning with the 27th Arkansas General Assembly.[10] In 1891, he was elected President of the Arkansas Senate for the 28th Arkansas General Assembly.[11]

Statewide

He was elected Attorney General of Arkansas and served from 1892 to 1894.

Main article: 1894 Arkansas gubernatorial election

He served as Governor of Arkansas from 1895 to 1897.[12] Clarke was devoted to "upholding white supremacy as the keystone of the Democratic Party. 'The people of the South,' he said in his closing speech of the election, 'looked to the Democratic party to preserve the white standards of civilization.' Clarke easily defeated his opponents."[6]

His term was largely unsuccessful and his legislation to end prizefighting and establish four-year terms for state officers failed. After leaving office in 1897, he moved his permanent residence to Little Rock, Arkansas and practiced law.

US Senate

Clarke was elected to the United States Senate in 1903 and served until his death in 1916.[13] He served as President pro tempore of the United States Senate during the Sixty-third and Sixty-fourth Congresses.

Death and legacy

Clarke died in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is buried at Oakland Cemetery in Little Rock. Despite an ineffective tenure as governor, Clarke and his successor, Daniel Jones, marked a departure in the conservative Democratic Party of Arkansas toward a more populist party.[14] They dealt with the electoral threat of a nascent Populist party by incorporating some reforms into the Democratic platform, in conflict with the positions of national Democrats. Clarke is remembered for a silver tongue, short temper, and willingness to fight.

Clarke's statue is one of two statues that was presented by the State of Arkansas to the National Statuary Hall Collection at the United States Capitol. In 2019 the decision was made to replace his statue, and that of Uriah Milton Rose, with statues of Johnny Cash and Daisy Lee Gatson Bates. In the case of Clarke, the reason given is "his racist beliefs".[15] Clarke's own great-great-grandson, State Senator Clarke Tucker, in a 2018 column strongly supported replacing Clarke's statue: "I strongly hope one of the new statues will be Daisy Bates or a member of the Little Rock Nine."[16][17]

See also

References

  1. ^ Priest, Sharon (1998). Runnells, Jonathan (ed.). Historical Report of the Arkansas Secretary of State. Office of the Arkansas Secretary of State. pp. 250–253. OCLC 40157815.
  2. ^ "SOS" (1998), p. 248.
  3. ^ "SOS" (1998), p. 253.
  4. ^ "SOS" (1998), pp. 248–250.
  5. ^ a b "SOS" (1998), p. 249.
  6. ^ a b Niswonger, Richard L. (July 1, 2021). "James Paul Clarke (1854–1916)". Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Little Rock: Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at the Central Arkansas Library System. OCLC 68194233. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  7. ^ "James Paul Clarke (1895–1897)". Old State House Museum. Archived from the original on November 14, 2012. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
  8. ^ Donovan, Timothy P.; Gatewood Jr., Willard B.; Whayne, Jeannie M., eds. (1995) [1981]. The Governors of Arkansas (2 ed.). Fayetteville, AR: The University of Arkansas Press. p. 101. ISBN 1-55728-331-1. OCLC 31782171.
  9. ^ a b "Governors" (1995), p. 101.
  10. ^ "SOS" (1998), p. 250.
  11. ^ "SOS" (1998), p. 251.
  12. ^ "Arkansas Governor James Paul Clarke". National Governors Association. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
  13. ^ "S. Doc. 58-1 - Fifty-eighth Congress. (Extraordinary session -- beginning November 9, 1903.) Official Congressional Directory for the use of the United States Congress. Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing by A.J. Halford. Special edition. Corrections made to November 5, 1903". GovInfo.gov. U.S. Government Printing Office. 9 November 1903. p. 4. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  14. ^ Arnold, Morris S.; DeBlack, Thomas A.; Sabo III, George; Whayne, Jeannie M. (2002). Arkansas: A narrative history (1st ed.). Fayetteville, Arkansas: The University of Arkansas Press. p. 271. ISBN 1-55728-724-4. OCLC 49029558.
  15. ^ Itkowitz, Colby (April 17, 2019). "Johnny Cash to replace Confederate statue on Capitol Hill". Washington Post.
  16. ^ Tucker, Clarke (October 11, 2018). "A new statue to represent Arkansas in D.C." Arkansas Times.
  17. ^ Peters, Ben (April 17, 2019). "Johnny Cash is replacing one of the Capitol's Civil War statues". Roll Call.
Party political offices
Preceded by Democratic nominee for Governor of Arkansas
1894 		Succeeded by
First Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from Arkansas
(Class 3)
1914 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Governor of Arkansas
1895–1897 		Succeeded by
U.S. Senate
Preceded by United States Senator (Class 3) from Arkansas
1903–1916 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President pro tempore of the United States Senate
March 13, 1913 – October 1, 1916 		Succeeded by
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