Carl Edward Bailey (October 8, 1894 – October 23, 1948) was the 31st governor of Arkansas from 1937 to 1941.

Early life

Bailey was born in Bernie in

Stoddard County Stoddard County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,672. The county seat is Bloomfield. The county was officially organized on January 2, 1835, and is ...

in southeastern

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. He attended public schools and graduated high school in

Campbell Campbell may refer to: People Surname * Campbell (surname), includes a list of people with surname Campbell Given name * Campbell Brown (footballer), an Australian rules footballer * Campbell Brown (journalist) (born 1968), American television n ...

, Missouri in 1912. Bailey hoped to attend the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded ...

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

, but he was unable to secure the financing. In 1915, he attended Chillicothe Business College, where he studied bookkeeping and accounting. Bailey worked for a time as a railroad brakeman in Texas and later opened a cafe in Campbell. He also served as deputy tax collector in

Dunklin County Dunklin County is located in the Bootheel of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,283. The largest city and county seat is Kennett. The county was officially organized on February 14, 1845, and is named in ...

, Missouri. In 1917, he moved to Weona in Poinsett County, Arkansas, and worked as a cashier in Weona, in nearby Trumann and later in

Augusta Augusta may refer to: Places Australia * Augusta, Western Australia Brasil * Rua Augusta (São Paulo) Canada * Augusta, Ontario * North Augusta, Ontario * Augusta Street (Hamilton, Ontario) France * Augusta Suessionum ("Augusta of the Suessi ...

, Arkansas.

Legal studies and practice

Bailey studied law and was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in Arkansas in 1923, and opened a private law practice in 1925. He served as a deputy prosecuting attorney in the Sixth Judicial District of Arkansas from 1927 to 1931. Bailey became a prosecuting attorney and served in that position from 1931 to 1935. In 1934, he was elected to the post of

Arkansas attorney general The Attorney General of Arkansas, usually known simply as the Attorney General (AG), is one of Arkansas's seven constitutional officers. The officeholder serves as the state's top law enforcement officer and consumer advocate. Since January 13 ...

and served one two-year term. In 1936, mobster

Lucky Luciano Charles "Lucky" Luciano (, ; born Salvatore Lucania ; November 24, 1897 – January 26, 1962) was an Italian-born gangster who operated mainly in the United States. Luciano started his criminal career in the Five Points gang and was instrument ...

was arrested in

Hot Springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by c ...

and offered Attorney General Bailey a $50,000 bribe if Bailey would not extradite him to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Bailey refused the bribe.

Political career

In 1936, Bailey was elected to the first of his two terms as governor. In the general election, Bailey handily defeated the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or again ...

Osro Cobb Osro Cobb (May 28, 1904 – January 18, 1996) was a Republican lawyer who worked to establish a two-party system in the US state of Arkansas. In 1926, he was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives from Montgomery County and served as th ...

, who had represented

Montgomery County Montgomery County may refer to: Australia * The former name of Montgomery Land District, Tasmania United Kingdom * The historic county of Montgomeryshire, Wales, also called County of Montgomery United States * Montgomery County, Alabama * Mon ...

in the

Arkansas House of Representatives The Arkansas State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House is composed of 100 members elected from an equal amount of constituencies across the s ...

from 1927 to 1930. Cobb waged an active campaign, having stressed that he was born in Arkansas, whereas the Missouri-born Bailey was a "northern man". Cobb had proposed the creation of a second national park in the state in the

Ouachita National Forest The Ouachita National Forest is a vast congressionally-designated National Forest that lies in the western portion of Arkansas and portions of extreme-eastern Oklahoma, USA. History The Ouachita National Forest is the oldest National Forest in t ...

between

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

and

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

, but the measure was

pocket veto A pocket veto is a legislative maneuver that allows a president or other official with veto power to exercise that power over a bill by taking no action (keeping it in their pocket), thus effectively killing the bill without affirmatively vetoing ...

ed by

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a Republican lawyer from New England who climbed up the ladder of Ma ...

. Bailey received 156,852 votes (85.4 percent) to Cobb's 26,875 ballots (14.6 percent). Cobb recalled that after the election:

many persons called and visited and that they thought a substantial number of votes for me had not been counted. This probably did happen, though to what extent no one can be sure. It also hurt the presidential campaign of my friend,
Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Alf M. Landon of
Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to ...
. This reinforced my conviction that it was absolutely necessary for the rights of the minority party to be protected in elections through the appointment of precinct judges and clerks.

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, an

initiated Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformation ...

act required Republican representation at all precincts and on counting boards. Without such a measure, it was speculated that Republicans could never have overcome the obstacles they faced in an attempt to establish a

two-party system A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually refe ...

in Arkansas. Bailey's

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

was also named "Bailey" (

Robert L. Bailey Hon. Robert L. “Bob” Bailey (August 28, 1922 – February 9, 2018) was an American lawyer, judge, and legislator. Early life and education Bailey was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, to Robert and Eva Bailey and was raised in Goodman, Missouri.� ...

). The Bailey administration developed a library and retirement system and established the state's first

agricultural experiment station An agricultural experiment station (AES) or agricultural research station (ARS) is a scientific research center that investigates difficulties and potential improvements to food production and agribusiness. Experiment station scientists work with ...

at Batesville. During his term, the Department of Public Welfare was founded and Arkansas was made eligible for federal welfare programs. Bailey supported

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Con ...

programs. During Bailey's term, the Arkansas State Police was created and the first

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

laws in the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

were enacted. After U.S. Senator

Joseph Taylor Robinson Joseph Taylor Robinson (August 26, 1872 – July 14, 1937), also known as Joe T. Robinson, was an American politician from Arkansas. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Arkansas in the United States Senate from 1913 to 1937, serving ...

died in office in 1937, Bailey attempted to take the seat himself. He was chosen as the Democratic nominee by the state party convention, which he controlled. However, he had promised when running for governor that he would place such nominations to a vote of the people. Political opponents within the Democratic Party ran an "independent" candidate, who criticized Bailey's broken promise. Bailey lost the election by a wide margin to John E. Miller. By a margin of 91.4 to 8.6 percent, Bailey won his second term as governor in the 1938 general election over the Republican Charles F. Cole of Batesville. In 1940, Bailey sought a third consecutive term as governor but lost to intraparty rival

Homer Martin Adkins Homer Martin Adkins (October 15, 1890 – February 26, 1964) was an American businessman and Democratic politician who served as the 32nd governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas. Adkins is remembered as a skilled retail politician and a strong st ...

. After leaving the governorship, he served as a

lobbyist In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

for a railroad union and taught law at the

University of Arkansas Law School The University of Arkansas School of Law is the law school of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas, a state university. It has around 445 students enrolled in its Juris Doctor (J.D.) and Master of Law (LL.M) programs and is home to ...

Fayetteville Fayetteville may refer to: *Fayetteville, Alabama * Fayetteville, Arkansas ** The Fayetteville Formation *Fayetteville, Georgia * Fayetteville, Illinois * Fayetteville, Indiana *Fayetteville, Washington County, Indiana *Fayetteville, Missouri *Fay ...

. In 1942, he founded the Carl Bailey Company, an

International Harvester The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated by IHC, IH, or simply International ( colloq.)) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household e ...

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

, which sold innovative farming machinery. Bailey stayed active in politics and continued to wield some influence. In 1944,

J. William Fulbright James William Fulbright (April 9, 1905 – February 9, 1995) was an American politician, academic, and statesman who represented Arkansas in the United States Senate from 1945 until his resignation in 1974. , Fulbright is the longest serving chair ...

, a congressman from Fayetteville and former president of the University of Arkansas, who had been dismissed by Governor Adkins, opposed Adkins for a U.S. Senate seat. Bailey supported Fulbright, who defeated Adkins and two other opponents and then served until his own defeat in 1974 by fellow Democrat

Dale Bumpers Dale Leon Bumpers (August 12, 1925 – January 1, 2016) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 38th Governor of Arkansas (1971–1975) and in the United States Senate (1975–1999). He was a member of the Democratic Party. Prior ...

Death and legacy

Carl Bailey bust in the Arkansas state capitol

Bailey died of a heart attack on October 23, 1948 in Little Rock. The Carl Bailey Company Building on Broadway in Little Rock is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

for its architectural significance. The University of Arkansas maintains a scholarship to the law school in his name.

References

External links