Dale Bumpers, Liberal Stalwart of Arkansas Politics, Dies at 90 - The New York Times: Dale L. Bumpers, a liberal governor and four-term Democratic senator from Arkansas who came out of retirement in 1999 to make a passionate closing argument defending President Bill Clinton against removal from office in a Senate trial, died on Friday at his home in Little Rock, Ark. He was 90.
Mr. Bumpers was part of a generation of moderate Southern Democrats, among them President Jimmy Carter, who emerged in the late 1960s and the ’70s. He always said his proudest achievement had come early in his career when, as a small-town lawyer in the 1950s, he guided his native Charleston, Ark., to become the first community of the former Confederacy to integrate its public schools.
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The Rhetoric of Bumpers and Pryor
The political styles of Senators Dale Bumpers and David Pryor have clearly been well suited to the Arkansas political culture of civility, intimacy, and humility. But both Bumpers and Pryor also have other political characteristics that resonate in Arkansas, in particular, their firmness, independence, and common sense as expressed rhetorically. Bumpers displayed these characteristics especially in speeches that exemplified basic political truths and good old common sense. Bumpers is a master story teller who used words of wisdom from his family, from great statesmen, great books, the Bible and other classic sources to argue against insipid ideas and mass conformity. Some examples from his speeches illustrate his ability to convey political wisdom to constituents in a simple story.
On the nation’s lack of an energy policy in 1987:
And we have no energy policy. Among other things I did besides practice law was own a cemetery, and I sold it because I found that as good salesman as I am, I had a tough time selling cemetery lots to healthy people. And so it is with energy policy. As long as people can drive up to a gas tank and fill their tanks, it’s very difficult to get them excited about energy. So today, because we have no energy policy, we are becoming more dependent on Persian Gulf oil.
Or in instructing about the dangers of cynicism toward government:
…Mark Twain said, “If Congress had been present when God said, ‘Let there be light,’ mankind would still be in the dark.”…As Will Rogers once said, “The good old days ain’t what they used to be, and they never was.”…It has always been fashionable to criticize Congress. But the nation should keep it all in perspective, and remember that James Madison said 207 years ago in Philadelphia: “Congress must be the bulwark between the people and what would otherwise become a tyrannical Presidency.” …The gravest threat to our political process and our democracy is not the legislative process, which often is chaotic and disorganized. The real threat is cynicism. The increasingly pervasive belief is that our system can’t be made to work, and so “I’m washing my hands of it.” …
Or in his fundamental belief in the worth of public service:
…As a child I was expected to be on the Courthouse, lawn for virtually all campaign speeches, and I was questioned at dinner about my reactions. My father had served in the legislature, and I was taught that public service was a noble calling. So, the greatest disappointment of my life was becoming Governor and Senator after my father's death.
And on the fundamental importance of diversity and basic constitutional freedoms:
The very strength of this nation hinges on our diversity. Diversity of ideas, religions, political thought, free speech and freedom from persecution because of our diversity. The Constitution says you will be free to associate with whomever you wish, politically, religiously, academically, etc. And you will be secure in your home from somebody knocking your door down without a search warrant. A lawyer came to me recently and said, “Why haven’t you guys put Dan Rostenkowski behind bars?” I said, “Bob, surely you don’t mind him having a trial, do you?”
In short, Bumpers presented himself to Arkansans as a legislator who paid attention to his constituents but was not afraid to demonstrate his own firm convictions, as a Senator that people could disagree with but still respect, and as a man completely dedicated to public service. Bumpers demonstrated his independence probably most directly and dangerously when he supported Jimmy Carter's Panama Canal treaty in 1978. Bumpers’ vote was crucial to the two-thirds Senate majority needed to confirm the controversial treaty, but his first reelection bid was only two years away and his support of the treaty did not square with the beliefs of many Arkansans. His Republican challenger the next year, Bill Clark, besides having strong church connections and support in Northwest Arkansas, distributed thousands of bumper stickers and campaign pamphlets simply stating that Bumpers "gave away the Panama Canal." Nonetheless, Bumpers used his persuasive representational style to educate the electorate on the soundness of his vote and, despite a Reagan victory in Arkansas and the defeat of numerous liberal Senators throughout the nation, won his race with 60 percent of the vote.
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