POLITICS
The Big Three
Dale Bumpers, David Pryor and Bill Clinton are considered the "Big Three" of Arkansas Democratic Party politics. Each recognized and credited the work that Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller had contributed to the people of Arkansas. They were to carry on this legacy of progressive politics.
Dale Bumpers A fresh political face from western Arkansas, Bumpers began his term as governor of Arkansas in 1970. He had grown up during the Great Depression in a close-knit family and studied at the University of Arkansas before joining the U.S. Marines. In his first foray into politics, Bumpers was defeated in 1962 for a seat in the Arkansas General Assembly. In 1970, he appeared charismatic and progressive in his thought. He won support from the general population and was one of the first 20th century politicians to effectively use the mass media to his credit.
During his administration, he reformed the state income-tax structure to benefit lower income families and proposed small tax increases for items like cigarettes. He also raised teacher salaries, created a home-rule law to let larger cities have more power to make decisions for the betterment of their communities, and created a consumer protection division for the Attorney General's office. He was re-elected two more times before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1975 where he became 
a pre-eminent political figure. Among his projects was the preservation of Civil War battlefields and related historic sites. He retired from the U.S. Senate in 1998 and currently teaches at the University of Arkansas.
David Pryor Served as governor of Arkansas from 1975 to 1979. A native of Camden, Arkansas, Pryor began his political career in the Arkansas General Assembly and was a member of the Young Turks, a group of post-World War II politicians who wanted reform and challenged outdated principles of government in Arkansas.
In 1966, Pryor became a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He supported desegregation and reform in nursing homes (he even went undercover and worked at nursing facilities to prove mismanagement and neglect). In 1972, he lost a bid for the U.S. Senate and became a private citizen once again. Then he ran for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1974. His opponent was Orval Faubus, former governor, who he soundly defeated with 66 percent of the vote. One of his projects was the reform of Arkansas's State Constitution, which was adopted in 1874, but this idea was struck down in 1975. He placed the first woman and African-American on the Arkansas Supreme Court, placed a woman on his cabinet and the Arkansas Highway Commission and assisted all ethnic groups in upgrading themselves in state government. He also invested idle state funds and placed a freeze on hiring state employees in an attempt to control the growing government. In 1979, he was elected to the U.S. Congress, from which he retired in 1997.
William Jefferson Clinton Served as governor from 1979 to 1981 and again from 1983 to 1992. Raised in Hope and Hot Springs, Clinton was educated at Georgetown University, where he was chosen to be a Rhodes Scholar in England. After graduating Yale Law School in 1970, he worked on George McGovern's presidential campaign, taught law at the University of Arkansas and married Hillary Rodham in 1975. He entered the governor's race in 1978 and assumed the office held by Pryor.
He surrounded himself with bright, young policy-makers and carried on ambitious legislative plans during his first administration. Discontent among the citizens was evident in 1980 when Clinton was not re-elected for a second term. He had raised vehicle registration and license fees. The people of Arkansas voted for Frank White, a Republican, as a lesson to the young Clinton.
Learning from his mistakes, Clinton practiced law and was re-elected in 1983. This time around, he made himself accessible to the public and cautioned himself to avoid arrogance. His successive terms were marked by conservative fiscal policies and a change in his wife's last name from Rodham to Clinton, quieting traditionalist crowds. He was known as the "Comeback Kid." Issues related to education and economic reform were high on his legislative agenda throughout his years as governor. In 1992, Clinton was elected the first President of the United States from Arkansas.