Talk:Sid McMath

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This article is a former featured article. Please see its original nomination page (for older articles, check the nomination archive) and why it was removed.

Sid McMath appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on February 24, 2005.

Suggest inserting the following immediately after the word "century" in the the third paragraph from the bottom of your biography of Sid McMath.

Sidney Sanders McMath (June 14, 1912 - October 5, 2003) was a Democratic Governor of the State of Arkansas, United States.

Sidney 'Sid' McMath was born in Columbia County, Arkansas. McMath graduated from the University of Arkansas law school in 1936.

During World War II McMath served in the United States Marine Corps and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He took part in the battles of the Pacific Theater including the Battle of Bougainville. McMath won the Silver Star and the Legion of Merit.

When McMath returned from the war to Hot Springs, Arkansas he and other veterans became disenchanted with the political system and banded together to fight corruption in the city government.

McMath served as prosecuting attorney for Garland and Montgomery counties starting in 1947.

McMath was elected Governor of Arkansas in 1948 and entered office in early 1949. He was reelected in 1950.

McMath's administration focused on infrastructure improvement including new highways and roads and a medical center in the capital city. McMath supported anti-lynching statutes and appointed African-Americans to state boards. His administration improved the state's educational system. McMath also reformed the state's mental health system and increased the minimum wage.

McMath was defeated in the 1952 election. He ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate in 1954 and again for Governor in 1962.

He returned to the practice of law and was elected president of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers in 1976. He wrote a memoir entitled Promises Kept detailing both his years as governor and his military service. McMath remained active, speaking at Arkansas schools and events and supporting local organizations.

In a 1999 opinion poll of Arkansans McMath polled number four on the list of top Arkansas Governors of the 20th century. In a December 2003 forum of historians and journalists sponsered by the Old State House Museum, there was a consensus that McMath's early commitment to civil rights, particulalry his support of President Truman in the 1948 presidential election against Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond, the abolitiion of the so called "white primary" in Arkansas (1949), the opening of the state's medical and law schools to African Americans (1949), McMath's relentless opposition to segregationist governor Orval Faubus, a former McMath ally, could eventually raise him to first place.

McMath's stature has been significantly increased in light of his highway department's paving of more hard surface roads than any previous administartion (and more than those paved by any other Southern state during his tenure) and his politically fatal war against Mid South Utilities, the dominant political force in state politics at the time, which operated in Arkansas as "AP&L", or Arkansas Power and Light Co. The corporation and its affiliates opposed exentsion of REA electrical power to rural areas, which they saw as a rich territory for their own eventual expansion. Fewer than half of Arkansas farm homes had electriciy in 1948. REA-affiliated cooperatives, however, were able to open service to those areas by 1956 as the result of Co-op enabling legislation enacted by Congress in large part at McMath's behest.

Mid South and its allies combined to defeat McMath in his 1952 re-elction bid and in his 1954 effort to unseat then-Senator John L. McClellan. McClellan, who maintained a lucrative law practice with Mid South's chairman and general counsel, referred to the REA coops as "communistic" during the campaign, which was conducted at the height of the "red-scare" attendant upon assertions by the late U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis)of communist influence in the Truman administation. McClellan, ranking member of the Army McCarthy subcommittee whose hearings were televised live during the lead up to the election, referred to the electric cooperatives as "communistic". McClellan narrowly defeated McMath in an election in which record numbers of black voters were trucked to the polls in Eastern Arkansas by planters who held their poll tax receiepts. In spite of McMath's consistent support for civil rights at great political risk, he lost heavily black Delta precicnts by beter than two to one margins.

Allegations of corruption in McMath's highway department, brought by a grand jury dominated by utility allies, were eventually proven unfounded in three separate proceedings. Two grand juries returned no indictments, but a third on which several Mid South managers served, returned three. All of the accused were aquitted. There was no allegation of personal wrongdoing by McMath. However, the allegations against his administration dogged McMath for the rest of his life and his biography includes a chapter refuting the charges and chastising his opponents for abusing the judicial system to fabricate them.

Sidney Sanders McMath died at his home in Little Rock, Arkansas. McMath had been released from the hospital the previous Wednesday after being treated for an irregular heartbeat.

Sid McMath Avenue in Little Rock is named for him.

Please e-mail me at sandymcmath@aol.com or call me toll free at 800-362-6284

You should edit the Sid McMath article yourself -- that's what a Wiki is for! Also the place to discuss the article is Talk:Sid McMath, not here. -- Arwel 16:08, 16 Jan 2004 (UTC)

[edit] cleanup

This article is still listed on WP:CU as lacking NPOV. Does this still apply? Rvollmert 09:48, 2004 Aug 28 (UTC)

[edit] Piney or Pine?

Piney or Pine?

Tabletop 02:28, 24 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] "Exquisitely parochial"

This phrase is undeniably, indisputably, POV. While it is a POV that I share, it still should be excised IMO. Rlquall 02:41, 24 Feb 2005 (UTC)

There are other instances of POV language, even in the same paragraph: "...intrepid young Sid McMath..." Personally I don't know about or care about the man but it needs a rework for neutrality. --Tothebarricades.tk 00:42, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I agree. It is not a neutral article. I especially think the following passage should be amended:

Rather than altering the status quo with some 18% to 22% of the vote statewide (40% to 60% in some counties), blacks have been absorbed into it through disproportionate hiring as lower level public employees and as low wage "associates" of mega-retailing enterprises, poultry processing emporia, tertiary health and casualty insurers, the ubiquitous utility monopolies and other concerns buoyed by the state's exquisitely parochial, right-to-work economy.

Although the underlying facts might be true, the disdain of the writer comes through in the wording and takes away from his credibility. There are similar, weaker examples elsewhere in the biography. I must say, on the whole, that it is a very interesting article, precisely because of what would be considered a cynical point of view. Here's (dunno how to make this an internal link) where the above addition was first made. --Sprewell 05:26, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I agree some of the wording needs work, but I've removed the {{NPOV}} tag - I really feel it doesn't add anything in this situation - I don't think the article as a whole is dreadfully biased, it just needs some attention to the wording in places. Pmeisel has made a start on that, a few more goings over and it will improve futher. I don't feel it's worth putting a tag on this long-term -- sannse (talk) 03:42, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)