Jim Guy Tucker

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Jim Guy Tucker
53rd Governor of Arkansas
In office December 12, 1992 – July 15, 1996
Lieutenant(s)	Mike Huckabee (1993 - 1996)
Preceded by	Bill Clinton
Succeeded by	Mike Huckabee
Born	June 12, 1943 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Betty Tucker
Profession	attorney

James "Jim" Guy Tucker, Jr. (born June 12, 1943) was a governor of Arkansas and a member of the United States House of Representatives from Arkansas.

Tucker resigned the governorship on July 16, 1996 following his conviction for fraud during the Whitewater scandal although the conviction was not directly related to that investigation of Bill and Hillary Clinton's real estate and related business dealings.

Tucker was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He attended public schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1964.

Tucker served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve in 1964, but was discharged for medical reasons (chronic ulcers) after finishing at the top of the first phase of his officer candidate training class at Camp Upshur, Quantico, Virginia, in July of that year. In early 1965, Tucker found passage to southeast Asia by tramp steamer from San Francisco, entering Vietnam as an accredited freelance war correspondent in April. With one brief sojourn home, he remained in the war zone through 1967, personally participating in a number of engagements. Late that year, he published Arkansas Men at War, a compendium of interviews with troops from the state he had followed into combat. The book received generally favorable reviews.

Following a brief stint as an assistant professor of U.S. History at the American University in Beirut, Lebanon, Tucker returned to the University of Arkansas Law School as a third year student and was graduated with an LLB in the summer of 1968. He was admitted to the Arkansas Bar that same year.

Tucker practiced as a junior associate with the Rose Law Firm, from which he ran for Prosecuting Attorney in 1970. He served as prosecutor for the Sixth Judicial District of Arkansas 1971–1972. In that office, he oversaw the prosecution of more than 1,000 backlogged felony cases inherited from previous administrations. Twelve "guest" judges were temporarily reassinged from other circuits by the state supreme court at Tucker's request to clear the arrearages. He was appointed by the Governor to the Arkansas Criminal Code Revision Commission and served 1973–1975, during which time he was credited with spearheading the group's broad revision of the state's criminal laws. An investigation into police corruption he began was stymied by a county grand jury appointed by a circuit judge who was a political ally of the chief of police. However, the following year a Federal grand jury, building on Tucker's work, issued a scathing report which led to a shake-up of the department and the resignation of the chief, senior detectives and complicitous city officials. Tucker was elected Arkansas attorney general in November 1972 and served two 2-year terms, 1973–1977. He was a delegate to the 1972 Democratic National Convention.

Running from his post as attorney general, Tucker was elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-fifth Congress and served one term, 3 January 1977–3 January 1979, giving up the seat to wage an unsuccessful campaign for the United States Senate in 1978. He was defeated by the sitting governor, David Pryor. In the same election, Bill Clinton, who had replaced Tucker in 1977 as attorney general, was elected governor, thus eclipsing Tucker as the state's political "fair haired boy."

Tucker resumed the practice of law. A consistent intra-party rival of Clinton's, he was defeated by Clinton when both sought the Democratic nomination for governor in 1982 following Clinton's defeat by Republican Frank White in 1980. Eight years later, Tucker announced his intention to run for the governor's office again against Clinton, who was seeking a fifth term. However, he withdrew from the gubernatorial primary and ran instead for the post of lieutenant governor, recognizing that Clinton had his eyes on the presidency and might not serve a full term. He succeeded to the governorship upon Clinton's resignation on 12 December 1992.

Tucker won election in 1994 but was convicted of one count of conspiracy and one count of mail fraud in 1996 as part of Kenneth Starr's investigation of the Whitewater scandal. Tucker was tried with fellow defendants James B. McDougal and his wife Susan McDougal, the prosecution conducted primarily by OIC prosecutor Ray Jahn. Tucker chose not to testify in his own defense upon the advice of his attorney.

Arkansas law prohibits convicted felons from serving as governor and, as a consequence, Tucker resigned. As his successor, Lt. Gov. Mike Huckabee, was preparing to be sworn in, Tucker rescinded his resignation[1] on several grounds, including his appeal because a juror on his trial was married to a man whose cocaine possession conviction Tucker had twice refused to commute. Worse, this juror was the niece of local activist Robert "Say" McIntosh, who had demonstrated against Tucker during the trial. He also contended, and an appellate court later agreed, that one of the statutes he allegedly violated was no longer operable. Arguing that his conviction was thus tainted, and that the Arkansas constitution was vague about his status as a convicted felon until his appeals had been exhausted, Tucker initially reversed his decision to resign, but at the very last minute followed through with it under the threat of impeachment by the legislature which had convened to witness Huckabee's swearing in.

Tucker, whose liver problems were seriously debilitating him and threatened his life (he had nearly died from gastro-intestinal bleeding in 1994, and had steadily worsened since), received a lenient sentence of four years' probation and house detention in part because of his poor health. In 1997 Tucker received a liver transplant at the Mayo Clinic.

Tucker is currently a resident of Little Rock, Arkansas and in recent years has avoided the media spotlight. He has spent much of his time in Indonesia where he heads up an Asian trading concern. In spite of his becoming ensnared by the Whitewater scandal, seen by many as an extraordinary irony since he had nothing to do with the Clintons' business dealings and had remained an outspoken Clinton policy critic, he is widely thought of as having been a moderately progressive governor who strove to improve public services, particularly in the areas of highway maintenance and secondary education.

Preceded by Wilbur Mills	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arkansas's 2nd congressional district 1977-1979	Succeeded by Ed Bethune
Preceded by Winston Bryant	Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas 1991-1992	Succeeded by Mike Huckabee
Preceded by Bill Clinton	Governor of Arkansas 1992-1996	Succeeded by Mike Huckabee

Governors of Arkansas

Territorial: Miller • Izard • Crittenden* • Pope • Fulton* J. Conway • Yell • Adams* • Drew • Byrd* • Roane • E. Conway • Rector • Flanagin • Murphy • Clayton • Hadley* • Baxter • Garland • Miller • Churchill • Berry • Hughes • Eagle • Fishback • Clarke • Jones • Davis • Little • Moore* • Pindall* • Martin* • Donaghey • Robinson • Oldham* • Futrell* • Hays • Brough • McRae • Terral • Martineau • Parnell • Futrell • Bailey • Adkins • Laney • McMath • Cherry • Faubus • Rockefeller • Bumpers • Riley • Pryor • Purcell • Clinton • White • Clinton • Tucker • Huckabee • Beebe * denotes acting