David Pryor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| David Hampton Pryor | |
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| In office January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1997 |
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| Preceded by | Kaneaster Hodges, Jr. |
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| Succeeded by | Tim Hutchinson |
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39th Governor of Arkansas
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| In office January 14, 1975 – January 3, 1979 |
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| Lieutenant | Joe Purcell |
| Preceded by | Bob C. Riley (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Joe Purcell (acting) |
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| Born | August 29, 1934 Camden, Arkansas |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Barbara Jean Lunsford |
| Profession | Attorney |
| Religion | Presbyterian |
David Hampton Pryor (born August 29, 1934) was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senator from the State of Arkansas. Pryor also served as Governor of Arkansas from 1975 to 1979 and was a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1960 to 1966.
Pryor was born in Camden, the seat of Ouachita County in southern Arkansas, to William Edgar Pryor and the former Susan Newton.[1] He attended public schools in Camden, attended Henderson State Teacher's College in Arkadelphia, and graduated from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in 1957. Pryor was founder and publisher of the Ouachita Citizen from 1957 to 1960. He graduated from law school at the University of Arkansas in 1964 and was admitted to the bar that same year.
His state House service preceded his tenure in the U.S. House.
He was elected to Congress in a special election to fill the unexpired term in the 89th Congress of fellow Democrat Oren Harris, whom U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed to a federal judgeship. At the same time, Pryor was elected to the 90th Congress for a full term. In the primary, Pryor defeated the Texarkana lawyer Richard S. Arnold, whom he later described as "a very, very close friend." Pryor thereafter defeated the Republican candidate, A. Lynn Lowe of Texarkana, by a comfortable margin. Lowe would subsequently become chairman of the fledgling Arkansas GOP. Pryor was reelected to the House twice and served from November 8, 1966 to January 3, 1973.
He was not a candidate for reelection in 1972. Instead he failed in a hard-fought campaign to wrest the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination from the popular conservative John L. McClellan, also from Camden.
Pryor's next success came in the race to serve as governor. He was elected in 1974 to succeed Dale Bumpers, who won the Senate seat long held by J. William Fulbright in the same year. Pryor easily defeated his Republican challenger Ken Coon, who would also later chair the Arkansas GOP. He was reelected in 1976 by a huge margin over the Republican Leon Griffith, a plumber from Pine Bluff, the seat of Jefferson County. His gubernatorial tenure extended from 1975 to January 3, 1979.
Lieutenant Governor Joe Purcell was an interim successor for six days as governor until the beginning of the term of the next governor-elect and future President Bill Clinton, who had served as Arkansas attorney general during Pryor's second two-year term.
Pryor finally won McClellan's Senate seat in 1978. McClellan died in 1977, and Governor Pryor appointed a caretaker successor Kaneaster Hodges, Jr. Pryor won the Democratic senatorial nomination over then U.S. Representatives Jim Guy Tucker and Ray Thornton and then secured a lopsided general election victory in the fall over the liberal Republican James Kelly. By becoming a Senator he ironically replaced Hodges the man he had appointed there. He served three Senate terms. His closest contest was his 1984 reelection against the Republican U.S. Representative Edwin Bethune. Despite the presence of Ronald W. Reagan on the Republican ticket, Pryor still defeated Bethune, 502,3431 (57.3 percent) to 373,615 (42.7 percent). Pryor was unopposed in 1990, and he did not seek a fourth term in 1996. The seat instead went Republican for one term with the election of U.S. Representative Tim Hutchinson. Pryor hence retired from elected office in 1997.
Pryor served as chairman of the Committee on Aging. Pryor was known for his advocacy for the aged and for promoting taxpayer rights. During his tenure, he was secretary of the Democratic Conference, third in the Senate Democratic Leadership.
In 2000 Pryor became Director of the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He currently serves as dean of the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock. In June 2006, President George W. Bush nominated Pryor to the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and in September of that year he was confirmed by the Senate for a six-year term.
His son is current United States Senator Mark Pryor, a Democrat who holds the same seat that his father vacated in 1997.
Pryor had quadruple bypass surgery performed by Dr. Tamim Antakli at UAMS on October 11, 2006. He had suffered a heart attack the previous day. His recovery was satisfactory and he was released from the hospital on the afternoon of Tuesday, October 17th. [1]
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] External links
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
- Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture entry: David Hampton Pryor
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Bob C. Riley (acting) |
Governor of Arkansas 1975 – 1979 |
Succeeded by Joe Purcell (acting) |
| Preceded by John Melcher |
Chairman of the Senate Aging Committee 1989 – 1995 |
Succeeded by William Cohen |
| United States House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by Oren Harris |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arkansas's 4th congressional district 1966 – 1973 |
Succeeded by Ray Thornton |
| United States Senate | ||
| Preceded by Kaneaster Hodges, Jr. |
United States Senator (Class 2) from Arkansas 1979 – 1997 Served alongside: Dale Bumpers |
Succeeded by Tim Hutchinson |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Dale Bumpers |
Democratic nominee for Governor of Arkansas 1974, 1976 |
Succeeded by Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by Daniel Inouye |
Secretary of the Senate Democratic Conference 1989 – 1995 |
Succeeded by Barbara Mikulski |
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