Harlan Holleman

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Harlan H. "Bo" Holleman (January 23, 1927 - March 12, 1982) was a farmer and seed merchant from Wynne, the seat of Cross County in eastern Arkansas, and a pioneer in the development of the modern Republican Party in his home state. He was the Arkansas state GOP chairman from December 6, 1980, until his death some sixteen months later. Earlier he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Arkansas House of Representatives (1968) and the United States House of Representatives (1976).

Holleman began farming in 1950, with 320 acres (1.3 km²) of land. He thereafter expanded his holdings to more than 2,500 acres (10 km²). In 1955, he launched Holleman Seed Service Company, Inc., in Cross County. During the administration of U.S. President Richard M. Nixon Holleman was the Southeast Regional Director of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service and director of Oilseeds and Special Crops Division in the United States Department of Agriculture.

When Nixon was first elected President, Holleman lost a bid for the Arkansas House. Eight years later, when Jimmy Carter unseated President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., and proved particularly strong in Arkansas, Holleman lost in a bid to oust Democratic U.S. Representative William Vollie "Bill" Alexander, Jr. of Osceola in Mississippi County. In the heavily Democratic First Congressional District, Alexander secured his fifth term by defeating Holleman, 116,217 (68.9 percent) to 52,562 (31.1 percent). Holleman's showing was nearly identical to the 31.3 percent that Republican Guy M. Newcomb (born ca. 1928), also of Osceola, had received in 1968, when Alexander won his first race for Congress. Ford, as the House minority leader, had come into Arkansas to campaign for Newcomb. Alexander was subsequently unseated in the Democratic primary by his former aide and future U.S. Senator Blanche Lambert Lincoln.

In 1978, Arkansas party leaders encouraged Holleman to challenge U.S. Senator David Hampton Pryor, who was seeking a second term, but Holleman declined to seek office again.

In February 1981, in a guest column in the former Arkansas Gazette (since Arkansas Democrat Gazette), Holleman set forth his vision of worthy goals for the Arkansas GOP. First, he proposed at least one Republican county committee member be stationed at each voting precinct by 1982. Secondly, Holleman, a former Arkansas GOP finance chairman, suggested a stronger financial base, which had deteriorated since the death in 1973 of its benefactor, former Governor Winthrop Rockefeller. Thirdly, Holleman said that the GOP should seek to attract more minority voters, who largely support Democrats. At the time of his death, Holleman was recruiting candidates to oppose Democratic U.S. Representatives Bill Alexander and Beryl Franklin Anthony, Jr., of El Dorado, the seat of Columbia County in south Arkansas.

Holleman contracted cancer and underwent unsuccessful chemotherapy. On his death, then Governor Frank D. White, a Republican, requested that flags at the state capitol be flown at half-staff in Holleman's memory. "I am deeply grieved by the passing of Harlan "Bo" Holleman, who not only was the chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party, but was an outstanding citizen of our state," White said.

Holleman was survived by his wife, the former Emaline Moore of Wynne; a son, David Allen Holleman of Wynne; a daughter, Nancy Maretta Holleman of Irvine; his stepmother, Faye Holleman (1905-1991) of Wynne; four sisters (Lucille, Bonnie, Puddie and ), and three grandchildren (Nicole T. Sloan of Jonesboro, AR, Beaux Jordan Linton of Paris, TN and Cade Allen Holleman currently studying in Seoul, Korea).

Services were held at the First United Methodist Church in Wynne. Interment was in Lewis Cemetery in Hickory Ridge in Cross County.

Holleman was a supporter of the Institute of Politics and Government in Little Rock. The Harlan H. Holleman Political Science Scholarship was established in his honor in 1984.