James P. Clarke (original) (raw)

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American politician (1854–1916)

James Paul Clarke
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
In officeMarch 13, 1913 – October 1, 1916
Preceded by	Jacob H. Gallinger
Succeeded by	Willard Saulsbury Jr.
United States Senatorfrom Arkansas
In officeMarch 4, 1903 – October 1, 1916
Preceded by	James K. Jones
Succeeded by	William F. Kirby
18th Governor of Arkansas
In officeJanuary 8, 1895 – January 12, 1897
Preceded by	William Meade Fishback
Succeeded by	Daniel Webster Jones
Attorney General of Arkansas
In office1893–1895
Governor	William M. Fishback
Preceded by	William E. Atkinson
Succeeded by	E. B. Kinsworthy
Member of the Arkansas Senatefrom the 14th district
In officeJanuary 10, 1889 – January 9, 1893[1]
Preceded by	George B. Peters[2]
Succeeded by	Henry N. Word[3]
Member of the Arkansas House of Representativesfrom the Phillips County district
In officeJanuary 10, 1887 – January 10, 1889[4]Serving with R. B. Macon, J. N. Donohoo[[5]](#cite%5Fnote-harvp|SOS	1998
Personal details
Born	August 18, 1854Yazoo City, Mississippi
Died	October 1, 1916(1916-10-01) (aged 62)Little Rock, Arkansas
Resting place	Oakland Cemetery
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Sallie (née Moore) Wooten ​ ​(m. )​
Children	James P. Clarke, Jr.Julia ClarkeMarion Clarke
Relatives	Clarke Tucker (great-great-grandson)
Alma mater	University of Virginia
Profession	Lawyer
Signature

James Paul Clarke (August 18, 1854 – October 1, 1916) was a lawyer and politician from the Arkansas Delta during the Progressive Era. He served in public office over a period of almost 30 years, rising from the Arkansas General Assembly to Attorney General of Arkansas and later 18th Governor of Arkansas, ending his career in the United States Senate. In a period of Democratic Party hegemony known as the "Solid South", Clarke blended positions of the budding Populist movement, such as free silver and railroad regulation, with nationalism and his gifted skills as an orator to popularity and electoral success.

Clarke was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta. His father Walter, an architect, died when Clarke was seven years old, and he was raised by his mother, Ellen (née White), daughter of a prominent planter class family.[6] Clarke attended public schools as well as Tutwilder's Academy in Greenbrier, Alabama.[7] After briefly editing a newspaper in Yazoo City, Clarke graduated with a law degree at the University of Virginia in 1878. Clarke was admitted to the bar in 1879, and settled briefly in the small Arkansas River Valley town of Ozark, Arkansas prior to moving to Helena, Arkansas in the Arkansas Delta.[8]

Clarke married Sallie (née Moore) Wooten of Moon Lake, Mississippi on November 10, 1883. Wooten had a son from previous marriage, Alonzo Stuart "Lonnie" Wooten; the couple had two daughters and a son.[9]

James Paul Clarke

Arkansas General Assembly

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Eight years into his legal career, Clarke won election to the Arkansas House of Representatives to represent Phillips County in 1886. He was seated alongside R. B. Macon and J. N. Donohoo in the 26th Arkansas General Assembly on January 10, 1887.[5] Following a single term in the Arkansas House, Clarke won election to the Arkansas Senate.[9] Clarke represented the 14th District, which covered Phillips and Lee counties beginning with the 27th Arkansas General Assembly.[10] In 1891, he was elected President of the Arkansas Senate for the 28th Arkansas General Assembly.[11]

He was elected Attorney General of Arkansas and served from 1892 to 1894.

He served as Governor of Arkansas from 1895 to 1897.[12] Clarke was devoted to upholding American nationalism as the keystone of the Democratic Party. 'The people of the South,' he said in his closing speech of the election, 'looked to the Democratic party to preserve the white standards of civilization.' Clarke easily defeated his opponents."[6]

His term was largely unsuccessful and his legislation to end prizefighting and establish four-year terms for state officers failed. After leaving office in 1897, he moved his permanent residence to Little Rock, Arkansas and practiced law.

Clarke was elected to the United States Senate in 1903 and served until his death in 1916.[13] He served as President pro tempore of the United States Senate during the Sixty-third and Sixty-fourth Congresses.

Clarke died in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is buried at Oakland Cemetery in Little Rock. Despite an ineffective tenure as governor, Clarke and his successor, Daniel Jones, marked a departure in the conservative Democratic Party of Arkansas toward a more populist party.[14] They dealt with the electoral threat of a nascent Populist party by incorporating some reforms into the Democratic platform, in conflict with the positions of national Democrats. Clarke is remembered for a silver tongue, short temper, and willingness to fight.

Clarke's statue was one of two statues that were presented by the State of Arkansas to the National Statuary Hall Collection at the United States Capitol. In 2019 the decision was made to replace his statue, and that of Uriah Milton Rose, with statues of Johnny Cash and Daisy Lee Gatson Bates. In the case of Clarke, the reason given is "his racist beliefs".[15] Clarke's own great-great-grandson, State Senator Clarke Tucker, in a 2018 column strongly supported replacing Clarke's statue: "I strongly hope one of the new statues will be Daisy Bates or a member of the Little Rock Nine."[16][17]

• List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–49)

1. ^ Priest, Sharon (1998). Runnells, Jonathan (ed.). Historical Report of the Arkansas Secretary of State. Office of the Arkansas Secretary of State. pp. 250–253. OCLC 40157815.
2. ^ "SOS" (1998), p. 248.
3. ^ "SOS" (1998), p. 253.
4. ^ "SOS" (1998), pp. 248–250.
5. ^ a b "SOS" (1998), p. 249.
6. ^ a b Niswonger, Richard L. (July 1, 2021). "James Paul Clarke (1854–1916)". Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Little Rock: Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at the Central Arkansas Library System. OCLC 68194233. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
7. ^ "James Paul Clarke (1895–1897)". Old State House Museum. Archived from the original on November 14, 2012. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
8. ^ Donovan, Timothy P.; Gatewood Jr., Willard B.; Whayne, Jeannie M., eds. (1995) [1981]. The Governors of Arkansas (2 ed.). Fayetteville, AR: The University of Arkansas Press. p. 101. ISBN 1-55728-331-1. OCLC 31782171.
9. ^ a b "Governors" (1995), p. 101.
10. ^ "SOS" (1998), p. 250.
11. ^ "SOS" (1998), p. 251.
12. ^ "Arkansas Governor James Paul Clarke". National Governors Association. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
13. ^ "S. Doc. 58-1 - Fifty-eighth Congress. (Extraordinary session -- beginning November 9, 1903.) Official Congressional Directory for the use of the United States Congress. Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing by A.J. Halford. Special edition. Corrections made to November 5, 1903". GovInfo.gov. U.S. Government Printing Office. 9 November 1903. p. 4. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
14. ^ Arnold, Morris S.; DeBlack, Thomas A.; Sabo III, George; Whayne, Jeannie M. (2002). Arkansas: A narrative history (1st ed.). Fayetteville, Arkansas: The University of Arkansas Press. p. 271. ISBN 1-55728-724-4. OCLC 49029558.
15. ^ Itkowitz, Colby (April 17, 2019). "Johnny Cash to replace Confederate statue on Capitol Hill". Washington Post.
16. ^ Tucker, Clarke (October 11, 2018). "A new statue to represent Arkansas in D.C." Arkansas Times.
17. ^ Peters, Ben (April 17, 2019). "Johnny Cash is replacing one of the Capitol's Civil War statues". Roll Call. Archived from the original on April 18, 2019. Retrieved April 18, 2019.

• Media related to James Paul Clarke at Wikimedia Commons
• United States Congress. "James P. Clarke (id: C000463)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• James P. Clarke at Find a Grave
• Old State House Museum
• James P. Clarke, late a senator from Arkansas, Memorial addresses delivered in the House of Representatives and Senate frontispiece 1917