Arkansas: Squealing at the Lick Log

Campaigning for Governor in the Ozarks, Winthrop Rockefeller may look upon Elder Brother Nelson’s battle in New York as a polite drawing-room exercise. Winthrop, 54, an Arkansas cattle rancher, is squared off against don’t-or-die Segregationist Jim Johnson, a Wallace Democrat who resigned a $20,000-a-year seat on the State Supreme Court to run for a post that pays only $10,000. Typically, Gentleman Jim drives into town, sighs into a loud speaker, “I love all of you and, oh, oh, I do need you,” then begins hugging and kissing the crowd, men and women alike. In a campaign of innuendo against the Republican, he derides Rockefeller as a “jet-set cowboy,” has attacked his virility by labeling him a “prissy sissy” and urged that “deviates, political and otherwise,” be kept out of office.

Rockefeller nonetheless has maintained a healthy lead. Though unsuccessful in his bid to unseat Governor Orval Faubus two years ago, Rockefeller got nearly 44% of the vote. Since then, he has built a Republican organization in almost every corner of the state, and has never stopped campaigning.

The Democrats, on the other hand, were split by a bitter primary battle. Johnson last August defeated Faubus’ personal choice for a successor, and in repeated attacks on the Faubus machine vowed to “slap the hogs away from the trough.” In trouble, Johnson has not only shown himself eager to shake hands with Negroes, but has also gone hat in hand to seek Faubus’ blessing. Faubus, in turn, is urging his supporters to “come to the lick log” (Arkansas argot meaning swallow your pride and back Johnson). Nonetheless, with a private poll showing Rockefeller ahead with 52% to Johnson’s 43%, Arkansas should elect its first Republican Governor in 94 years.