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After my sophomore year I went home without a job but with a clear idea of what I wanted to do. It was the end of a[http://www.oilpaintingscn.com oil painting] ,n era in Arkansas—after six terms, Orval Faubus wasn’t running for reelection as governor. Finally our state would have a chance to move beyond the scars of Little Rock and the [http://www.oilpaintingscn.com/abstract-oil-painting-866.html Abstract oil painting] ,stains of cronyism that also tainted his later years. I wanted to work in the governor’s race, both to learn about politics and to do what little I could to put Arkansas on a more progressive course.
The pent-up ambitions from the Faubus [http://www.oilpaintingscn.com/impressionism-oil-painting-867.html Impressionism oil painting] ,years propelled several candidates into the race, seven Democrats and one very big Repub-lican, Winthrop Rockefeller, the fifth of the six children of John D. Rockefeller Jr., who left his father’s empire to oversee the charitable efforts of the Rockefeller Foundation; left his father’s [http://www.oilpaintingscn.com/animal-oil-painting-872.html Animal oil painting] ,conservative, anti-labor politics under the influence of his more liberal wife, Abby, and the great Canadian liberal politician Mackenzie King; and, finally, left his father’s conservative religious views to found [http://www.oilpaintingscn.com/floral-oil-painting-873.html Floral oil painting] ,the interdenominational Riverside Church in New York City with Harry Emerson Fosdick.
Winthrop had seemed destined to be the black sheep of the family. He was expelled from Yale and went to work in the Texas oil fields. After distinguished service in World War II, he married a New York socialite and reacquired his[http://www.oilpaintingscn.com/landscape-oil-painting-874.html Landscape oil painting] , reputation as a hard-partying dilettante. In 1953, he moved to Arkansas, partly because he had a wartime buddy from there who interested him in the possibilities of setting up a ranching operation, and partly because the state had a thirty-day divorce law and he was eager to end his brief[http://www.oilpaintingscn.com/nude-oil-painting-875.html Nude oil painting] first marriage. Rockefeller was a huge man, about six feet four, weighing about 250 pounds. He really took to Arkansas, where everybody called him Win, not a bad name for a politician. He always wore cowboy boots and a white Stetson hat, which became his trademark. He bought a huge chunk of Petit [http://www.oilpaintingscn.com/sunflower-oil-painting-878.html Sunflower oil painting] ,Jean Mountain, about fifty miles west of Little Rock, became a successful breeder of Santa Gertrudis cattle, and married his second wife, Jeannette.
As he settled into his adopted state, Rockefeller worked hard to shed the playboy image that had dogged him in New York. He built up the small Arkansas Republican Party and worked to bring industry to our poor state. Governor Faubus appointed him chairman of the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission, and he[http://www.oilpaintingscn.com/still-life-oil-painting-879.html Still Life oil painting] , brought in a lot of new jobs. In 1964, impatient with Arkansas’ backward image, he challenged Faubus for governor. Everybody appreciated what he had done, but Faubus had an organization in every county; most people, especially in rural Arkansas, still supported his segregationist position over Rockefeller’s pro?Ccivil rights stance; and Arkansas was still a Democratic state.
Also, the painfully shy Rockefeller [http://www.oilpaintingscn.com/seascape-oil-painting-876.html Seascape oil painting] ,was a poor speaker, a problem aggravated by his legendary drinking habits, which also made him so late so often that he made me look punctual. Once, he arrived inebriated and more than an hour late to address the chamber of commerce banquet in Wynne, county seat of Cross County, in eastern Arkansas. When he got up to speak, he said, “I’m glad to be here in—” When he realized he didn’t [http://www.oilpaintingscn.com/streetscape-oil-painting-877.html Streetscape oil painting] ,know where he was, he whispered to the master of ceremonies, “Where am I?” The man whispered back, “Wynne.” He asked again and got the same answer. Then he boomed out, “Damn it, I know my name! Where am I?” That story crossed the state like wildfire, but was usually [http://www.oilpaintingscn.com/angel-oil-painting-883.html Angel oil painting] ,told good-naturedly, because everybody knew Rockefeller was an Arkansan by choice and had the state’s best interests at heart. In 1966, Rockefeller was running again, but even with Faubus gone, I didn’t think he could make it.
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