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Arkansas Bar Presidents Past and Future

Paul W. Keith is the President of the Arkansas Bar Association. He is a member of Gibson & Keith, Monticello

“Service is the rent we pay for being. It is the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time.” – Marian Wright Edelman “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” – Native American Proverb

On the second floor of the Arkansas Bar Center are two walls with pictures of the past presidents of the Arkansas Bar Association. As President Bob Estes and President-Elect Joe Kolb take office it is appropriate to remember some of our predecessors—if only for a bit of context or simply out of curiosity.

I am the 123rd President of the Arkansas Bar Association and, like many of my predecessors, I want to believe that the past year has been one like none other. But that is axiomatic. So, in no particular order and at the risk of leaving out a lot, we pause to remember some milestones and a few millstones in our history.

U.M. Rose was the first President of the Arkansas Bar Association and many others from his eponymously named Rose Law Firm (which celebrated its 200th birthday in 2020) have served as association president, most recently Brian Rosenthal, whose creativity and enthusiasm as president are unsurpassed. U.M. Rose’s grandson, George Rose Smith, was elected to the Arkansas Supreme Court in 1948 and served until 1987. On a personal note, when Justice George Rose Smith retired, he sold his personal copy of The Arkansas Law Review to my law partner, Cliff Gibson of Monticello. Justice Smith and Bar President J. Gaston Williamson (1968-1969) delivered the books to Monticello while on a hunting trip to Drew County. A bit more about Justice Smith later on.

There was at least one milestone and one millstone in 1919. On July 28, 1919, less than a month into the term of William H. Martin of Hot Springs, Arkansas, the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in Arkansas, recognizing the right of women to vote. Just two months later, September 30-October 1, 1919, an estimated 100-237 black people and five white people died in Phillips County, in what has come to be known as the Elaine Massacre. One hundred years later, President Rosenthal and I represented the Arkansas Bar Association in downtown Helena-West Helena at the dedication of a memorial to those who died in the massacre. Past President John Gill (19921993) was also in attendance. Later in 2019, the Elaine Twelve were memorialized on the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail in Little Rock.

The Elaine Twelve owed their lives to Arkansas Bar President Thomas McRae (1917-1918). The Elaine Twelve were 12 black men who were convicted of murder in connection with the Elaine Massacre and were sentenced to death. Scipio Africanus Jones convinced the U.S. Supreme Court in 1923 to require that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas examine the fairness of their trials.1 Thomas McRae was elected governor in 1920 and served from 1921 to 1925. After the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Scipio Africanus Jones’ client, Governor McRae commuted the Elaine Twelve’s sentences and they were released. More about Governor McRae later.

Lest we believe we are unique for having lived through the COVID-19 pandemic, one need only look to the 1918 flu epidemic, which took the lives of about 7,000 Arkansas residents; the mortality rate at Camp Pike (now Camp Robinson) was so high that the undertakers who had the government contract for the camp were overwhelmed and the Army assigned government embalmers to keep up with the deaths, and a statewide quarantine was put in place.2 Such was the water in which Thomas McRae’s successor as Bar President, J.H. Carmichael of Little Rock, swam. By way of comparison, as of May 16, 2021, there had been 5,793 deaths from COVID-19 in Arkansas.3

In 1927, W.T. Wooldridge of Pine Bluff took office in the midst of a great flood that inundated about 6,600 square miles in Arkansas with 36 of the 75 counties being flooded to some degree and water up to 30 feet deep in places. The September 1927 National Geographic said that the streets of Arkansas City were dry and dusty at noon, but by 2:00 p.m., “mules were drowning on Main Street faster than people could unhitch them from wagons.”4 More about a mule skinner Arkansas Bar President later.

As late as the 1960s one could see in my home town of Lake Village the “high water mark” about six feet high on the old county jail. And the railroad bridge between flooded North Little Rock and Little Rock was washed away by the flood.

But 1927 would not be the last time the Bar Association and its members were touched by high water. In 2019, the Bar Center was evacuated and sandbagged when the Arkansas River swelled out of its banks, less than a month before the Annual Meeting. President-Elect Rosenthal and his Rose Law Firm provided temporary quarters for bar staff.

At least three Arkansas Bar Presidents served during another Arkansas millstone. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas ruled that racial segregation in public education was unconstitutional and federal troops were called to enforce the law of the land in 1957 at Central High School.5 Shields Goodwin (1955-1956), Little Rock, was the son of a Congressman from Warren. Eugene A. Matthews (1956-1957) was from Pine Bluff, and Edward Wright (1957-1958) served from Little Rock. Mr. Wright also served as president of the American Bar Association—as did U.M. Rose. He was a founding member of Wright, Lindsey and Jennings. His obituary appeared in The New York Times on February 2, 1977.6

The intersections between Arkansas Bar Presidents and the judiciary are too numerous to count, but, at the risk of leaving some out, a few spring to mind. Bar President William H. Arnold of Texarkana (1907-1908) was a Circuit Judge and the grandfather of two Eighth Circuit Judges, Morris S. Arnold and Richard S. Arnold. They were the first two brothers to serve concurrently on the same federal appeals court.

President John A. Fogleman of West Memphis (1958-1959) spent 70 years in the profession, including 14 years as a justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, the last one as chief justice. He was one of the most prolific justices in the court’s history, writing more than 1,000 opinions, which were profusely documented and footnoted.7 He was a contemporary of Justice George Rose Smith, who prided himself on opinions that were concise and uncomplicated, usually no more than five pages. It seemed to court observers that each took pleasure in contrasting his brevity or complexity with the other’s.8 Judge Fogleman’s son, John, is a circuit judge and was a President of the Arkansas Bar Foundation.

President Ron Harrison of Fort Smith (2000-2001) is the father of Chief Judge of the Arkansas Court of Appeals Brandon Harrison. And, President T.D. Wynne (1929-1930) of Fordyce was the grandfather of Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Robin Wynne and his brother, Tom, who is a district judge in Fordyce.

At least two Arkansas Bar Presidents have landed on the federal trial bench. Henry Woods (1972-1973) and William R. Wilson, Jr. (1984-1985), both of Little Rock, come to mind. Judge Wilson is married to Circuit Judge Cathi Compton, whose father, Robert C. Compton of El Dorado, served as Bar President in 19751976. Judge Wilson will be dubbed the muleskinner Arkansas Bar President after his affection for the mules he owns and raises.

The thread of family also runs between Arkansas Bar Presidents. Lamar Pettus (1993-1994) and Donna C. Pettus (20092010) are the first husband and wife to have both served as President. Harry P. Daily (1931-1932) from Fort Smith was the grandfather of Thomas A. Daily, who served as President in 2003–2004. Harry P. Daily founded the firm in 1912 with John P. Woods and Ben Kimpel, whose son eschewed the practice of law and became a professor at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and for whom Kimpel Hall is named.9

While women have had the vote since 1920, the Bar Association has not been so quick to recognize their leadership. Only six women have been elected president, beginning with Carolyn B. Witherspoon in 1995, followed by Sandra Wilson Cherry in 2001. Rosalind M. Mouser was elected in 2008, immediately followed by Donna C. Pettus in 2009, by Denise Hoggard in 2016 and by Suzanne G. Clark in 2018. Carolyn Witherspoon has recently been inducted into the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame.

The Association’s recognition of minorities in leadership has been even slower. Eddie H. Walker of Fort Smith (2015-2016) is the only African American to be elected President of the Arkansas Bar Association. Mr. Walker has deep roots in service to others, having been a member of the board and President of Arkansas Legal Services.

The thread of law partnership also runs through Arkansas Bar Association Presidents. While there have been numerous presidents from the larger law firms such as Herschel H. Friday (1976-1977), a small firm in southwest Arkansas is particularly interesting. In the tiny town of Prescott, the firm of McKenzie, Vasser & Barber was begun by the aforementioned Thomas McCrae (later Governor McCrae). Other Association Presidents from that firm include W. V. Tompkins (1910-1911), James McKenzie (1991-1992) and Glenn Vasser (2005-2006). The Bar Association and the Arkansas Bar Foundation jointly sponsor the Jim McKenzie Award for Professional Excellence.

And there are two Pine Bluff threads among the Bar Presidents. Ramsay, Bridgforth, Robinson & Raley of that city claims the most Bar Presidents, with W. Coleman (1920-1921), N. J. Gantt, Jr. (1940-1941), Louis L. Ramsay, Jr. (1963-1964), E. Harley Cox, Jr. (1979 -1980), Rosalind Mouser, and Tony Hilliard (2017-2018). The second thread is Pine Bluff High School. Presidents Fred S. Ursery (2004-2005), Glenn Vasser, Rosalind Mouser, and Richard L. Ramsay (20072008) all graduated from Pine Bluff High School.10

1927 Pine Bluff Flood Encyclopedia of Arkansas 1927 Lakeport Flood Encyclopedia of Arkansas

Compiling this admittedly incomplete survey has been a humbling experience. In addition to the threads and intersections mentioned, a commitment to our profession and to the people of Arkansas emerges. These people all took an oath to support and defend the Constitutions of the State of Arkansas, the United States, and the Arkansas Bar Association and to uphold the high ideals that they embody. They stood for justice and the rule of law. And they lived the maxim that was so eloquently stated by Marian Wright Edelman. It has been a privilege to follow in their footsteps and to borrow this Association from our children.

Endnotes:

1. Paul Keith, I Love to Tell the Story, The Arkansas Lawyer, Winter 2021, at 6. 2. Timothy G. Nutt, 1918: A different pandemic, Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Sept. 21, 2020, at 15, available at https://www.arkansasonline. com/news/2020/sep/21/1918-adifferent-pandemic/#:~:text=In%20 Arkansas%2C%20about%20 7%2C000%20residents,did%20not%20 begin%20in%20Spain. 3. Tracking Coronavirus in Arkansas: Latest Map and Case Count, The New York Times, May 16, 2021, available at https:// www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/ arkansas-covid-cases.html. 4. Flood of 1927, Encylopedia of Arkansas, available at https:// encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/floodof-1927-2202/. 5. Desegregation of Central High School, Encylopedia of Arkansas, https:// encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/ desegregation-of-central-high-school-718/. 6. Ed Wright Dies, New York Times, Feb. 2, 1977, available at https://www.nytimes. com/1977/02/02/archives/edward-wrightdies-exhead-of-bar-unit-partner-in-a-littlerock-ark.html. 7. Ernest Dumas, John Albert Fogelman, Encyclopedia of Arkansas, available at https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/ john-albert-fogleman-8918/. 8. Id. 9. Paul Keith, Diversity – and Justice – For All, The Arkansas Lawyer, Summer 2020, at 7. 10. Interview with Rosalind Mouser (May 19, 2021). ■

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The Regular Session of the 93rd General Assembly officially recessed on Friday, April 30th.

The Legislature will reconvene later this fall to consider income tax cut proposals and congressional redistricting. Although the General Assembly went into an extended recess and did not adjourn Sine Die, bills will still become effective 90 days after the legislature recessed on April 30th. Also, a number of bills included an emergency clause and became law immediately following the signature of the Governor. As a member benefit, the Arkansas Bar Association has compiled a list of all of the new bills that have already gone into effect.

View the list of New Laws Now at www.arkbar.com/ legislativeresources

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