Sid McMath was a U.S. Marine veteran and progressive Democratic reform Governor of the State of Arkansas from 1949–1953. In defiance of his state's political establishment, he championed rapid extension of rural electric power, massive highway and school construction, the building of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, repeal of the poll tax, open and honest elections and broad expansion of opportunity for black citizens in the decade following World War II. He remained loyal to President Harry S. Truman during the "Dixiecrat" rebellion of 1948, campaigning throughout the South for Truman's re-election. As a former governor, McMath led the opposition to segregationist Governor Orval Faubus following the 1957 Little Rock school crisis. He later became one of the nation's foremost trial advocates, representing thousands of injured persons in precedent-setting cases and mentoring several generations of young attorneys. (more...)

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