It wa s thi s d edicati o n to all good cau ses and concern s of hi s fellowman , and hi s proven mastery at c hampi o ning th e m , whi c h m itigated against an y asto nis hm ent in So uth Franklin Co unty when Dal e fir st di scl osed an interest in seeking th e Govern o rship way back in 1968. Unlike th e masses living else wh ere in Arkan sas w ho had no t ye t felt the vibrati o ns fro m hi s personal magneti sm, abso lut e integrity and o bvio us co mpetence, we here in Charlesto n simpl y KN EW that all he had to d o wa s declare hi s ava ilability. . . . .and every purpo rt ed o bstacl e in hi s path w o uld di sappear as qui ckly as co ins at a carnival. W e didn 't even want him to wait until 1970, but hi s own good judgment prevail ed over o ur nai ve te..... and the rest is hi sto ry. I CA N ass ure yo u that th e re w as littl e surpri se in Charlesto n wh en th e dark ho rse raced past all th ose better-kn own co ntende rs in th e prefe rential primary, nor wh en he w ent o n to o bliterate the giant s of both parti es in September and N ovember. To us, in all m odesty and humility, Dal e Bumpers didn 't " co me o ut o f no wh ere". To u s, he wa s a SOMEBODY, fro m SOMEWHERE, with SOMETHI N G N EW to offer, in th e right pl ace at the ri ght tim e. Whi ch brings us to that " co untry lawye r" image, created o ut o f wh o le cl oth by th e nati o nal press. During th e campaign , Dale oc casio nall y referred to him self as a " lawyer fro m a small country to wn ", an h o nes t d esc ripti o n whi ch proved to be of co nsid e r a bl e p o liti c al valu e . So mehow , this apt phrasing wa s edit o riall y twi sted into " se lf-styled co untry lawyer", generating im-
pli cati o ns of provin ciali sm and un sophi sticati o n . No thing co uld be furth er fro m th e truth . His highl ydive rsified practi ce took him , o n occa sio n, fro m the JP Co urt in Barling, Arkansa s, to th e United Stat es Co urt o f C l aims in Washingt o n, with excellent results in both places. Alth o ugh Dale perfo rmed a great deal o f gen eral o ffice practice as a solo praction er in a o nelawyer town , he wa s w ell kn own thro ughout W estern Arkansas and in Little Roc k as an ad ept and
Go vernor's Mansion in Little Rock, Arkansas.
, highl y persuasive trial atto rney. In that capacity, his effectiveness wa s most ce rtainly not limited to hi s o wn co unt y. Hi s ad v e rsari es respected him as a fo rmidabl e o pposing co un se l in an y trial co urt in whi c h he app eare d . I n th e eighteen years of hi s resource ful presentatio ns to w id ely-scattered juries, I can recall no more than three cases wh ere th e res ults w ere truly unfavo rabl e to hi s cli ent s. On e o f hi s occasio nal adversari es h as ex pres sed th e fo ll o wing analysis o f hi s pro fessio nal success : " Alth o ugh Dale wa s o ne o f the very best trial law yers I know, he wa s equally skill ed in ac h ieving a settlement of di sputes . He in variabl y maintain ed a coo l head in
the most trying situati o n s, o ft en using h is excell ent se nse o f hum o r to great advantage. He maintain ed a cordial relati o nship with his o ppo nent in situati o ns w here man y o f us w o uld ha ve b eco m e fru strated o r bitter. When a matter was co nclud ed , eith er by settlement or tria l, it wa s invariably true that, regardl ess of th e di ffi culty o f th e subject matter, Dal e's o pposing co un se l and the opposing litigant w o uld ex press the very high est regard fo r Dale and the way that he had co ndu cted 157
hi m self. It is the co mmo n experien ce o f trial atto rn eys that, in an adversary proceeding, parti cularly th ose invo lving emo ti o nal iss ues, a part y will feel lasting enmity toward bo th th e o pposing part y and h is att o rn ey. One o f Dale' s great est virtu es was hi s ability to avo id or redu ce hard feelings, by a co mbinati o n o f hi s effecti veness in dealing with hi s oppo nent s and by good , so und advi ce to hi s own clients. " GOVERNOR Bumpers' success with the 1971 General Asse mbl y w as nothing m o re than an extensio n of Dal e Bumpers' training, attitudes and abilities as an attorn ey. On e of hi s legislati ve aides has remarked : " Dal e treated the mem bers o f the Legislature in virtually the sam e fash io n as he w o uld ano ther lawye r. That is, he did not try to mi slead them o r threaten th em o r intimidate th em, but rath er di sc ussed any proposed legislatio n with th em as equals, o n an o bjecti ve, impassi o nate and professio nal basis. Thi s created an atmosph ere whereby he could disagree with the legi slato rs and they co uld disagree with him witho ut being di sagreeable. By doing this, he wa s able to maintain th eir co nstant res pec t, if no t Continued on page 156