Cup, Coffee - David Pryor
Object number2008.010.01
Date1975-1979
Mediumceramic
Dimensions3 3/4 x 3 in. (9.5 x 7.6 cm)
Credit LineOld State House Museum
DescriptionWhite coffee mug with a row of red stars followed by David Pryor's last name in black followed by a row of blue stars.David Hampton Pryor
(1975-1979)
David Pryor was born on August 29, 1934, in Camden, Arkansas. His father had a car dealership and served as sheriff, while his mother was one of the first women in Arkansas to run for office, making an unsuccessful bid for the office of circuit clerk in 1926.
Too young for World War II, Pryor attended Henderson State Teachers College and then the University of Arkansas. He graduated in 1957. That same year he married Barbara Jean Lunsford of Fayetteville.
The couple returned to Camden and started a weekly newspaper, the Ouachita Citizen. In 1960 Pryor was elected to the state's House of Representatives and reelected in 1962 and 1964. During this time he gained a reputation as a leader of the "Young Turks," reform-minded challengers of the old guard. Meanwhile he had been studying law and received his degree in 1964.
In 1966 Pryor was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, replacing Oren Harris, who had been appointed federal judge. Pryor was reelected unopposed in 1968 and 1970. In 1972 he challenged Senator John A. McClellan's bid for a sixth term. Though Pryor was able to force a runoff, he fell short by 18,000 votes.
In 1974 Pryor announced for governor. His opponents were Orval Faubus and Lt. Gov. Bob Riley, a popular war hero. Pryor captured 51% of the vote in the Democratic primary, avoided a runoff, and outpolled his Republican challenger by two to one. In an attempt to instill a sense of history on the eve of the nation's bicentennial, Pryor held his inauguration on the lawn of the Old State House.
One of Pryor's chief priorities was reforming Arkansas's ancient constitution. In 1975 he persuaded the legislature to authorize a constitutional convention, but the measure was thrown out by the Arkansas Supreme Court. In 1976 the voters approved an initiative calling for a constitutional convention. Pryor shepherded through the subsequent legislation providing and establishing the format, but the actual convention did not occur until 1979, after he left office.
Pryor appointed an unprecedented number of blacks and women to offices and oversight committees, transforming an instrument of pure cronyism into one more reflective of the diversity of the state.
Fiscal restraint was the hallmark of the Pryor administration. During his second term he attempted to institutionalize this attitude in a less-is-more decentralization scheme known as the Arkansas Plan. While Pryor argued that the measure would save typical Arkansas taxpayer enough money to "buy another coon dog," school districts, threatened with the prospect of being thrown to the mercy of local funding, saw it as a prescription for bankruptcy. What eventually emerged from the legislature bore little resemblance to what Pryor had initially proposed.
Pryor's administration seemed living proof of Sid McMath's observation that Arkansas governors were "dictators in their first legislature session and spectators in their second." Pryor further complicated his second term problems by also calling an ill-conceived special session which soon degenerated into a cross between a free-for-all and a feeding frenzy.
None of this did anything to damage Pryor's enormous popularity. In 1978 he ran for and won a brutal and close race for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by John McClellan. There was something about the man that prompted even his enemies to tag on the qualifier: "...but he's a hell of a nice guy." In 2002, Pryor's son Mark was elected to his father's Senate seat, indicating Arkansans lingering fondness for Pryor.
Status
Not on view
