Talk:List of governors of Arkansas

Untitled
I removed the word "acting" from Bob Riley and Joe Purcell's names. Their terms were short (Riley had two weeks, and Purcell had five days) but each were sworn in as Governor. They each have portraits in the State Capitol.

John S. Phelps says he served as 'military governor of Arkansas'; was this only as head of the military district, or what? --Golbez 20:26, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Notes and Todos
This is close to being ready for FLC but a few issues need to be resolved: --Golbez 11:22, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
 * 1) The intro. FLC time! --Golbez 20:59, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
 * 2) The dates for the territorial governors. This is resolved as best it can be. --Golbez 12:40, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
 * 3) The difference between acting and serving; the Lt Gov website says Riley and Purcell *acted* as Governor. Until told otherwise, assuming that is a semantic issue due to their short terms. --Golbez 13:40, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

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Content issue
No, Arkansas has considered every one of them to be governors. We've had a lot more acting governors than those listed. Many lieutenant governors have been acting governors for brief periods when the governors were occupied, hospitalized, etc. When Tucker got busted, Huckabee did not become acting governor. He became governor. Where do you get the idea that he had simply been an acting governor at that point? (Yes, he got elected later. But whatever applied to him before election applied to those others.) Look at the history of this article. It counted them all until Mike used the number 44 out loud. Doczilla (talk) 05:43, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
 * From the Arkansas state government's website: Francis Adam Cherry 35th governor. That number does not fit the numbering that would make Mike 44th. I already sought a compromise by inserting the word elected after the Huckabee=44 numbers instead of reverting them to the article's previous version of those numbers. Because Arkansas uses both sets of numbers in different documents, we therefore must strive for accuracy. Doczilla (talk) 05:49, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
 * As stated elsewhere in the article, the distinction is before vs. after 1925, when the office of lieutenant governor was created. (Amendment 6 was actually enacted earlier, but due to an unrelated legal issue was not deemed enacted until then.)  As the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in Bryant v. English, when the lieutenant governor fills a permanent vacancy in the office of governor, he BECOMES governor (NOT acting governor) for the remainder of the term; at any other time (i.e., a temporary vacancy *OR* someone OTHER than the lieutenant governor, most commonly the president of the Senate--still called by that name in some parts of the Constitution, though the lieutenant governor actually presides and later constitutional provisions use the more accurate "president pro tempore"), it's just acting governor until an election can be held for a new governor.  Before 1925, only the "acting governor" scenario was possible.
 * Finally, for pure sanity reasons, only acting governors that filled *permanent* vacancies in the governor's office should be listed here. (This hasn't happened since 1925.  It CAN still happen if BOTH the governor's AND lieutenant governor's offices become permanently vacant, but that's unlikely except right at the end of the term, as when Win Paul Rockefeller died, or if both die in the same catastrophe.  Otherwise, the LtGov-turned-Gov will call an election for his replacement as LtGov, which is how both Mike Huckabee and Win Paul first became LtGov.)  In Arkansas, any time the governor even sets foot outside the state, his office is temporarily vacant and the LtGov becomes acting governor until he returns; if the LtGov also leaves the state it devolves to the Senate president pro-tem (Senate president before 1925), then to the speaker of the House.  Thus, counting every person who EVER served as acting governor of Arkansas would overwhelm the article with trivia.  --RBBrittain (talk) 20:26, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Riley & Purcell
According to the Constitution of Arkansas, Purcell and Riley served as Governors of Arkansas; not just Lieutenant Governors performing duties as Acting Governors. Why are they not listed & numbered properly? GoodDay (talk) 20:00, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
 * It's confusing - Riley & Purcell only asssume gubernatoral duties as Acting Governors, when their respective Governors resigned; yet, Tucker & Huckabee became Governors, when their respective Governors (i.e. bosses) resigned. Very confusing. GoodDay (talk) 13:43, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
 * In a sense, BOTH are correct. Riley & Purcell were each legally deemed governors, NOT acting governors, though each only served a few days; the Arkansas Supreme Court used their status when ruling in Bryant v. English (1992), which I just added as a reference to my correction, that Jim Guy Tucker would become governor (NOT acting governor) once Bill Clinton resigned to become president.  (The decision was rendered after Clinton won the presidency, but he held up his resignation until after the ruling.)  Unfortunately, that decision was rendered before that court started publishing its decisions online, so I can only provide the legal citation.  (Translated to ordinary English, it means Arkansas Reports, vol. 311, p. 187, or Southwestern Reporter 2nd Series, vol. 843, p. 308).  However, the most common method of numbering Arkansas governors covers only those elected to the office, so Riley & Purcell are excluded (but not Tucker & Mike Huckabee, each of whom was later elected as governor).  --RBBrittain (talk) 20:08, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

An issue with Note 1
That note's missing the pronunciation of the territory name. It isn't stated, either, if spelling variants had different pronunciation as well. I googled both things, but had no success. Could anyone take care of this issue? --Синкретик (talk) 18:06, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Pronunciation is not needed. It is not relevant about an article on Governors.  It is relevant on Arkansas, where different pronunciations are given.  Bgwhite (talk) 21:45, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
 * I see. Thank you. --Синкретик (talk) 09:38, 9 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Are you sure that the talk page of the article on Arkansas State is the right place to clarify the pronunciation of the territory? --Синкретик (talk) 15:04, 9 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Both the state and territory articles should have the pronunciation. I don't see it on the territory article, it should be added there.  Normally, I'd say to ask questions at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Arkansas.   However, that talk page doesn't look active, neither does the state's talk page.  I'd ask at the state's talk page first because it is likely to be seen by more people.  Bgwhite (talk) 19:58, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

The Source for Term Start & End Dates
The table's "Term start" & "Term end" columns are both missing sources. I've googled and found just 2 tables. One of them has discrepancies with the some governors' term dates (e. g., & ). Another lacks acting governors. Could anyone help me find a proper source? --Синкретик (talk) 17:06, 28 February 2015 (UTC)
 * This was an early list I made so I was probably still in the mode of "synthesize sources but don't go into detail". I probably had a reason for picking the 8th over the 17th for Hughes but I don't recall it. (You will note that the NGA is internally inconsistent on this). Generally, the source for the dates should be the NGA, except where noted, and this is a place where it is not noted. I'll re-examine it. --Golbez (talk) 17:57, 28 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks in advance! --Синкретик (talk) 19:00, 28 February 2015 (UTC)

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Thomas Fletchers.
I was working on this and got up to Thomas Fletcher. I was reviewing sources, and started to notice strange things: Otherwise accurate sources disagreed completely on them.

There appear to be at least two Thomas Fletchers, and even contemporary sources bungled them.

Here is what I've found:


 * February 26, 1880: The Arkansas Democrat announces the death of Thomas Fletcher, of Lincoln County. It notes that he had acted as governor in 1862, and was interested in running for secretary of state. No mention of him being a judge.
 * February 27, 1880: The Arkansas Democrat notes the funeral of Judge Thomas Fletcher.
 * February 28, 1880: The Arkansas Democrat pays respects to Thomas Fletcher, calling him "Governor Fletcher" at one point. No mention of him being a judge.
 * February 28, 1880: The Osceola Times reports on Judge Thomas H. Fletcher running for secretary of state. And here is where you'll notice that even the locals were screwing up: Look at the first entry, where they noted that the dead man was considering running for secretary of state. I don't think this is a situation of Osceola being dreadfully behind the times; I think there's genuinely two Thomas Fletchers at play, and they got them mixed up. Oh, and importantly: They call him Colonel Fletcher.
 * March 4, 1880: The Russellville Democrat reports on the death of Judge Thomas Fletcher, of Lincoln County, on or before February 27. No mention of being governor.

And now, the 1900 papers:


 * February 21, 1900: The Arkansas Democrat reports on the death of Colonel Thomas Fletcher, of Pulaski County. He was born on April 8, 1817. He was elected to the Arkansas legislature in 1862, but no mention of being governor. He ran for the gubernatorial nomination a couple of times. In 1884, he was made U.S. marshal of the eastern district of Arkansas.
 * February 22, 1900: Same paper, literally the next day, a very similar story, but somehow a different date of birth, April 8, 1819.

My conclusion: There are two men at play here, Judge Thomas Fletcher of Lincoln County, and Colonel Thomas Fletcher of Pulaski County.
 * 1) Judge Fletcher was:
 * 2) * president of the senate in 1861-1862
 * 3) * acted as governor in 1862.
 * 4) * was thinking about being secretary of state
 * 5) * died in 1880
 * 6) Colonel Fletcher was:
 * 7) * born in 1817 (or is it 1819?)
 * 8) *elected to the legislature in 1862
 * 9) *ran for governor twice
 * 10) *became a US marshal in 1884
 * 11) *died in 1900

What complicates this more is one of our major sources, Sobel, lists Governor Thomas Fletcher as having been born on April 8, 1819, ran for governor twice, and was made a U.S. marshal. So Sobel is clearly jumbling the Judge Fletcher (who was governor) with the Colonel Fletcher (who ran for governor). I had to share this insanity. I stopped clipping above; if anyone really needs the sources, let me know. But hopefully this explains to anyone wandering here why the Fletcher stats may look different from what you expect. --Golbez (talk) 03:40, 3 February 2023 (UTC)

Governor_of_Arkansas redirects here
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Governor_of_Arkansas&redirect=no redirects here, but before its content was replaced with redirect, it had contained some info about the position itself (like 'Qualification') that is not here. Maybe it should be restored and redirect removed? Linefeed (talk) 21:43, 10 December 2023 (UTC)


 * I would prefer all offices have both a list article and an article about the office itself, rather than be a combination, so I support this idea. --Golbez (talk) 02:26, 11 December 2023 (UTC)