mark prior baseball

[introductory music][conversations in audience] [applause]>> jim kennedy: now i’ve got a--a special thing. i’d like a lady to come up here andjust tell a quick little story, and we’re going to get on with our program. this isa historic event, and i’m sure thankful y’all are here. this is lynn wiman. misswiman, i’ll let you have the podium. >> lynn wiman: i’m lynn wiman, and i havevintage books on parkway, and i am very much the most unlikely participant in a politicalbanquet, so excuse me, i’m very nervous. but i wanted to tell you something about senatorpryor. >> david pryor: uh-oh. [laughter]>> lynn wiman: last monday--and this is garrett

oates, and garrett is a student at pottsvillehigh school, and last monday my husband, steve, and i were in little rock at the river marketbooks and gifts, and we were eating lunch, and there was no one in there except us andthis man and his friends at another table. and i called my friend rita over, and i said,“rita, that man looks like david pryor.” [laughter] and rita said, “that is davidpryor. you want to meet him?” and i said, “yes.” i said, “i was raised in thedelta, and--and he did a lot for farming, and--and what he did there for farmers therewas legendary. so i’d like to meet him, but more than that--do you think he mightsign a book for garrett?” and she said, “oh, i think he would.” so i went andasked him if would sign a book for garrett,

and i just said, “garrett--i want to getthis book for garrett because he works at my bookstore, and he is a young man who’ssixteen years old, and he knows probably more about you, senator pryor, than you know aboutyourself [laughter] because he loves politics, and he loves history.” and so i said, “doyou think he would personalize a book for garrett?” and he said, “yes, i’d beglad to.” and as he was signing the book for garrett that i was going to give him forchristmas, he said, “do you think garrett’s coming to see me thursday night?” and isaid, “no, no, that’s an exclusive democratic party banquet, and the tickets are expensiveand--and, no, i’m sure he’s not.” and he said, “well, i tell you what, if garrettwants to come, i’ll buy his ticket.” [laughter]

and so we were stunned.[applause] >> lynn wiman: we could visualize garrettjumping up and down, and that’s exactly what he did when i got to his farm mondaynight. he was hugging that book and jumping at the same time and saying, “i’m so honored.i’m so honored.” and he got to school the next day with his note, and his historyteacher wasn’t able to get a ticket to this banquet tonight. [laughter] so he was--hewas thrilled to show that to his history teacher and all of his teachers, too. senator pryor,i want to thank you for such a generous gesture. it was so generous of you. you bought thisyoung man a ticket to be a part of the history that he loves. you made him a part of it all.you did it without knowing anything about

him. you didn’t know or care about his socialor economic status. you didn’t know about his family history or his grade point average.you didn’t even know if he was a democrat. [laughter] you just knew that he was an arkansasboy who was interested in history and politics in your state, and you gave him a chance tobe a part of the history that he loves this night. and we thank you.>> david pryor: thank you. [applause]>> jim kennedy: it’s now my opportunity as--i have the opportunity to introduce mr.olin cook, who’s going to introduce our guest. olin, as you know, was the past chairmanof the pope county democratic party. he was a--one of--our representative. olin, if you’dcome up here.

[applause]>> olin cook: we--we’re honored to have people from the university of arkansas heretonight from the pryor center who helped with a lot of different things. and they’re gettingthese two young men in place, and we’ll get under way. i’ve been wanting this tohappen in pope county for two years. i had the honor when we lived in north little rockof working for--uh-oh--working for both of these gentlemen when they were governor ofour great state. and i don’t know of any two men that i know of--of any stature that’smore honest, want to do the right thing, and did so when the governor. we know that dalebumpers is a native of charleston. he came out of the woodworks to run for governor--onlyhad--his only elected office was as a school

board member. and we know the history--we--ofhow he became our governor. and during that time, he did a number of things for--for highereducation and state parks--all kinds of things. and following--after that, he went to washingtonto be--become one of our us senators, and following him as governor was david pryor,who did some of the very same things. david was a native of camden, went to hendersonfor a while, graduated at the university of arkansas at fayetteville there at law school.and then he followed dale to washington to be our other senator. both of these men werehighly respected. we were--we were great to have these two people represent us in washingtonas well as our governor. so it’s my pleasure tonight to welcome them to give us some littleentertainment about the past. take it all.

[applause]>> david pryor: thank you, thank you. [applause]>> dale bumpers: that’s the first time i have heard what we were supposed to do tonight.>> david pryor: [laughs] yeah. >> dale bumpers: david, that young man thatall those accolades were given about a moment ago--i was reminded--most of you don’t knowit, but i ran for the legislature eight years before i ran for governor and got soundlytrounced. [laughter] but in that particular race, we were having a little, oh, to-do northof ozark. and the--the guy who was in charge of it called on somebody there, and he--heasked this candidate--he said--no, the candidate--i take that back--the candidate handed his literatureto a man. the man looked at it, and he says,

“well, what--what’s your religion, son?”he said, “i’m a methodist.” he said, “why are you a methodist?” said, “well,my daddy’s a methodist. [laughter] my granddaddy’s a methodist. my mother’s a methodist.”“what’s your political party?” said, “i’m a democrat.” “how come you’rea democrat?” said, “well, my daddy’s a democrat, and my [laughter] granddaddy’sa democrat, and my mother’s a democrat.” he said, “what if they’d have been republicans?”he said, “i guess i’d been a horse thief.” [laughter] david, let’s see you top that.[laughter] >> david pryor: well, i--i am glad that garrettand other young people are here tonight. and i--i just want to tell you a little storyabout what happened in this very room in 1974.

this man was running--as governor. he wasrunning for the united states senate, and there was a very formidable opponent by thename of j. w. fulbright that he was challenging in the democratic primary. senator robertbyrd, the democratic majority leader, came down from washington to endorse senator fulbright,his longtime friend in the senate. governor bumpers was somewhat unhappy about that during[laughter] this particular evening. i’ll never forget the consternation on his faceas he sat there. i was running for governor--wait a minute--yeah--against orval faubus and bobriley and maybe one more. i’m not sure. and--but we all spoke. and there was a hugecrowd. no--no larger than this. i was just want to compliment you, olin, and all of you--andjim--all of you for making this crowd possible

tonight. and--but in this very room--in thisdining hall at arkansas tech, the--the meeting was over, and people were getting up and tired.we’d been listening to speeches, and robert byrd played the fiddle and all kinds of stuff.and, finally, somebody said, “wait a minute. let’s stop just a minute. i know everybody’sready to go, but there’s a young man who didn’t get called on tonight, and he’srunning for congress. and, young man, what is your name?” and he says, “my name isbill clinton.” [laughter] and bill clinton got up and spoke for two minutes. dale, doyou remember that? >> dale bumpers: sure.>> david pryor: and he lost that race, garrett. and he lost it, but in the end he won. soyou don’t have to win every race every time,

but just to be around politics and politiciansand people who care about their communities and their political parties--i--i just amso proud that you’re here and so proud all of you are here. i call this--when dale andi get together like this, and we just kind of reminisce. i call this the arkansas versionof “the antique roadshow.” [laughter] and so here we are again and who knows, thismay be the last “antique roadshow” we do. but we have a good time doing these. we’vedone several. and when olin asked us some months ago to go to do it, well, we were,of course, very, very honored to not only be asked but also to oblige.>> david bumpers: you know, [clears throat] my father served in the legislature one term,but he wanted his sons to be politicians,

believe it or not. you never hear that nowadays.and he wanted my brother and me both to go to law school, which we both did. but becausehe thought we needed to go to law school, he also thought we needed to learn latin inorder to be a lawyer, in order to be a politician. >> david pryor: yeah.>> dale bumpers: and we were taught at the dinner table we had certain responsibilitiesand so on. and i can tell you that he was--i guess, when i ran for governor, i felt thati was--that i was really being true to him, and i know that i was. when i--i went to northwesternin chicago to law school, and one night i got this phone call to hurry home. my fatherand mother had been in a wreck and they were both killed . . .>> unknown female: oh.

>> dale bumpers: . . . while i was a freshmanin law school. i had to drop out of law school because we were all just devastated. and ithink when i decided to run for governor, i was trying to keep faith with my fatherand because he was gone. but he convinced me--and i can tell you, it’s very hard tocling to the principles that he taught me. it’s very hard to cling to those now becausepolitics is so different. but, anyway, i wanted to say that i came here forty years ago thefirst time. i wasn’t running for anything. and the women were having this to-do in popecounty, and it was a splendid evening, not nearly as a big a crowd as--as this was. butwhen i decided to run for representative, people’d say, “have you heard dale bum--”i mean, gov--for governor--people’d say,

you know, “have you heard dale bumpers isgoing to run for governor?” “well, i heard some people laughing about it.” [laughter]and i started out with one percent name recognition, and i don’t know what i was trying to prove,really. it was just so insane. i tell people i ran to get off the school board. that’sthe worst job i ever had. [laughter] but, anyway, so it was. i called my sister, whoby this time was very wealthy. i called my brother, who was a harvard lawyer and reallyclimbing the ladder at a fast pace. and i told him--i said, “carroll, i want to runfor governor.” and he was pretty excited about it. my sister was not. so, anyway, carrollwas living in chicago--in winnetka, a chicago suburb. he said, “come up there sunday afternoon.i’ll get margaret to come over from cleveland,

and we’ll talk this over.” so i said,“okay.” so we all gathered sunday afternoon in winnetka--just my brother and sister andme, sitting around the kitchen table. they had the money, and they, therefore, had theirclaws on me as to whether i was going to run or not. i had to sell them. and when i gotthrough making my presentation, my sister said, “i want to get this straight now.you’re going to run for governor with seven other people in the race besides you?” “yeah.”“and orval faubus is one of them?” “yeah.” “and you have to run in the primary, andif you win that, then you have to run against governor rockefeller?” “yeah, that’sright.” she said, “i ain’t putting a damn dime in this ego trip.” [laughter]but about a week before the election, i had

been climbing in the polls, and my guru, whodid all of our tellers and everything, called my brother and said, “we’ve got to haveanother thirty-five thousand dollars.” so he naturally picked up the phone--called mysister. [laughter] that’s all we knew to do. and she just threw a fit. she said, “i’mnot putting any more”--she'd already put a lot of money in it. when i left winnetkathat afternoon, i had fifty thousand dollars in my pocket, which was not anything muchmore then than it is now if you’re running for governor. but in any event, that all workedout, and carroll called margaret, and he would not let her off the phone until she said she’dgive the other thirty-five thousand dollars. and you know where the first speech was imade after that election? the cleveland, ohio,

chamber of commerce. [laughter] she got hermoney’s worth right then. david? >> david pryor: this guy has the best memoryand the best recall of any political person i think that’s ever--and that includes billclinton--of any political person ever produced in arkansas. i have gotten where--honestly,i hate--i’m sometimes embarrassed to go out the front door because i’m going tomeet someone that i’m supposed to know, and i don’t know them, and i’ve knownthem forever. i know none of you have that particular problem. [laughter] but the othernight, for example--i’ll just give you an example--the other night my wife and i werewatching a football game, and she said, “i’m trying to remember who eli manning’s brotheris.” and i said, “oh, yeah. okay, i know--let’s

see, is it john, frank, bill, tom"--whatever--wethought and thought and thought--we--for an hour we--i even went and tried to google,which i can’t do very well [laughs], and i never could find eli manning’s brother.and so finally about two thirty that morning [laughter], barbara kicked me, and she says,“it’s peyton!” and i said, “what?” she says, “it’s peyton!” i says, “peytonwho?” and she says, “peyton manning.” i said, “well, who is peyton manning?”[laughter] she says, “i don’t know, but he’s got a brother. i can’t think of hisname.” [laughter] that’s how bad--we drive down the road, and all we’re trying to rememberis who this was and who that was and, “boy, don’t they look old?” and whatever. [laughter]but, man, i look out in this crowd tonight

and--for example, nathan george, i went tosee the great friend of mine in all this--the--lloyd george not too long ago--i need to go again--inthe nursing home in ola. and i--the nurse said to me as i walked into lloyd’s room,dale--she said--and, boy, he was a great ally of yours and mine, too, in yell county andin the legislature. but as i walked in the room, the nurse said, “you know, he’snot going to know you.” i said, “i understand that. i can deal with that.” but as i walkedin he was sitting there in a wheelchair and had on a baseball cap. and i said, “lloyd,”and i never told him my name--i said, “lloyd,” he said, “governor, i’ll be in five minutesin the governor’s office, and we’ll sign that bill you wanted me to get.” [laughter]he knew my voice and he--and, you know, i

was just so –i was just so impressed. andonce again, it reminded me of--of the great opportunities that we have in--in public lifeand whatever to meet the best people in--on the face of the earth, and i--i have enjoyedevery bit of it. i--dale, i’m going to yield back to you because i can’t remember whati was going to say next. [laughter] so, anyway, the …>> dale bumpers: join the fraternity. right after i was elected governor, the governorof missouri, who was chairman of the national governors commerce, called and said, “howwould you like to go to the soviet union [david pryor laughs] and spend about ten days?”and i said, “i’d really love it, but i--you know, i don’t want folks here to think i’vealready defected.” [laughter] and bear in

mind, this was 1971. so, anyway, i calledbob mccord [unclear word]--i said, “bob, what do you think people will think aboutme going to russia here right after i’ve been elected.” so i called mccord, and isaid, “how would you treat it?” he said, “i’d treat like it ought to be treated.it’s an educational thing. you ought to do it. of course, you ought to go.” so ithought it over, and i decided, “well, i got two years to make up for anything anybodysays about it.” [laughter] but the best part of it was there was a radio station inlittle rock who had a roving reporter. he’d get out on the street at noon every day atsome fairly busy intersection, and he had a question every day. and he would interviewpeople who come up--put the microphone in

front of them--say, “what do you think aboutthis?” and the question that day was, “what do you think about governor bumpers goingto the soviet union?” and i was listening. [laughter] and i remember this old man. hewas about--they told me later he was up in his eighties--had a cane--came hobbling downthe street, and they stopped him. “sir, what do you think about governor bumpers goingto the soviet union?” “i don’t know what he wants to go to russia for. he ain’tbeen to cabot yet.” [laughter] >> david pryor: you meet some real great peoplealong the way, especially out on the campaign trail. and i was out campaigning one timefor office--i can’t remember which office i was running for, but i think i was in washingtonalready in the senate. and i’d--i somehow

or another i was going to el dorado on a weekend--asaturday or a sunday. and i--folks down in calhoun county and hampton got word i wascoming through town, so they said, “would you mind stopping by the vfw lodge and sayinghi to miss lily so-and-so. she’s having her hundredth birthday. and i said, “oh,yeah, that’d be good.” so we were driving down the highway, [phone rings] and we pulledover to the left and drove into the vfw lodge and walked in there. and here was this ladyin a wheelchair, and i said, “how are you? i’m--i’m david pryor, and i wanted towish you a happy hundredth birthday.” and she said, “oh, have you met my baby daughteryet?” and i said, “no, i haven’t.” well, i--she said, “come over here, maryjo. i want you to meet senator pryor.” she

came over on her walker, and she was eighty-twoyears old. [laughter] that was the baby daughter. well, this lady--i didn’t know what to sayto anyone who was a hundred, so i said, “you’ve sure seen a lot of change in your hundredyears.” “yeah, i been against all of it, too.” so [laughter] you’ll--you--you--thoselittle things--those little memories that you take with you all your life and they really--theyjust really have a special meaning to you as we go--especially through the campaigntrails. and i’ve enjoyed--some people said that pryor liked to campaign more than heliked to hold office. i don’t know, i always enjoyed holding office, but the campaignswere a special time to me because you were always thrown out there in various situationsall over the state with different types of

people of all walks of life, and that’swhat--that's what makes arkansas a very, very unique state.>> dale bumpers: when the first--we had two primaries, you know. you had one in, i thinkit was, april and one in may. and i can remember in the first primary, i--i had been told thatsome of these mountain counties up north could not be relied on [laughs] to bring the ballotsin the way they were really voted. [laughter] and so we were really apprehensive about what. . . >> david pryor: now why would you have hearda thing like that, dale? [laughter] >> dale bumpers: well, i didn’t believeit, of course. [laughter] but i did call the judge at two o’clock in the morning [laughter],and i said, “judge, i’ve got nine hundred

votes in that county up there. all i wantis nine hundred votes. i don’t want one that belongs to anybody else, and i’m dependingon you.” now this was two o’clock in the morning--i said, “i’m depending on youto make sure that those ballots are counted right.” “dale, don’t you worry aboutit.” says, “only thirty-two votes out in a little old country church out here fivemiles from town. [david pryor laughs] don’t you worry about a thing.” and, sure enough,when the votes came in, i was four hundred short. [laughter] and it turned out just theway everybody had said it probably would. and, of course, i--wasn’t anything i coulddo about it, but it turned out. i got in a runoff anyway and won. i rented a suite inthe--what’s the town--the one on the interstate

down there?>> david pryor: quapaw tower? >> dale bumpers: quapaw towers. i rented asuite there, and we started inviting people from all over the state that had voted wrongand giving them a chance to make up for it [laughter] by hitting the drum with a littlemoney. and so here comes the judge with four of his underlings. and they came in, and wehad a room set back, and people would come in, and they’d throw their money on thebed, and that--that was their atonement [laughter] for having voted wrong in the first place.[laughter] so we’re back there, and the judge throws this money out--twenty dollarbills, skewed--i said, “judge, i cannot believe you.” i said, “you know i calledyou at two o’clock.” “oh, i know that,

dale. i know that.” [david pryor laughs]“i called you at two o’clock in the morning and asked you to save those votes, and youpromised me that every vote would be counted.” he said, “we’ll do it for you next time.”[laughter] i don’t think he ever got a chance to but …>> david pryor: we’ve got a--we've got a special friend here. dale’s nephew is archieschaffer, who, as you know, is from--reared in franklin county in charleston. and archienow--if you ever go to the tyson corporate headquarters--the taj majal of the mountains[laughter]--and you go into tyson headquarters and you look up johnny tyson and john--anddon tyson, the office right between these two individuals is archie schaffer’s office.he has to sit between these two icons. but

archie was senator bump--governor--then-governorbumpers’s staff--chief of staff while dale was governor for a period of time. and oneday in 1973 during the gasoline crisis and the energy crisis, dale drove up in his biglincoln to the--to the state capitol and got out and came in and huge press conference.everybody knew there was a big announcement. dale got up--governor bumpers did--and says,“ladies and gentlemen, i’m just here to announce that we’re going on a huge gasoline-savingbinge in arkansas, and i have today ordered pintos for all the state agencies of government[laughter]--the health department, pollution control, ecology,” and whatever. and somebody--johnbennett of the commercial appeal--old john was pretty sour. you remember him, don’tyou, [unclear word]?

>> dale bumpers: [laughs] oh, do i rememberhim! [laughter] >> david pryor: and i remember that we--hewas in little rock, and we got elected to the senate to get away from john bennett.and then he came up there. >> dale bumpers: yeah.>> david pryor: remember that? [laughter] >> dale bumpers: oh, yeah.>> david pryor: followed us up there. but, anyway, john bennett says, “well, governorbumpers, we were looking out the press office window and saw you drive up in that big oldgas-guzzling lincoln with that state trooper at the steering wheel.” says, “what areyou going do about your own car?” he said, “oh, we’ve ordered a--a--a pinto. we’regoing to start driving a pinto, and we’ve

ordered a pinto.” so we walk back--theywalk back in the office, and archie walks back in and closes the door--says, “uncledale, we hadn’t ordered any pinto.” he says, “you have now!” [laughter] so we--archie,is that a true story or not? >> archie shaffer iii: i don’t know. [laughter]>> david pryor: but archie was my great chauffeur down tonight from fayetteville. i came downfrom fayetteville, and dale not only came from little rock, he came all the way fromwashington, dc today to be here with you tonight. that’s the depth of his caring, so he’scome a long way--probably longer … >> dale bumpers: one other story …>> david pryor: … than any other [unclear] person.>> dale bumpers: … that happened not too

many years after i came here the first--well,it was during the campaign when eight of us were running for governor in the democraticprimary. and there was a fellow running that was called bill cheek. he was an oil distributorfrom over in west memphis. now bear in mind there were eight people in this race, includinghim. orval faubus, the attorney general, lieutenant governor--everybody was in the race. but,anyway, we were outside someplace in pope county, and bill cheek was a pretty cleverguy, and there was another man in the race who was a very prominent lawyer from texarkana,bob compton. >> david pryor: bob.>> dale bumpers: you’re--not texarkana but …>> david pryor: el dorado.

>> dale bumpers: el dorado. and so every placewe went, bob compton’d get up there, and he’d say, “i’m one of you. i was justborn five miles right out here.” [laughter] and every place we’d go, you know, he’sjust born five miles right out here. so bill cheek was going down the list of all the candidates.and he had different--oh, orval faubus--he really cut loose on him. but he got down to--hegot down to bob compton. he said, “bob compton has been born all over this state.” [laughter]his mother either had the longest labor, or his daddy had the fastest covered wagon iever want to see.” [laughter] it was just [clears throat]--politics is a fascinatingbusiness, and things like that happen constantly. and there--let me tell you, there are a lotof things that happen that are traumatic to

you, and i was new to it. i mean, i lovedpolitics. we were taught that when we died we were going to franklin roosevelt [laughter],and we really believed all those things. it was an extremely fascinating time, and it--itmade it so easy for me to finally make a--to tell you the truth, orval faubus so totallydominated politics in the state, and he was a totally different politician from what iwas going to be. and--but i knew i couldn’t compete with him. he was--he was just theicon in the state. after all the things in little rock high school and everything, peoplewere still really attached to him, and so i had to wait until some of that wore offbefore i could get in the race. and it really--it was a fascinating story because i--for example,i remember the day before the first primary--david,

we were down at pine bluff and the--it waslabor day. it was labor day. we were down in pine bluff, and i had told one of my staffers--isaid, “i hear that--that orval faubus has a big announcement he’s going to make, andi want you to go up there to it, and you call me on the phone because i’ve got to speakdown here at one forty-five.” there were a thousand, two thousand people there. andi said, “you call me and tell me what he said.” and it happened that morning becauseorval faubus was there on the podium with me at that moment. so i called him. ed lester… >> david pryor: mh-hmm.>> dale bumpers: … was the guy who attended the press conference for me. and he said--hetold me--he says, “this makes no sense,

but here’s what he said. he says that ifhe’s elected governor, he’ll be assassinated within six months.” i said, “well, i don’t--idon't get it. what’s the deal?” he said, “beats me.” i said, “did he actuallysay that?” he said, “yeah. he said he’d be assassinated.” and i said, “well, ican’t figure out a single rationale for that statement.” but i was next on the programfollowing orval faubus. and i said, “orval faubus has made an announcement this morningthat if he is elected governor, he will be assassinated within six months. i’m herethis afternoon to save orval faubus life.” [laughter and applause]>> david pryor: i have never heard that story. i’ve been around this guy all my life, buti’ve never heard that story. [laughter]

that’s a great story.>> dale bumpers: thank you, david. >> david pryor: you think that--i tell youwhat, you think we’re these two nice guys--humble guys. not a word--not a bit of truth to it.we’ve got egos as big as a barn. [laughter] we were not long ago at the internationalhouse of pancakes having breakfast, and dale was here from washington, and i was in littlerock, and we were over in the corner. we noticed these waitresses over at the cash register.they kept staring at us. and the longer they stared at us--they were talking about us.and i knew and dale knew that they were talking about us, and the longer they talked aboutus, our--we just swelled up, you know, like a [laughter] big toad frog. boy, our egoswere real--mark wilcox knows about this. he

knows how that feeling is--when you know somebody’stalking about you and maybe saying some nice things about you. finally, one of the waitressescame over--says, “say, can we interrupt you just a minute?” said, “sure.” says,“we’ve been having an argument over here at the cash register. which one of y’allused to be sheriff around here?” [laughter] do you remember that, dale?>> dale bumpers: yeah. >> david pryor: boy, that’ll--that'll takeyour ego down. nothing wrong with being sheriff. my mother--i mean, my father and grandfatherand great-grandfather were all sheriffs down in ouachita county, where rozzy and i arefrom, so nothing wrong with that. we’re just proud of all the county officials who…

>> dale bumpers: david, tell them the storyabout your father coming and getting you out of school to take you down to the post office,and he wanted you to see something. >> david pryor: he did. [laughter] my--we--thatwas in the old days, and my dad was a chevrolet dealer and the sheriff of the county. andone day i was--i’d gotten out of school and walk across the railroad track and walkedover to the chevrolet place. dad says, “come here. i want to take you across the alleyand go to the post office and get the mail.” so we did, and you could go in there and workthe little combination, you know, and he always would let me work the combination and reachin there and get all the mail out of the mailbox. and so i was in there, and one day i lookedover there on the side, and my dad and i were

standing there getting the mail. and i sawthis man in this black suit and this black hat--tall man--must have been six-five orsix-six tall--standing there getting his mail. and i said, “dad, who is that man?” andmy dad said, “oh, no, you don’t want to know about him.” i said, “no, no, who--whois he, dad?” “well, we’ll talk about him [unclear words].” i said, “well, i’mjust curious--curious, dad. who is that man?” he says, “well, son, his name is skidmorewillis.” and i said, “well, who is mr. willis?” and he says, “son, he is the--heis a republican.” [laughter] and i said, “well, dad, what is a republican?” hesaid, “you’ll know soon enough.” [laughter] so, anyway--so, anyway, that was the firstrepublican i--that was the only republican

that we had in ouachita county. [laughter]and that was skidmore willis. that’s the honest-to-goodness truth. do you rememberany republicans in franklin county at that time?>> dale bumpers: yeah, the banker. [laughter] >> jim kennedy: [unclear word]>> david pryor: most bankers--not all bankers, but most bankers seem to be. a lot of bankersare. >> dale bumpers: we had--you know, the republicansin charleston--there must have been about thirty of them, but everybody knew who wasa republican and who wasn’t. i was going to tell you one other story about dan quayle.it’s the best story i have. >> david pryor: oh, yeah. [laughter]>> dale bumpers: dan, believe it or not, sort

of encouraged me to run for president. youknow, he was later vice-president. and i liked him a lot. he was not considered a socratesor anything but [laughter]--[pauses and clears throat] one day dan and i were having a conversation,and i’ve forgotten exactly what it was about. but i said--oh, i know what it was. he waschiding me about being a lawyer. he said, “you know, dale, the problem with this country--wegot too many lawyers.” to be frank with you, his words were “too damn many lawyers.”[laughter] and i said, “well.” he was asking about my children. i have three children.they’re all lawyers. my brother and i were both lawyers.” he said, “that’s theproblem. we got too many lawyers." and i said, “well, dan, i--i have a little trouble withthat, but let me ask you this. this is a kind

of a lawyer riddle, but let me ask you thisriddle. my mother had a baby. it wasn’t my brother, wasn’t my sister. who was it?”he scratched his head, and he says, “well, i don’t know.” i said, “it was me.”[laughter] he said, “boy, that’s good. that’s really good. [laughter] he went rushingover to the white house to see george h., who was president. dan was vice-presidentat the time. “mr. president, i’ve got a riddle for you.” “what is it, dan?”“my mother had a baby--wasn’t my brother, wasn’t my sister, and so who was it?”and george h. said, “well, it’s you.” he said, “no, it’s dale bumpers.”[laughter and applause] >> david pryor: oh, that is a great story.[laughter] tha--that--that’s a--that’s

what we call an inside senate story. [laughter]i’m going tell you another inside senate story. the democrat--the democrats, when wewere in the senate--i--they may have changed it since that time--but we had three electedpositions in the democratic party in the senate. we had the majority leader, the--i mean, wehad the democratic leader, the whip, and the secretary of the democratic conference. well,one thing led to another. an opening came up in the secretaryship of the democraticconference, and so i said, “heck, i’m going to run for that.” and there were twoor three other of my colleagues wanting to run, and so they announced, and i announced,and we campaigned. i went to every united states senator’s office on the democraticside--sat down at--in their office and asked

them for their vote. i did it for everyoneexcept one senator. in a minute i may--who that was. but, anyway, the night before we--thedemocrats were going to meet in the caucus, and we meet in the old senate chamber. thebeautiful, old senate chamber--the ornate chamber. and we would go in there and haveour election for our democratic officers. so i called dale up the night before, andi said, “now, dale, i’m running for secretary of the democratic conference. and i’m callingon you, my friend of many years, to get up in the conference and place my name in nominationto be secretary of the conference. and, dale, i’m asking you to make one of the greatspeeches you’ve ever made. i want a barn burner. i want you to tell every good thingthat you’ve ever thought of about me and

let my colleagues know why i’d be a goodsecretary of the conference.” he said, “great.” i could hear--on the telephone i could hearhis pen going over his legal pad, [dale bumpers laughs] scratching on his legal pad. [laughter]and he said, “by the way, let me ask you one thing before you go any further.” isaid, “what?” he said, “what does that position do? what do you do?” i said, “absolutelynothing.” he said, “you’ll be perfect for the job.” [laughter] so, anyway, thatwas going on. but i want to tell you, this is why it’s so important--anyone ever thinkingabout running for public office, don’t ever hesitate or fail to ask someone for theirvote. a lot of politicians make this mistake. ask people for their vote. i did this democraticconference leadership thing, and i knew that

there was one senator who didn’t like me.and i said, “i’m not going to go to his office and waste my time and waste his timeand embarrass us by sitting there, knowing he’s not going to vote for me.” so, anyway,going over that morning to the vote in the democratic conference, who would i get onthe elevator with in the basement of the capitol to go up to the old senate [dale bumpers coughs]chamber but this senator? the two of us are standing there. we’re not saying much toeach other. “good morning,” or something. he said, “by the way,” he said, “aren’tyou running for secretary of the conference?” and i said, “yes, i am.” he said, “you’venot asked me for my vote.” i said, “you’re right.” so i swallowed, and i said, “iwould really hope you will vote for me. i’m

asking for your vote today in a few minutesfor the secretary of the conference.” he said, “you’ve got it.” i won by onevote. [laughter] i want you to know that. and that’s the story of one vote. and we’veseen some elections in this country and in this state in recent years. and this stateand this country--maybe not this state, but this country is divided fifty-fifty like we’venever seen it divided now, between red and blue. and i hate red and blue connotations.i hate all that because i think we’re one country. but things are not--anyway we can--maywant to talk about that in a little bit, but i just wanted you to--i wanted to tell youabout how important it is to ask people for one of the most precious things that theyhave, and that’s their vote. so dale …

>> dale bumpers: i’m going to tell you onestory dealing with bill clinton, and it’s the last one i’m going to tell, david.>> david pryor: you mean forever or--or [laughter] …>> dale bumpers: you know, the coon supper down at gillette, arkansas, is an absolutemust for any politician. i didn’t know that--didn’t know much about gillette or south arkansaswhen i got into politics. but david learned early, and i soon learned that you have togo to gillette because there’ll be a thousand to fifteen hundred people there for the coonsupper. and they actually cook coon, and they serve it. and david loves to tell the storyabout somebody coming by with that stuff and i …>> david pryor: you had the flu. [laughter]

>> dale bumpers: was that it?>> david pryor: mh-hmm. >> dale bumpers: i was thinking you told themthat i’d already had … >> david pryor: no! no, let me tell this story.[laughter] i can do it better. no, you go--you tell--you ought to tell them about that planecrash that you and bill clinton . . . >> dale bumpers: i will.>> david pryor: you tell . . . >> dale bumpers: okay. you tell them aboutthe coon supper, and i’ll . . . >> david pryor: well, i’ll tell you . . .>> dale bumpers: . . . tell them about the plane crash.>> david pryor: dale was sick one year during the coon suppers in january--third fridaynight or something like that. i’m not sure.

and so i’d heard that he had a--a viralflu and was home throwing up and everything in his apartment. but i called him up, andi said, “dale, you’re up for reelection this year, and you’re going to have to goto that coon supper.” he said, “i can’t. i’m sick. i can’t go. you tell them ireally can’t make it there tonight.” so, i said, “no, you got to go, and i’m goingcome by and pick you up, and we’re going to drive [laughs] down there to gillette,arkansas, and you’re going to go there. we’re just going to stay a short time. but,dale, if you slight them--if you snub them, they’ll never forget this on election day.”so he said, “well, all right. i’ll be out in front of the apartment.” so i pickedhim up, and we drive down. we get a--just

about to pine bluff and you--and gilletteis still about thirty miles south of pine bluff or forty. and maybe--and we could smellthat coon cooking from there. [laughter] and i thought dale was going to throw up in mycar. [laughter] and we were driving, and he was getting greener and greener, and i said,“boy, this guy’s [laughs] getting ready to be sick right here in my car.” and isaid, “dale, we’ll slow down if you need to get out or whatever.” we finally gotto the coon supper, and they brought this big thing of coon. they pour this coon outin wash tubs out in front of you, and you’re supposed to sit there and eat it. they putit on oiled tablecloths, and they’d throw some cornbread and some stuff at it and, man,it--there’s an aroma there that you can’t

quite describe. [laughter] but dale was sittingthere, and i knew it was just--he was going to just, you know, become sick at his stomach.and, finally, the channel 11 new--news reporter came over and turned on the camera--says,“senator bumpers, we want to see you eat some of this coon. we’re going to put iton the ten o’clock news. so take a big old bite of that coon.” [laughter] and dalelooked down at it, and he got greener and greener. he said, “you know, i am so fulli can’t eat any more. it’s so good.” and she said, “when did you eat it?” andhe says, “three years ago.” [laughter] he got by with it. he got by …>> dale bumpers: bill clinton called me one [clears throat] afternoon. we’d had a twelve-inchsnowstorm, and it was saturday, and the snow

was still on the ground. and bill called andsaid, “are you going to the coon supper?” and i said, “are you crazy? [laughter] howcan we go to the coon supper? my god, it’s twelve inches of snow on the ground.” hesays, “well, i talked to county judge, and he--he said he’d swept it off. he sweptthe runway, so we could get in.” i said, “i don’t know.” and finally i agreedto do it, and i told him--i said, “i’ll meet you at central flying service at sixo’clock.” and we started to--you know, i didn’t think much more about it, but aboutfive thirty, i began to think about it. and betty was, as you might guess--any wife wassaying, “i can’t believe this.” and when i walked out the door, she said, “youknow, you and bill clinton both need a saliva

test.” [laughter] but, anyway, we went onand we took off, and sure enough, the county judge had cleaned the runway off. but whathe had done was to shovel all the snow right up to the end of the runway. and so when wecame in, the front landing gear hit the snow which had, by that time, turned to ice becausethe sun had been out all day, and it melted and turned the snow into ice. and the nosewheel hit it--blam! we went circling out through this corn patch or whatever it was--cottonfield. and bill was telling a story. i said, “bill, open that door. this thing’s goingcatch on fire.” and he was so busy telling his story that he didn’t know we’d crashed.[laughter] so [laughs], anyway, the thing finally came to a stop, and i hollered athim again. he had a state trooper with him.

governors had security then. i guess theystill do, don’t they? and--but in any event, the plane was nose down, straight up. andfinally the trooper reached over in front of bill--turned the knob--got the door open--andwe all jumped out. all of us got sprained ankles--it was so high off the ground. andwe started running across that field in the snow, and bill said, “boy, i bet we neverlose another vote in gillette.” [laughter] now that’s the gospel truth. every wordof that’s exactly the way it happened. >> david pryor: i backed out of that trip.i was at central flying service, and i went home and built a fire right in …>> dale bumpers: oh, my. >> david pryor: now, dale, tell them thatstory. i love …

>> dale bumpers: well, i …>> david pryor: are you through with that one?>> dale bumpers: yeah, i … >> david pryor: well, if you’re throughwith that, i want you to tell another one that i like to hear you tell. tell them thatstory about you and rozzy up there in the hills one night, and you’re coming backfrom a big dinner. i believe it was a democratic dinner, and you ran out of gas.>> dale bumpers: no, we were going to it. >> david pryor: you were running out of gas.>> dale bumpers: yeah. >> david pryor: what is that story?>> dale bumpers: well, we stopped, and we couldn’t find a--it was dark--little oldtwo-lane highway, and of course, we were just--actually,

david, we were going to the dinner, and we--wethought we were going to be late. and we finally found this little old house which had a gaspump out in front, and we decided if we were ever going to get there, that’s where wecould maybe make it. so we stopped, and this kid came out. he was just a kid. and i toldhim, “fill it up.” and so, he got over--took the pipe--the--the gas nozzle, and he didn’tknow what to do with it. he’s just footsying around with it, and i knew he was retardedor something. [laughter] and i said, “son, is there--is--is your mother or father here?”he said, “nope.” i said, “is there anybody else here?” “nope.” i said, “do youhave any brothers and sisters?” he said, “i got a brother.” i said, “you’vegot a brother?” he said, “yeah.” i said,

“where is he?” he said, “he’s at harvard.”[laughter] “you got a brother at harvard?” “yeah.” [david pryor laughs] “what’she studying?” “he ain’t studying nothing. they’re studying him.” [laughter]>> david pryor: olin told us at the beginning of this show tonight that we couldn’t goover forty minutes, and we’ve already violated that, but i’m going give one final one.dale and i were campaigning [laughs] one time, and we stopped somewhere down around lakevillage one afternoon, and we were trying to get back to little rock for something,and we said--i said, “dale, let’s just stop right here at this nursing home rightquick. i’m chairman of the aging committee, and they’ll recognize me. i’ve tried tohelp seniors and whatever, so i’m going

to give you a big introduction and me a bigintroduction, and it’ll tickle them to death for us to be here.” egos once again. andso we got [laughter] out of the car and went over toward the nursing home. and the ladywas out on [laughs] the front with a walker. she must have been ninety-five or -six andshe--i said, “how are you? do you know who i am?” and she looked at me real funny andlong. she says, “no, but you can go down to the information desk. they can probablylet you know about [laughter]--they can probably tell you who you are.” [laughter] well,i’m going to--olin and i and all of you--this has just been great. but i want--i want tosay this, and this is on a personal note. to be able to serve--not only to follow aguy like this to become governor of arkansas

and follow in his footsteps has been a greathonor in my life. but the real honor and the real privilege i had was to serve by his sidewhen i had eighteen years by his side as a united states senator. and i’m going totell you what, it was a great, great time in my life, and i will always be gratefulnot only for what he stood for--what he believed in our--about in our country and for our countrybut for the state of arkansas that he loves so very dearly, and to have served with andby dale bumpers was the greatest privilege, i think, in my life. and i just wanted tosay, dale, in behalf of all of us--all of the democrats and all of the arkansans andall the americans, we applaud your service, and we’re so grateful that you have givenus of your life and your times during this

period. thank you, dale.[applause] >> dale bumpers: [unclear words]>> david pryor: thank you. [laughter] >> dale bumpers: [unclear words]>> david pryor: thank you very much. >> jim kennedy: on behalf of pope county democrats,we’d like to thank you both for being here. >> dale bumpers: do i have to report thisto the ethics committee? >> jim kennedy: no, you don’t. [laughter]no. on behalf of everybody here, it was a true privilege for us to be here, and i’mjust thankful that i got to be a part of it. >> dale bumpers: thank you very much [unclearwords]. >> david pryor: i--i want to make an announcementif i could. we have a new center at the university

of arkansas, and we’re going all over thestate, and we’re recording lives of arkansans. we’re recording people who have made a differencein our state--not necessarily just politicians but businesspeople and musicians and homemakersand everyone that you can imagine. and we’re--we’re searching for new people to interview constantly,and should you have an interest in not only your family being interviewed or know someoneof special interest who’s done something special for our state of arkansas or for ourcountry, we want you to contact the center at the university of arkansas. now just becauseit’s in fayetteville, doesn’t mean it’s not statewide. it’s statewide. we’re goingto partner with arkansas tech. we’re going to partner with aetn. we’re partnering withall of the other institutions of learning

all over the state, and we want all of usto be a part of it. and we think it’s going to be an exciting venture ahead.so be looking on the web site for it. [background music]>> david pryor: thank all of you so much. thank you again. thank you, sir.[applause] [silence] 1