LUNCH WITH THE SENATOR

Pryor pays tribute to legacy of Bumpers at monthly talk

It was perhaps a bit more somber, this Legacies and Lunch with David Pryor, coming as it did just days after the death of his contemporary in the U.S. Senate and fellow governor, Dale Bumpers. Legacies and Lunch is an ongoing collaboration between the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies and the Clinton School of Public Service. This one took place Jan. 6 before a nearly packed Ron Robinson Theater. Bumpers died Jan. 1.

Pryor told stories about his childhood in Camden -- he ran his first campaign for president of his third grade class, during which he said a little prayer: "Dear God, if I'm elected president of the third grade I'll never ask for anything more." -- and his first work at the U.S. Capitol -- fetching slippers for a filibustering Wisconsin Sen. Joe McCarthy.

He also spoke about a little-known mission he made in college to Little Rock to represent the University of Arkansas at hearings concerned with the formation of an Arkansas Sovereignty Commission, a body that would investigate all possible opposition to desegregation. He said that today's college students have a right and a responsibility to "speak out, don't hold back, speak ... and be on the right side of history."

Of his friend and coeval, Bumpers, he said, "I loved his confidence, I loved his humor, I loved the things that he stood for, I mean, he was very special."

Then he said, "I say I loved his confidence -- he did have a confidence that none of the rest of us, let's say, seemed to exemplify. I'll never forget the great oration he made right after he left the Senate, in the impeachment trial of President Clinton. I called him that night ... I said, 'Dale, that may have been the greatest speech ever given in the United States Senate.' He said, 'I'm inclined to agree with you.'"

High Profile on 01/17/2016

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