Francis Cherry
Encyclopedia
Francis Adams Cherry was the 35th Governor of Arkansas
, elected as a Democrat
for a single two-year term from 1953 to 1955. He was only the second governor in Arkansas history to have been denied a second term—the first was Tom Jefferson Terral
, who was defeated in 1926. After the governorship, Republican
U.S. President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
appointed Cherry, a staunch anti-communist
, to head the Subversive Activities Control Board
, a position that continued under Democratic Presidents John F. Kennedy
and Lyndon B. Johnson
.
, the son of a Rock Island Lines railroad conductor. He and his four older siblings grew up in El Reno
and Enid
, Oklahoma
, where he graduated from high school
in 1926. He graduated from Oklahoma State University (then A&M College) in Stillwater
in 1930. In 1964, he was named "Alumnus of the Year" from Arkansas graduates of OSU. Cherry moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas
, in 1932 and entered the University of Arkansas
Law School the next year. He received his law degree in 1936.
in northeastern Arkansas to establish a law practice. In 1940, Governor Carl E. Bailey named him referee for the Workmen's Compensation Commission. In 1942, Cherry was elected chancellor and probate judge
of the 12th Judicial District, which included Clay
, Crittenden, Greene, Craighead
, Mississippi, and Poinsett counties. In 1944, Cherry applied for and received a commission in the United States Navy
. He served for the last two years of World War II
.
Cherry was elected governor in 1952. He defeated the two-term incumbent
Sidney Sanders McMath in the primary. He then overwhelmed the Republican candidate, Jefferson W. Speck
, 342,292 (87.4 percent) to 49,292 (12.6 percent), who had also lost to McMath in the 1950 general election
. Speck (1916–1993) was a planter and businessman from Frenchmans Bayou in Mississippi County in eastern Arkansas. At the time of his death, he was living in Kerrville
in the Texas Hill Country
. In a post-election statement, Speck said that the GOP had done nothing to assist his two gubernatorial campaigns. He further alleged that the Arkansas GOP would "never fully develop and take its place in Arkansas politics under its present leadership.... The same tired old men—old in ideas, old in hopes—will still keep a death grip on southern Republicanism." (Little Rock Arkansas Democrat, November 5, 1952)
Cherry's administration was responsible for establishing the Department of Finance and Administration and promoted industrial development. When Cherry ran for a second term, he was defeated in a runoff primary by Orval Eugene Faubus
of Madison County
. Faubus then defeated the Republican Pratt C. Remmel
, the mayor
of Little Rock
, to win the first of his six terms as governor. In that race, former GOP nominee Jefferson Speck endorsed Faubus to protest the state party leadership.
In his scrapbook memoirs Down From the Hills, Faubus tells a story of having checked into a motel
in El Reno, Oklahoma, in 1954, while he was en route on a family trip to Colorado
, after having defeated Cherry in the runoff. The motel clerk told Faubus that the Cherrys were an "old-line Republican family" in Oklahoma, but "some fellow beat him this last time." When Cherry ran for office, he sought the governorship as a Democrat at a time when Arkansas had virtually no Republican presence. Cherry's Democratic label did not keep Eisenhower from naming him to the SACB.
operation in Houston
. He was thereafter unable to devote full time to his duties but had gone to his office in Washington, D.C.
, several times a week. He died in Washington. The first of two funeral services was held at his home in Washington. Then the body was transported to Little Rock to lie in state in the rotunda
of the Arkansas State Capitol
. Services were also held at the First Presbyterian Church of Jonesboro. Interment was in the Oaklawn Cemetery in Jonesboro.
Cherry was married to the former Margaret Frierson (1912–1990), originally of Jonesboro. They had two sons, Haskille Cherry (1940–2007) and Francis Cherry, Jr., and a daughter, Charlotte Cherry, then all of Washington, D.C. Margaret and older son, Haskille Cherry, were living in Williamsburg, Virginia
, at the time of their deaths.
Governor Faubus and President Johnson were particularly magnanimous in their public statements of mourning on Cherry's death. Faubus said that his former rival rendered "fine service". Johnson said that Cherry left "a rich legacy of accomplishment... I particularly want to extend my sympathy to his family and dear ones and to the countless citizens of Arkansas who have lost in his passing a distinguished leader and a native son whose devotion to constitutional principles and human dignity won him the confidence and admiration of all who knew him."
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, elected as a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
for a single two-year term from 1953 to 1955. He was only the second governor in Arkansas history to have been denied a second term—the first was Tom Jefferson Terral
Tom Jefferson Terral
Thomas Jefferson Terral was the 27th Governor of Arkansas from 1925 to 1927.Thomas Jefferson Terral was born in Union Parish, Louisiana. The attended the University of Kentucky and in 1910 graduated from the University of Arkansas law school...
, who was defeated in 1926. After the governorship, Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
U.S. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
appointed Cherry, a staunch anti-communist
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
, to head the Subversive Activities Control Board
Subversive Activities Control Board
The Subversive Activities Control Board was a United States government committee to investigate Communist infiltration of American society during the 1950s Red Scare....
, a position that continued under Democratic Presidents John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
and Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
.
Early life
Cherry was born in Fort Worth, TexasFort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
, the son of a Rock Island Lines railroad conductor. He and his four older siblings grew up in El Reno
El Reno, Oklahoma
El Reno is a city in Canadian County, Oklahoma, United States, in the central part of the state. A part of the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Statistical Area, El Reno is west of downtown Oklahoma City...
and Enid
Enid, Oklahoma
Enid is a city in Garfield County, Oklahoma, United States. In 2010, the population was 49,379, making it the ninth largest city in Oklahoma. It is the county seat of Garfield County. Enid was founded during the opening of the Cherokee Outlet in the Land Run of 1893, and is named after Enid, a...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, where he graduated from high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
in 1926. He graduated from Oklahoma State University (then A&M College) in Stillwater
Stillwater, Oklahoma
Stillwater is a city in north-central Oklahoma at the intersection of U.S. 177 and State Highway 51. It is the county seat of Payne County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 45,688. Stillwater is the principal city of the Stillwater Micropolitan Statistical...
in 1930. In 1964, he was named "Alumnus of the Year" from Arkansas graduates of OSU. Cherry moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Fayetteville is the county seat of Washington County, and the third largest city in Arkansas. The city is centrally located within the county and is home to the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville is also deep in the Boston Mountains, a subset of The Ozarks...
, in 1932 and entered the University of Arkansas
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...
Law School the next year. He received his law degree in 1936.
Political career
Cherry moved to JonesboroJonesboro, Arkansas
Jonesboro is a city in and one of the two county seats of Craighead County, Arkansas, United States. According to the 2010 US Census, the population of the city was 67,263. A college town, Jonesboro is the largest city in northeastern Arkansas and the fifth most populous city in the state...
in northeastern Arkansas to establish a law practice. In 1940, Governor Carl E. Bailey named him referee for the Workmen's Compensation Commission. In 1942, Cherry was elected chancellor and probate judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
of the 12th Judicial District, which included Clay
Clay County, Arkansas
Clay County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2010, the population was 16,083. The county has two county seats, Corning and Piggott...
, Crittenden, Greene, Craighead
Craighead County, Arkansas
Craighead County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 96,443. It is included in the Jonesboro, Arkansas Metropolitan Statistical Area. Craighead County is Arkansas's 58th county, formed on February 19, 1859, and named for state Senator Thomas...
, Mississippi, and Poinsett counties. In 1944, Cherry applied for and received a commission in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. He served for the last two years of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Cherry was elected governor in 1952. He defeated the two-term incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
Sidney Sanders McMath in the primary. He then overwhelmed the Republican candidate, Jefferson W. Speck
Jefferson W. Speck
Jefferson W. Speck was a planter and businessman from Mississippi County, Arkansas, who was the Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1950 and again in 1952. He was a leader in the Dwight D...
, 342,292 (87.4 percent) to 49,292 (12.6 percent), who had also lost to McMath in the 1950 general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
. Speck (1916–1993) was a planter and businessman from Frenchmans Bayou in Mississippi County in eastern Arkansas. At the time of his death, he was living in Kerrville
Kerrville, Texas
Kerrville is a city in Kerr County, Texas, United States. The population was 20,425 at the 2000 census. In 2009, the population was 22,826...
in the Texas Hill Country
Texas Hill Country
The Texas Hill Country is a vernacular term applied to a region of Central Texas featuring tall rugged hills consisting of thin layers of soil atop limestone or granite. It also includes the Llano Uplift and the second largest granite monadnock in the United States, Enchanted Rock, which is located...
. In a post-election statement, Speck said that the GOP had done nothing to assist his two gubernatorial campaigns. He further alleged that the Arkansas GOP would "never fully develop and take its place in Arkansas politics under its present leadership.... The same tired old men—old in ideas, old in hopes—will still keep a death grip on southern Republicanism." (Little Rock Arkansas Democrat, November 5, 1952)
Cherry's administration was responsible for establishing the Department of Finance and Administration and promoted industrial development. When Cherry ran for a second term, he was defeated in a runoff primary by Orval Eugene Faubus
Orval Faubus
Orval Eugene Faubus was the 36th Governor of Arkansas, serving from 1955 to 1967. He is best known for his 1957 stand against the desegregation of Little Rock public schools during the Little Rock Crisis, in which he defied a unanimous decision of the United States Supreme Court by ordering the...
of Madison County
Madison County, Arkansas
Madison County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2010, the population was 15,717. The county seat is Huntsville. The county was formed on September 30, 1836, and named for James Madison, President of the United States...
. Faubus then defeated the Republican Pratt C. Remmel
Pratt C. Remmel
Pratt Cates Remmel, Sr. , was the only 20th century Republican elected on a partisan ballot to have served as mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas. He was elected to the first of two two-year terms in 1951, was reelected in 1953, and then defeated in 1955 by the Democrat Woodrow Wilson Mann, who like...
, the mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Little Rock
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
, to win the first of his six terms as governor. In that race, former GOP nominee Jefferson Speck endorsed Faubus to protest the state party leadership.
In his scrapbook memoirs Down From the Hills, Faubus tells a story of having checked into a motel
Motel
A motor hotel, or motel for short, is a hotel designed for motorists, and usually has a parking area for motor vehicles...
in El Reno, Oklahoma, in 1954, while he was en route on a family trip to Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, after having defeated Cherry in the runoff. The motel clerk told Faubus that the Cherrys were an "old-line Republican family" in Oklahoma, but "some fellow beat him this last time." When Cherry ran for office, he sought the governorship as a Democrat at a time when Arkansas had virtually no Republican presence. Cherry's Democratic label did not keep Eisenhower from naming him to the SACB.
Later life, death, and legacy
In 1963, Cherry underwent a heartHeart
The heart is a myogenic muscular organ found in all animals with a circulatory system , that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions...
operation in Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
. He was thereafter unable to devote full time to his duties but had gone to his office in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, several times a week. He died in Washington. The first of two funeral services was held at his home in Washington. Then the body was transported to Little Rock to lie in state in the rotunda
Rotunda (architecture)
A rotunda is any building with a circular ground plan, sometimes covered by a dome. It can also refer to a round room within a building . The Pantheon in Rome is a famous rotunda. A Band Rotunda is a circular bandstand, usually with a dome...
of the Arkansas State Capitol
Arkansas State Capitol
The Arkansas State Capitol Building, located in Little Rock, is the main house of government of the state of Arkansas.-History:In 1899, the St. Louis architect George R. Mann visited the governor of Arkansas Daniel W. Jones, and presented his drawings of his winning competition design for the...
. Services were also held at the First Presbyterian Church of Jonesboro. Interment was in the Oaklawn Cemetery in Jonesboro.
Cherry was married to the former Margaret Frierson (1912–1990), originally of Jonesboro. They had two sons, Haskille Cherry (1940–2007) and Francis Cherry, Jr., and a daughter, Charlotte Cherry, then all of Washington, D.C. Margaret and older son, Haskille Cherry, were living in Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
, at the time of their deaths.
Governor Faubus and President Johnson were particularly magnanimous in their public statements of mourning on Cherry's death. Faubus said that his former rival rendered "fine service". Johnson said that Cherry left "a rich legacy of accomplishment... I particularly want to extend my sympathy to his family and dear ones and to the countless citizens of Arkansas who have lost in his passing a distinguished leader and a native son whose devotion to constitutional principles and human dignity won him the confidence and admiration of all who knew him."