Ken Coon
Encyclopedia
Kenneth Lloyd "Ken" Coon, Sr. (born October 14, 1935), is a Little Rock
educator, professional psychologist
, and counselor
who was also a pioneer in the development of the Republican Party
in the U.S. state
of Arkansas
. He was the GOP
state chairman from 1988—1990. Earlier, he was the party's nominee for lieutenant governor
in 1972, its executive director (1973—1975), and its gubernatorial candidate in 1974. He also ran for the United States House of Representatives
in 1996 but lost in the primary
.
, the seat of Harrison County
in east Texas
, to Loyd Wesley Coon (1912–1998) and the former Ida Mae Sparks (1916–1994). The senior Coon was a native of Brookhaven, Mississippi
, but had moved to Marshall with his family when he was a youngster. Loyd Coon was a farmer and dairyman. The family moved to Calhoun
, an unincorporated community in western Ouachita Parish near Monroe
in northeastern Louisiana
. Coon was among the thirty-one 1954 graduates of West Ouachita High School
(then Calhoun High School). After high school, he served for five years in the United States Air Force
, with overseas duty on the Greek
island
of Crete
.
In 1956, Coon married the former Sue Lynn Thompson (born 1938), also of Calhoun. They have two children, Catherine Lynn Coon (born 1957) of El Dorado
, the seat of Union County in southern Arkansas, and Kenneth Coon, Jr. (born 1962), of Mountain View
, the seat of Stone County in northern Arkansas, and two grandchildren.
Coon attended Louisiana Tech University
in Ruston
, the seat of Lincoln Parish, where he obtained a bachelor of science
degree magna cum laude in biology
. In 1962, he entered the master of science
program in fisheries at Utah State University
in Logan
and received his degree in 1965.
, the seat of Desha County
in southeastern Arkansas. He then worked for a catfish
farmer in Tuckerman
in Jackson County and in 1968 was president of the American Fish Farmers trade association
.
While he was in Dumas, Coon joined the Arkansas Jaycees. He was charter president of the Tuckerman Jaycees from 1966-1967. The group is now known as the United States Junior Chamber
. From 1971-1972, while in Fort Smith
, Coon was the Arkansas state Jaycee president.
When he announced that he would seek the office of lieutenant governor, Coon was in his third year as a biology instructor at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith (then West Ark Community College) in Sebastian County in western Arkansas, the more politically conservative part of the state. He challenged Democratic
incumbent Bob C. Riley
(1924–1994), a political science
professor from Ouachita Baptist University
in Arkadelphia
, the seat of Clark County
in south central Arkansas. Having lost an eye in World War II
, Riley wore a trademark black patch. He claimed on several occasions not even "to know" Coon when the Republican entered the race. Coon tried to tie Riley to Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern
of South Dakota
after Riley urged Arkansans to cast straight Democratic ballots. "Arkansans just don't believe that being a Democrat is reason enough to vote for McGovern, as my opponent suggests."
The gubernatorial contest featured incumbent Democrat Dale Bumpers
of Charleston
in Franklin County against Rockefeller's preferred successor, Len E. Blaylock
of Perryville
, who polled barely a fourth of the ballots. Bumpers had unseated Rockefeller in 1970.
Riley defeated Coon, 392,869 (62.8 percent) to 233,090 (37.2 percent). Coon won only three of the state's seventy-five counties: Pope, Searcy, and his home base of Sebastian. Coon almost won in frequently Republican Crawford County, where he received 49.6 percent of the vote.
In addition to Coon and Blaylock, the other Republican statewide candidates lost in Arkansas that year, including Wayne H. Babbitt
for the U.S. Senate, future U.S. Representative Edwin R. Bethune for attorney general
, and Jerry Climer
for secretary of state.
After the race for lieutenant governor, Coon succeeded Neal Sox Johnson, a businessman from Nashville
, the seat of Howard County
in southwestern Arkansas, as the party's paid executive director. It was his job to build up a party with little allegiance among the Arkansas electorate. Johnson, meanwhile, accepted a federal position with the Farmers Home Administration
in the Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and first Bush administrations.
, the editor of the Sharp Citizen newspaper in Cave City
in Sharp County
in northern Arkansas, whose work had led to a change in state libel law. Republicans tried to keep Weston off the state ballot on grounds that he was not a "registered" Republican. Though voters in Arkansas do not register by party, officials of the party must register their affiliation and become an automatic member of the Republican executive committee. The party opposed Weston because of his strident criticism of many elected officials, accusing most of "moral rot" and demanding mass resignations.
In a statewide turnout of fewer than 5,000, Coon easily prevailed over Weston, 3,698 (81.9 percent) to 815 (18.1 percent).
In his gubernatorial announcement, Coon outlined in generalities three reasons he was seeking to succeed Bumpers as governor:
(1) Belief in competition in government
(2) Deep concern for people
(3) Positive conviction that we can succeed in creating the kind of world the majority of us want.
Coon said that the Rockefeller and Bumpers administrations had succeeded because of their "lack of attachment to and connections with the ongoing political power structure in our state." Coon said that Arkansas was "an emerging state in the New South. We still have a long way to go. The work started in the last eight years is not complete . . . the job is not yet finished. He vowed if elected to focus upon (1) education), (2) constitutional revision, and (3) electoral reform.
, which caused the defeat of many Republicans nationwide who had no connection to the stunning developments. Coon made a bold proposal: U.S. President Richard Nixon
should "for the good of the country... temporarily turn over his duties" to then Vice President Gerald Ford
. Coon suggested that Nixon request an immediate trial on impeachment
(then pending in the United States House of Representatives
before the U.S. Senate, but he said that Nixon should not resign because the public needed the "absolute truth". Therefore, he maintained that a trial should be staged in the Senate once the House voted articles of impeachment.
"With the President's own admission that he lied to the American people about previous Watergate statements, that he kept pertinent information from the House Judiciary Committee, the courts, as well as his own lawyer, and his admission that, it is a foregone conclusion that the House will impeach him, it might seem to some that he should resign.... However, we must remain calm and not overreact. Our system of government provides that a man, even the President is innocent until proven guilty," Coon said in a press release.
Coon said that if Nixon resigned because of adverse poll ratings, the precedent would cause "irreparable damage" to the United States because "future presidents, if they made an unpopular decision, might also capitulate, leaving government solely in the hands of Congress." Coon's remarks came three days before Nixon resigned the presidency.
, the seat of Ouachita County in southern Arkansas. Two years earlier, Pryor had lost the Democratic senatorial primary to the more conservative incumbent John L. McClellan, also of Camden. Pryor emerged as a powerful candidate for governor after he defeated both Bob Riley and former Governor Orval Faubus
in the Democratic primary. Pryor repeatedly refused to debate Coon.
While he ran for governor, Coon was enrolled in a Master of Arts
program in career counseling at the University of Central Arkansas
in Conway
. He recalled that his wife often sat in on the classes with a tape recorder while he was campaigning.
Coon's campaign strategist was Odell Pollard
, an attorney
from Searcy
in White County
, who was state party chairman from 1966-1970. Pollard called upon nursing home owners to support Coon because of Pryor's earlier congressional actions to increase federal regulations on the facilities. "He [Pryor] demeaned the nursing homes just so he could get national publicity," alleged Pollard, who became Republican national committeeman upon the death of Winthrop Rockefeller in 1973. Pollard served as national committeeman until 1976, when U.S. Representative John Paul Hammerschmidt
assumed the position.
Coon filed a complaint with the Fair Campaign Practices Committee in Washington, D.C.
, that Pryor was "smearing" him. Pryor earlier had said that he might filed charges against Coon after Coon alleged that Pryor had received funds from Associated Milk Producers, Inc.
, which had also made an infamous illegal donation to U.S. Representative Wilbur Mills
of Arkansas' Second Congressional District.
Coon proposed a one-year moratorium
on construction of the proposed state office complex at the capitol grounds in Little Rock because of spiraling costs.
Arkansas voters chose Pryor for governor in an overwhelming vote in the Watergate year: 358,018 (65.6 percent) to Coon's 187,872 (34.4 percent). Coon won two of the three counties that he had carried for lieutenant governor in 1972: Sebastian and Searcy, and he polled at least 40 percent in twelve other counties. His defeat was nearly as bad numerically as had been Bumpers' margin over Rockefeller four years earlier. Coon's running mate for lieutenant governor, Leona Troxell
of Rose Bud
in White County
north of Little Rock, was handily defeated by the Democrat former Attorney General
Joe Purcell
of Benton
, the seat of Saline County.
at Fayetteville
. He completed the program in 1979 and worked for two years for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arkansas. He was licensed as a counselor in 1980.
Coon established his counseling and motivational speaking bureau, the Life Guide Center of Human Resource Development and Career Counseling. He was licensed as a psychologist in 1985. He is also an adjunct professor of human resources development for the Little Rock campus of Webster University
of St. Louis
.
Coon, a former Methodist, is a member of the Church of Christ
.
Governor Ronald Reagan
as the GOP standard-bearer, rather than the unelected incumbent President Ford, the choice of most of the Arkansas Rockefeller Republicans. The Arkansas delegation to the national convention in Kansas City
was led by the 1974 (and later 1984 as well) congressional candidate Judy C. Petty
, the former Winthrop Rockefeller staffer pledged to Reagan in 1976. Petty claimed that the old Rockefeller coalition in Arkansas could not be revived because of the strength of Bumpers and Pryor. She therefore proposed a conservative coalition of Republicans and dissident Democrats, many of whom had been backers of Orval Faubus
. In the general election in Arkansas, Ford barely polled a third of the ballots against the Democrat Jimmy Carter
. Coon similarly supported Reagan in 1980 and 1984.
Coon resurfaced politically in 1981, not as a candidate, but as the appointee of newly-elected Republican Governor Frank D. White
to head the Arkansas Employment Security Division in Little Rock. He served until White was unseated after a single term in 1982 by Bill Clinton
. Mrs. Troxell, his former ticket-mate, had held the same position for a time in the Rockefeller administration.
Coon's chairmanship of the Arkansas party, which was considered quite successful overall, coincided with a heated 1990 Republican gubernatorial primary between then U.S. Representative Tommy F. Robinson
, a controversial former Democratic sheriff
known for shoot-at-the-hip remarks, and the more conventional Sheffield Nelson
, also a former Democrat and the favorite of the business establishment. The Robinson-Nelson contest was believed to have so divided the minority GOP that once again it could not compete effectively, with Nelson as the nominee, against Governor Clinton. The primary even split many Republican families. Coon himself insists that he has never told anyone how he personally voted in the Robinson-Nelson contest. Clinton went on to defeat Nelson and then announced his presidential candidacy less than a year later even though he had pledged if reelected governor to have served a full four-year term from 1991 to 1995.
In 1996, Coon ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for the Little Rock-based open Second Congressional District seat, which was ultimately won by the liberal Democrat Victor F. Snyder
. Later GOP efforts to topple Snyder failed.
In retrospect, Coon appears to have been something of a Republican transitional figure between the governorships of Winthrop Rockefeller
(1967–1971) and the later Mike Huckabee
(1994–2007).
made Coon an officer of the National Savings Life Insurance Company, a burial insurance firm. In 1998, Hale was scheduled to be tried in Arkansas state court for fraud in connection with the company, but his medical needs — a heart condition — halted the proceedings. In 1995, Samuel Dash
, the ethics counsel to Whitewater special prosecutor Ken Starr informed Mark Stodola of the Pulaski County (Little Rock) prosecutor's office, that Stodola, a Democrat, could be prosecuted for obstruction of justice
if he proceeded with charges against Hale. Dash told Stodola that Hale was cooperating in a federal investigation. Starr said that he would like to handle the insurance fraud matter at Hale's federal sentencing, but Stodola filed state charges against Hale.
No charges were brought against Coon, who in 1974 had declared that he was "so honest that I might appear to be naive."
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...
educator, professional psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
, and counselor
Licensed Professional Counselor
Licensed professional counselor is a licensure for mental health professionals. The exact title varies by state, but the other most frequently used title is licensed mental health counselor . Several U.S. states, including Illinois, Maine, and Tennessee, have implemented a two-tier system whereby...
who was also a pioneer in the development of the Republican Party
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...
in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Arkansas
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...
. He was the GOP
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...
state chairman from 1988—1990. Earlier, he was the party's nominee for lieutenant governor
Lieutenant governor
A lieutenant governor or lieutenant-governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction, but is often the deputy or lieutenant to or ranking under a governor — a "second-in-command"...
in 1972, its executive director (1973—1975), and its gubernatorial candidate in 1974. He also ran for the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
in 1996 but lost in the primary
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
.
Early years, family, education
Coon was born in MarshallMarshall, Texas
Marshall is a city in Harrison County in the northeastern corner of Texas. Marshall is a major cultural and educational center in East Texas and the tri-state area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of Marshall was about 23,523...
, the seat of Harrison County
Harrison County, Texas
Harrison County is a county of the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 62,110. It is named for Jonas Harrison, a lawyer and Texas revolutionary. It is located in the Ark-La-Tex region...
in east Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, to Loyd Wesley Coon (1912–1998) and the former Ida Mae Sparks (1916–1994). The senior Coon was a native of Brookhaven, Mississippi
Brookhaven, Mississippi
Brookhaven is a small city in Lincoln County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 9,861 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Lincoln County...
, but had moved to Marshall with his family when he was a youngster. Loyd Coon was a farmer and dairyman. The family moved to Calhoun
Calhoun, Louisiana
Calhoun is an unincorporated community in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. Its elevation is 177 feet , and it is located at . At the time of the most recent United States Census Survey, the number of people in Calhoun, LA was 1,965.Calhoun is located along Interstate 20 west of...
, an unincorporated community in western Ouachita Parish near Monroe
Monroe, Louisiana
Monroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...
in northeastern Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. Coon was among the thirty-one 1954 graduates of West Ouachita 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....
(then Calhoun High School). After high school, he served for five years in the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
, with overseas duty on the Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
island
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
of Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
.
In 1956, Coon married the former Sue Lynn Thompson (born 1938), also of Calhoun. They have two children, Catherine Lynn Coon (born 1957) of El Dorado
El Dorado, Arkansas
El Dorado , a multi-cultural arts center: South Arkansas Arts Center , an award-winning renovated downtown, and numerous sporting, shopping, and dining opportunities. El Dorado is the population, cultural, and business center of the 7,300 mi² regional area...
, the seat of Union County in southern Arkansas, and Kenneth Coon, Jr. (born 1962), of Mountain View
Mountain View, Arkansas
Mountain View is the largest city in and the county seat of Stone County in the north-central region of the U.S. state of Arkansas. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 2,998. The town's name comes from its location in a valley surrounded by the eastern Ozark...
, the seat of Stone County in northern Arkansas, and two grandchildren.
Coon attended Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University, often referred to as Louisiana Tech, LA Tech, or Tech, is a coeducational public research university located in Ruston, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech is designated as a Tier 1 school in the national universities category by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report college rankings...
in Ruston
Ruston, Louisiana
Ruston is a city in and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 20,546 at the 2000 census. Ruston is near the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex and is the home of Louisiana Tech University. Its economy caters to its college population...
, the seat of Lincoln Parish, where he obtained a bachelor of science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree magna cum laude in biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
. In 1962, he entered the master of science
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
program in fisheries at Utah State University
Utah State University
Utah State University is a public university located in Logan, Utah. It is a land-grant and space-grant institution and is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities....
in Logan
Logan, Utah
-Layout of the City:Logan's city grid originates from its Main and Center Street block, with Main Street running north and south, and Center east and west. Each block north, east, south, or west of the origin accumulates in additions of 100 , though some streets have non-numeric names...
and received his degree in 1965.
Jaycees state president
After receipt of the graduate degree in Utah, Coon took a job with a federal agency, the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, in DumasDumas, Arkansas
Dumas is a city in Desha County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 4,706 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Dumas is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land....
, the seat of Desha County
Desha County, Arkansas
Desha County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 13,008. The county seat is Arkansas City. Desha County is Arkansas's 40th county, formed on December 12, 1838, and named for Captain Benjamin Desha who fought in the War of...
in southeastern Arkansas. He then worked for a catfish
Catfish
Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...
farmer in Tuckerman
Tuckerman, Arkansas
Tuckerman is a city in Jackson County, Arkansas, USA. The population was 1,757 at the 2000 census.Each year on the second weekend of May, Tuckerman hosts Hometown Days, a festival for the town and fundraiser for the Tuckerman Fire Department.-Geography:...
in Jackson County and in 1968 was president of the American Fish Farmers trade association
Trade association
A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association or sector association, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry...
.
While he was in Dumas, Coon joined the Arkansas Jaycees. He was charter president of the Tuckerman Jaycees from 1966-1967. The group is now known as the United States Junior Chamber
United States Junior Chamber
The United States Junior Chamber is a leadership training and civic organization for people between the ages of 18 and 41. Areas of emphasis are business development, management skills, individual training, community service, and international connections. The U.S...
. From 1971-1972, while in Fort Smith
Fort Smith, Arkansas
Fort Smith is the second-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. With a population of 86,209 in 2010, it is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 298,592 residents which encompasses the Arkansas...
, Coon was the Arkansas state Jaycee president.
Running for lieutenant governor, 1972
Recruited to run for office by both political parties, he chose the more difficult route in Arkansas: the fledgling Republican Party. It was not even until he ran for lieutenant governor in 1972 that his state party had even won its first presidential election since Reconstruction.When he announced that he would seek the office of lieutenant governor, Coon was in his third year as a biology instructor at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith (then West Ark Community College) in Sebastian County in western Arkansas, the more politically conservative part of the state. He challenged Democratic
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...
incumbent Bob C. Riley
Bob C. Riley
Bob Cowley Riley was an American educator and politician who served as Acting Governor of Arkansas for 11 days in 1975. He had previously been a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1946 to 1950, the mayor of Arkadelphia, Arkansas, in 1966 and 1967, and the eighth Lieutenant...
(1924–1994), a political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
professor from Ouachita Baptist University
Ouachita Baptist University
Ouachita Baptist University is a private, liberal arts, undergraduate institution located in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, which is about 65 miles southwest of Little Rock. The university's name is taken from the Ouachita River, which forms the eastern campus boundary. It is affiliated with the Arkansas...
in Arkadelphia
Arkadelphia, Arkansas
Arkadelphia is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 10,548. The city is the county seat of Clark County. The city is situated at the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. Two universities, Henderson State...
, the seat of Clark County
Clark County, Arkansas
Clark County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2010, the population was 22,995. The county seat is Arkadelphia.The Arkadelphia Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Clark County.-Geography:...
in south central Arkansas. Having lost an eye in 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...
, Riley wore a trademark black patch. He claimed on several occasions not even "to know" Coon when the Republican entered the race. Coon tried to tie Riley to Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
of South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
after Riley urged Arkansans to cast straight Democratic ballots. "Arkansans just don't believe that being a Democrat is reason enough to vote for McGovern, as my opponent suggests."
The gubernatorial contest featured incumbent Democrat Dale Bumpers
Dale Bumpers
Dale Leon Bumpers is an American politician who served as the 38th Governor of Arkansas from 1971 to 1975; and then in the United States Senate from 1975 until his retirement in January 1999. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Senator Bumpers is currently counsel at the Washington, D.C...
of Charleston
Charleston, Arkansas
Charleston is a city in Franklin County, Arkansas, United States, and one of the two county seats of Franklin County. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area...
in Franklin County against Rockefeller's preferred successor, Len E. Blaylock
Len E. Blaylock
Len Everette Blaylock, Sr. , is a retired farmer, educator, small businessman, and Republican politician from tiny Nimrod in Perry County in northwestern Arkansas. He was state welfare commissioner under Governor Winthrop Rockefeller, the GOP gubernatorial nominee , the U.S...
of Perryville
Perryville, Arkansas
Perryville is a city in and the county seat of Perry County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 1,458 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Little Rock–North Little Rock–Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
, who polled barely a fourth of the ballots. Bumpers had unseated Rockefeller in 1970.
Riley defeated Coon, 392,869 (62.8 percent) to 233,090 (37.2 percent). Coon won only three of the state's seventy-five counties: Pope, Searcy, and his home base of Sebastian. Coon almost won in frequently Republican Crawford County, where he received 49.6 percent of the vote.
In addition to Coon and Blaylock, the other Republican statewide candidates lost in Arkansas that year, including Wayne H. Babbitt
Wayne H. Babbitt
Wayne H. Babbitt was a Republican politician in the U.S. state of Arkansas, who in 1972 became the only member of his party ever to oppose the reelection of entrenched Democratic U.S. Senator John L. McClellan.-Family:...
for the U.S. Senate, future U.S. Representative Edwin R. Bethune for attorney general
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
, and Jerry Climer
Jerry Climer
Jerome Francis Climer, known as Jerry Climer , is the founder of two Washington, D.C.-based "think tanks", the Congressional Institute and the Public Governance Institute, which were established in 1987 and 2001, respectively...
for secretary of state.
After the race for lieutenant governor, Coon succeeded Neal Sox Johnson, a businessman from Nashville
Nashville, Arkansas
Nashville is a city in Howard County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 4,878 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Howard County....
, the seat of Howard County
Howard County, Arkansas
Howard County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2010, the population was 13,789. The county seat is Nashville. Howard County is Arkansas's 74th county, formed on April 17, 1873, and named for James Howard, a state senator...
in southwestern Arkansas, as the party's paid executive director. It was his job to build up a party with little allegiance among the Arkansas electorate. Johnson, meanwhile, accepted a federal position with the Farmers Home Administration
Farmers Home Administration
In 1946 Farmers Home Administration replaced the Farm Security Administration which superseded the Resettlement Administration. Its mission and programs involved extending credit for agriculture and rural development. Direct and guaranteed credit went to individual farmers, low-income families,...
in the Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and first Bush administrations.
Gubernatorial race, 1974
Coon first faced opposition within the Republican primary from Joseph H. WestonJoseph H. Weston
Joseph H. Weston was a controversial newspaper editor in Cave City in Sharp County in northern Arkansas, whose work led to a change in his state's libel law....
, the editor of the Sharp Citizen newspaper in Cave City
Cave City, Arkansas
Cave City is a city in Independence and Sharp counties in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The population was 1,946 at the 2000 census. The city was named for a large cave underneath the Crystal River Tourist Camp, which is the oldest motor court in Arkansas...
in Sharp County
Sharp County, Arkansas
-External links:*...
in northern Arkansas, whose work had led to a change in state libel law. Republicans tried to keep Weston off the state ballot on grounds that he was not a "registered" Republican. Though voters in Arkansas do not register by party, officials of the party must register their affiliation and become an automatic member of the Republican executive committee. The party opposed Weston because of his strident criticism of many elected officials, accusing most of "moral rot" and demanding mass resignations.
In a statewide turnout of fewer than 5,000, Coon easily prevailed over Weston, 3,698 (81.9 percent) to 815 (18.1 percent).
In his gubernatorial announcement, Coon outlined in generalities three reasons he was seeking to succeed Bumpers as governor:
(1) Belief in competition in government
(2) Deep concern for people
(3) Positive conviction that we can succeed in creating the kind of world the majority of us want.
Coon said that the Rockefeller and Bumpers administrations had succeeded because of their "lack of attachment to and connections with the ongoing political power structure in our state." Coon said that Arkansas was "an emerging state in the New South. We still have a long way to go. The work started in the last eight years is not complete . . . the job is not yet finished. He vowed if elected to focus upon (1) education), (2) constitutional revision, and (3) electoral reform.
Coon and Nixon
The gubernatorial race was overshadowed by the Watergate scandalWatergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
, which caused the defeat of many Republicans nationwide who had no connection to the stunning developments. Coon made a bold proposal: U.S. President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
should "for the good of the country... temporarily turn over his duties" to then Vice President Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
. Coon suggested that Nixon request an immediate trial on impeachment
Impeachment
Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as other punishment....
(then pending in the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
before the U.S. Senate, but he said that Nixon should not resign because the public needed the "absolute truth". Therefore, he maintained that a trial should be staged in the Senate once the House voted articles of impeachment.
"With the President's own admission that he lied to the American people about previous Watergate statements, that he kept pertinent information from the House Judiciary Committee, the courts, as well as his own lawyer, and his admission that, it is a foregone conclusion that the House will impeach him, it might seem to some that he should resign.... However, we must remain calm and not overreact. Our system of government provides that a man, even the President is innocent until proven guilty," Coon said in a press release.
Coon said that if Nixon resigned because of adverse poll ratings, the precedent would cause "irreparable damage" to the United States because "future presidents, if they made an unpopular decision, might also capitulate, leaving government solely in the hands of Congress." Coon's remarks came three days before Nixon resigned the presidency.
Challenging David Pryor, 1974
Coon's gubernatorial opponent was former U.S. Representative David H. Pryor, originally from CamdenCamden, Arkansas
Camden is a city in and the county seat of Ouachita County in the southern part of the U.S. state of Arkansas. Long an area of American Indians villages, the French also made a permanent settlement here because of its advantageous location above the Ouachita River. According to 2007 Census...
, the seat of Ouachita County in southern Arkansas. Two years earlier, Pryor had lost the Democratic senatorial primary to the more conservative incumbent John L. McClellan, also of Camden. Pryor emerged as a powerful candidate for governor after he defeated both Bob Riley and former Governor Orval 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...
in the Democratic primary. Pryor repeatedly refused to debate Coon.
While he ran for governor, Coon was enrolled in a Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
program in career counseling at the University of Central Arkansas
University of Central Arkansas
The University of Central Arkansas is a state-run institution located in the city of Conway, the seat of Faulkner County, north of Little Rock and is the fourth largest university by enrollment in the U.S. state of Arkansas, and the third largest college system in the state. The school is most...
in Conway
Conway, Arkansas
Conway is the county seat of Faulkner County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 58,908 at the 2010 census, making Conway the seventh most populous city in Arkansas. It is a principal city of the Little Rock–North Little Rock–Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area which had...
. He recalled that his wife often sat in on the classes with a tape recorder while he was campaigning.
Coon's campaign strategist was Odell Pollard
Odell Pollard
Odell Pollard is a retired attorney in Searcy, the seat of White County in central Arkansas, who was a pioneer in the revitalization of the Republican Party in his state.-Early years:...
, an attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
from Searcy
Searcy, Arkansas
Searcy is the largest city and county seat of White County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 20,663. It is the principal city of the Searcy, AR Micropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of White County...
in White County
White County, Arkansas
White County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2010, the population was 77,076. The county seat is Searcy. White County is Arkansas's 31st county, formed on October 23, 1835, from portions of Independence, Jackson, and Pulaski counties and named for Hugh Lawson White, a...
, who was state party chairman from 1966-1970. Pollard called upon nursing home owners to support Coon because of Pryor's earlier congressional actions to increase federal regulations on the facilities. "He [Pryor] demeaned the nursing homes just so he could get national publicity," alleged Pollard, who became Republican national committeeman upon the death of Winthrop Rockefeller in 1973. Pollard served as national committeeman until 1976, when U.S. Representative John Paul Hammerschmidt
John Paul Hammerschmidt
John Paul Hammerschmidt is an American politician from the U.S. state of Arkansas. A Republican, Hammerschmidt served for thirteen terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from the northwestern Arkansas district before he retired in 1993...
assumed the position.
Coon filed a complaint with the Fair Campaign Practices Committee 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....
, that Pryor was "smearing" him. Pryor earlier had said that he might filed charges against Coon after Coon alleged that Pryor had received funds from Associated Milk Producers, Inc.
Dairy Farmers of America
Dairy Farmers of America, Inc. is a national milk marketing cooperative in the United States. It is owned by and serves nearly 16,000 dairy farmer members representing more than 9,000 dairy farms in 48 states. DFA buys raw milk from its members and sells milk and derivative products to wholesale...
, which had also made an infamous illegal donation to U.S. Representative Wilbur Mills
Wilbur Mills
Wilbur Daigh Mills , was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Arkansas...
of Arkansas' Second Congressional District.
Coon proposed a one-year moratorium
Moratorium (law)
A moratorium is a delay or suspension of an activity or a law. In a legal context, it may refer to the temporary suspension of a law to allow a legal challenge to be carried out....
on construction of the proposed state office complex at the capitol grounds in Little Rock because of spiraling costs.
Arkansas voters chose Pryor for governor in an overwhelming vote in the Watergate year: 358,018 (65.6 percent) to Coon's 187,872 (34.4 percent). Coon won two of the three counties that he had carried for lieutenant governor in 1972: Sebastian and Searcy, and he polled at least 40 percent in twelve other counties. His defeat was nearly as bad numerically as had been Bumpers' margin over Rockefeller four years earlier. Coon's running mate for lieutenant governor, Leona Troxell
Leona Troxell
Leona Anderson Troxell Dodd, known politically as Leona Troxell , was a native New Yorker who was a pioneer in the development of the Republican Party in her adopted state of Arkansas...
of Rose Bud
Rose Bud, Arkansas
Rose Bud is a town in White County, Arkansas, in the United States. Tammy Tipton Bomar is the current mayor. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 429...
in White County
White County, Arkansas
White County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2010, the population was 77,076. The county seat is Searcy. White County is Arkansas's 31st county, formed on October 23, 1835, from portions of Independence, Jackson, and Pulaski counties and named for Hugh Lawson White, a...
north of Little Rock, was handily defeated by the Democrat former Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
Joe Purcell
Joe Purcell
Joseph Gregory Purcell -References:...
of Benton
Benton, Arkansas
Benton is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Arkansas, United States and a suburb of Little Rock. It was established in 1837. According to a 2006 Special Census conducted at the request of the city government, the population of the city is 27,717, ranking it as the state's 16th largest...
, the seat of Saline County.
Educational counseling
Coon left the GOP executive director's position in the fall of 1975 to begin work on his Ed.D. in counselor education at the University of ArkansasUniversity 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...
at Fayetteville
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...
. He completed the program in 1979 and worked for two years for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arkansas. He was licensed as a counselor in 1980.
Coon established his counseling and motivational speaking bureau, the Life Guide Center of Human Resource Development and Career Counseling. He was licensed as a psychologist in 1985. He is also an adjunct professor of human resources development for the Little Rock campus of Webster University
Webster University
Webster University is an American non-profit private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. Webster University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools...
of St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
.
Coon, a former Methodist, is a member of the Church of Christ
Church of Christ
Churches of Christ are autonomous Christian congregations associated with one another through common beliefs and practices. They seek to base doctrine and practice on the Bible alone, and seek to be New Testament congregations as originally established by the authority of Christ. Historically,...
.
Later political activities
In 1976, Coon favored the nomination of former CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
Governor Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
as the GOP standard-bearer, rather than the unelected incumbent President Ford, the choice of most of the Arkansas Rockefeller Republicans. The Arkansas delegation to the national convention in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
was led by the 1974 (and later 1984 as well) congressional candidate Judy C. Petty
Judy Petty Wolf
Judy C. Petty, later Judy Petty Wolf , is a retired officer of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and a former Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives...
, the former Winthrop Rockefeller staffer pledged to Reagan in 1976. Petty claimed that the old Rockefeller coalition in Arkansas could not be revived because of the strength of Bumpers and Pryor. She therefore proposed a conservative coalition of Republicans and dissident Democrats, many of whom had been backers of Orval 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...
. In the general election in Arkansas, Ford barely polled a third of the ballots against the Democrat Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
. Coon similarly supported Reagan in 1980 and 1984.
Coon resurfaced politically in 1981, not as a candidate, but as the appointee of newly-elected Republican Governor Frank D. White
Frank D. White
Frank Durward White was the 41st Governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas since Reconstruction. He served a single two-year term from 1981 to 1983. He is one of only two people to have defeated President Bill Clinton in an election. Frank Durward White (June 4, 1933 – May 21, 2003) was...
to head the Arkansas Employment Security Division in Little Rock. He served until White was unseated after a single term in 1982 by Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
. Mrs. Troxell, his former ticket-mate, had held the same position for a time in the Rockefeller administration.
Coon's chairmanship of the Arkansas party, which was considered quite successful overall, coincided with a heated 1990 Republican gubernatorial primary between then U.S. Representative Tommy F. Robinson
Tommy F. Robinson
Tommy Franklin Robinson is a politician from the state of Arkansas.-Early life:Robinson was born in Little Rock and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He served in the United States Navy from 1959 to 1963....
, a controversial former Democratic sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
known for shoot-at-the-hip remarks, and the more conventional Sheffield Nelson
Sheffield Nelson
Sheffield E. Nelson is a lawyer, businessman, and politician from Little Rock, Arkansas. Originally a Democrat, Nelson in 1990 ran for governor of Arkansas as a Republican against then governor and future U.S. President Bill Clinton and in 1994 against the Democratic Governor Jim Guy Tucker.Nelson...
, also a former Democrat and the favorite of the business establishment. The Robinson-Nelson contest was believed to have so divided the minority GOP that once again it could not compete effectively, with Nelson as the nominee, against Governor Clinton. The primary even split many Republican families. Coon himself insists that he has never told anyone how he personally voted in the Robinson-Nelson contest. Clinton went on to defeat Nelson and then announced his presidential candidacy less than a year later even though he had pledged if reelected governor to have served a full four-year term from 1991 to 1995.
In 1996, Coon ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for the Little Rock-based open Second Congressional District seat, which was ultimately won by the liberal Democrat Victor F. Snyder
Vic Snyder
Victor F. "Vic" Snyder is a former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1997 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life, education and career:...
. Later GOP efforts to topple Snyder failed.
In retrospect, Coon appears to have been something of a Republican transitional figure between the governorships of Winthrop Rockefeller
Winthrop Rockefeller
Winthrop Rockefeller was a politician and philanthropist who served as the first Republican Governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction. He was a third-generation member of the Rockefeller family.-Early life:...
(1967–1971) and the later Mike Huckabee
Mike Huckabee
Michael "Mike" Dale Huckabee is an American politician who served as the 44th Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate in the 2008 United States Republican presidential primaries, finishing second in delegate count and third in both popular vote and number of states won . He won...
(1994–2007).
Whitewater, David Hale, and Ken Coon
Coon was a tangential figure in the Arkansas Whitewater scandal of the 1990s. Judge David HaleDavid Hale (Whitewater)
David Hale is a former Arkansas municipal judge, a former Arkansas banker, and a self proclaimed Bill Clinton political supporter—though he never made substantial contributions to any of his campaigns. He alleged the charges that resulted in the Whitewater scandal trials. He worked with Jim...
made Coon an officer of the National Savings Life Insurance Company, a burial insurance firm. In 1998, Hale was scheduled to be tried in Arkansas state court for fraud in connection with the company, but his medical needs — a heart condition — halted the proceedings. In 1995, Samuel Dash
Samuel Dash
Samuel Dash , a native of Camden, New Jersey, a co-chief counsel along with Fred Thompson for the Senate Watergate Committee during the Watergate scandal...
, the ethics counsel to Whitewater special prosecutor Ken Starr informed Mark Stodola of the Pulaski County (Little Rock) prosecutor's office, that Stodola, a Democrat, could be prosecuted for obstruction of justice
Obstruction of justice
The crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other officials...
if he proceeded with charges against Hale. Dash told Stodola that Hale was cooperating in a federal investigation. Starr said that he would like to handle the insurance fraud matter at Hale's federal sentencing, but Stodola filed state charges against Hale.
No charges were brought against Coon, who in 1974 had declared that he was "so honest that I might appear to be naive."