Len E. Blaylock

Infobox Officeholder
name = Len Everette Blaylock, Sr.


image_size = 200px
caption = Len E. Blaylock as U.S. marshal
birth_date = birth date and age|1918|12|8
birth_place = Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas, USA
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Farmer and rancher
Educator and government employee
Businessman
office=U.S. Marshal, Eastern District of Arkansas, Little Rock
term_start=January 19, 1975
term_end=February 26, 1978
preceded=Lynn A. Davis
succeeded=Charles H. Gray
office2=Arkansas Republican State Chairman
term_start2=1985
term_end2=1986
preceded2=William T. Kelly
succeeded2=Edwin Ruthvin "Ed" Bethune
party= Republican gubernatorial nominee, 1972
residence=flagicon|Arkansas Nimrod in Perry County, Arkansas
religion=Baptist
spouse= Melba Wright Blaylock (married since 1941)
children=David Blaylock (born 1942) of Phoenix, Arizona
Len Blaylock, Jr. (born 1944), of Maumelle in Perry County
Melvin Blaylock (born 1949) of Russellville in Pope County
Betty Louise Freeze of Keo in Lonoke County
Dale Blaylock (born 1960) of Greenbrier in Faulkner County

Len Everette Blaylock, Sr. (born December 8, 1918), 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 (1972), the U.S. marshal for the Eastern District of Arkansas (1975-1978), the appointments secretary for Governor Frank D. White (1981-1983), and the chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party (1985-1986).

Early years, military, family life

Blaylock was born in Little Rock to David Penn Blaylock (1876-1927) and the former Minnie Bradford (1886-1937). Blaylock's father and mother died when he was seven and seventeen, respectively. To help support his family, he dropped out of school three times before he could obtain his diploma from North Little Rock High School. He served three stints in the Civilian Conservation Corps between 1936 and 1939, having been based in Idaho, Camp Robinson in Arkansas, and Cody, Wyoming.Statement of Len E. Blaylock, May 2007] His life has been depicted as a Horatio Alger story in sharp contrast to his benefactor, Winthrop Rockefeller, the epitome of family wealth and power. ["Arkanszs Outlook", Arkansas State Republican Party newsletter, March 1972]

Blaylock entered the United States Army Air Corps, served in World War II, and completed 20-years of service in 1959. During part of the war, he was based in Great Britain with the Eighth Air Force. He was later with the Strategic Air Command. He was an enlisted man for the first ten years and then an Air Force officer, having reached the rank of major. At various times, he was stationed in Alaska, Spokane, Washington, Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and the Little Rock Air Force Base. He is a charter member of the Air Force Memorial Foundation [Air Force Memorial Foundation, List of Charter Members:http://www.airforcememorial.org/registry/index_results.asp?last_name=b&NAV=16]

Blaylock, while working with Captain Bruce K. Holloway at Duncan Field in San Antonio, was introduced by Holloway to Melba Wright of San Antonio. In 1941, the couple married; they have four sons and a daughter: David Blaylock (born 1942) of Phoenix, Len Blaylock, Jr. (born 1944), of Maumelle in Perry County, Melvin Blaylock (born 1949) of Russellville, the seat of Pope County, Betty Louise Freeze (husband Mike) of Keo in Lonoke County, and Dale Blaylock (born 1960) of Greenbrier in Faulkner County.

Len, Jr., is the state executive director of the United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency. Dale is a member of the security staff of the Arkansas governor's office. Len, III (born 1974), one of ten Blaylock grandchildren, is a United States Army officer who has already done one tour of duty in Iraq. There are also three step-grandchildren.

Blaylock began work on a college degree while he was in the military. Some coursework was taken at Baylor, but he finally obtained his bachelor's degree in 1962 from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. At times, Blaylock has been a storekeeper, a teacher, a principal, a cattleman, and a government administrator as well as a farmer and a politician.

Working for Winthrop Rockefeller

In 1964, Blaylock ran unsuccessfully for the Arkansas House of Representatives as a Democrat. He was defeated in the primary -- by the incumbent Democrat Paul Van Dalsem (1907-1983), an associate of Governor Orval Eugene Faubus, who won his sixth and final term as governor that year by defeating Rockefeller. Arkansas political reformers in both parties often cited Van Dalsem as an example of objectionable "machine" politics. ["Arkansas Outlook", March 1972] In time, Blaylock, who had originally been anti-Faubus, became personally close to Faubus, and the two frequently visited. It was Blaylock who recommend that Governor White in 1981 name Faubus to head the scandal-ridden Arkansas Veterans Affairs Department, much to the consternation of many earlier Rockefeller Republicans. ["Arkansas Gazette", August 5, 1981]

In 1965, Blaylock became one of eight "field representatives" for Rockefeller at a salary of $300 per month. He handled the Arkansas River Valley region. In 1966, Rockefeller became the first Republican to have been elected governor since Reconstruction. He defeated Democrat (later Republican convert) James D. Johnson of Conway, the seat of Faulkner County near Little Rock.

Blaylock later became friends with Johnson and Johnson's wife, Virginia Johnson, though, as with Faubus, they were partisan rivals at the time. Rockefeller invited Blaylock into the new administration to reorganize and head the welfare department. At first the welfare board tried to block Blaylock from making appointments, but Attorney General Joe Purcell, a Democrat, issued a ruling that empowered Blaylock, as the department head, to make the personnel selections.

After Rockefeller's defeat for a third term in 1970, Blaylock was replaced as welfare administrator by the newly-elected Governor Dale Bumpers. Technically, Republicans claimed that Blaylock resigned because of harassment from within the Bumpers administration. ["Arkansas Outlook", May 1971] Blaylock then challenged Bumpers for reelection to a second two-year term in 1972, a most formidable undertaking. He had planned to accept a well-compensated position with the former United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in Dallas, but Rockefeller encouraged Blaylock to run for governor.

The gubernatorial campaign of 1972

Blaylock dubbed Bumpers "indecisive" and objected to (1) a tax increase which the governor had steered through the legislature in 1971 and (2) higher state expenditures. Though he had a reputation as an "exceptionally competent administrator" and a man of great loyalty to his supervisors, Blaylock was seen as a "poor campaigner"."Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report", October 7, 1972, p. 2488]

Arkansas political scientist James "Jim" Ranchino (1936-1978) [Social Security Death Index] declared that Blaylock was "not a legitimate candidate" in view of Bumpers' name recognition and general popularity. ["Camden News", Camden, Arkansas, September 2, 1972] Blaylock alleged that Bumpers esoused "widely varying philosophies, depending on the audience or the occasion." ["Camden News", September 8, 1972] Bumpers ignored Blaylock though at one point he told the media that because he was himself running for reelection as governor, he could not take an active part in U.S. Senator George McGovern's presidential campaign. ["The New York Times", August 13, 1972] Bumpers also benefited from the tradition at the time that Arkansas governors usually were given at least a second two-year term to fulfil their promise. An exception to that tradition was former Governor Francis Cherry, who was unseated by Faubus in the 1954 Democratic primary.

The GOP stressed that Blaylock's career had been a success story despite his having dropped out of high school three times before graduating in order to support his family. Afterwards, he enlisted in the Army, made a military career, and began dabbling in Republican politics. ["Arkansas Outlook", March 1972]

The election results were no surprise: Bumpers defeated Blaylock by a 4-1 margin, the worst GOP showing in a decade in Arkansas. Bumpers won all seventy-five counties, 488,892 (75.4 percent) to Blaylock's 159,177 (24.6 percent). Blaylock fared no better than 42.5-percent in predominantly African American Lee County in the eastern part of the state, an area that had remained loyal to Blaylock's mentor, Rockefeller. Even in usually Republican Searcy County, Blaylock received only 40.9 percent of the vote. Bumpers outpolled U.S. President Richard M. Nixon in Arkansas by some 43,000 votes, and Blaylock trailed McGovern by nearly 38,000 ballots.Arkansas Election Statistics, November 1972, Little Rock: Secretary of State]

Blaylock's ticket mates were all defeated too: the veterinarian Wayne H. Babbitt for the U.S. Senate, Ken Coon for lieutenant governor, future U.S. Representative Edwin R. Bethune for attorney general, and Jerry Climer for secretary of state.

U.S. Marshal Blaylock

In 1975, U.S. President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., named Blaylock the U.S. marshal in Little Rock. He succeeded Lynn A. Davis, formerly Rockefeller's choice to head the state police. Davis' reappointment was opposed by outgoing Democratic U.S. Senator John McClellan. ["Arkansas Outlook", February 1975; March 1975] Blaylock held the position until 1978, when President Jimmy Carter replaced him with Bumpers' cousin, the late Charles H. Gray. [List of U.S. marshals for Eastern District of Arkansas:http://www.usdoj.gov/marshals/district/ar-e/general/history.htm]

In 1981, White tried to return Blaylock to the federal marshal's position that Blaylock had held from 1975-1978. Blaylock was recommended for the position once again by the GOP patronage committee. However, U.S. Representative Ed Bethune, Blaylock's ticket-mate in 1972, objected to the replacement of Charles Gray on the grounds that Gray was "one of the top marshals in the country." GOP Chairman Harlan Holleman said that the reappointment of Gray "doesn't help us to build a party . . .My business is building the party, and building strength and patronage is one of the ways to do it." ["Arkansas Gazette", October 23, 1981]

After his time as marshal, Blaylock served from 1979-1990 on the Perryville School Board, including a stint as chairman.

Governor White's appointments secretary

In 1981, Republican Governor Frank White called Blaylock back to state government to be his appointments secretary. Despite the term "appointments secretary", Blaylock was not responsible for scheduling the times for those desiring to meet with the governor, but instead he screened appointments to state office. ["Arkansas Gazette", July 11, 1981, August 4, 1981]

Blaylock's recommendation of Orval Faubus to head veterans' affairs was opposed by such Republicans as former national committeewoman Leona Troxell, but favored by others, such as U.S. Representative John Paul Hammerschmidt of Harrison. In retrospect, Blaylock told an interviewer that White's later hesitancy iregarding the appointment hurt him with long-time Faubus supporters. Blaylock said that the Faubus selection was appropriate because Faubus was exceptionally qualified to hold the position. ["Arkansas Gazette", August 5, 1981]

Blaylock said that White made several errors in his unsuccessful reelection bid in 1982 against Bill Clinton. First, the appointment of a Little Rock physician to the Arkansas Racing Commission was unpopular because the nominee was perceived as "too close" to the racing industry. Secondly, White failed to explain how he had helped truckers with higher weight limits, a particular benefit to the timber industry but opposed by highway safety advocates.

White had initially asked Blaylock to manage the 1980 campaign, but Blaylock declined on grounds that White needed a professional in the role. Instead, he agreed to become a campaign coordinator. The manager selected, Paula Unruh of Tulsa, was not retained in 1982, and her expertise was sorely missed, Blaylock said.

Other political activities

In 1980, Blaylock had supported the presidential campaign of U.S. Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee, who fared poorly in the struggle against Ronald W. Reagan but ran better in Arkansas than in most other states. At one point, Blaylock arranged to unite the Baker and Reagan forces to stop delegates from going to George Herbert Walker Bush of Texas. ["Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report", February 9, 1980, p. 353] In 2004, Blaylock donated to the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign and to the Arkansas state GOP organization. [Political Contributions by Individuals, Perryville, Arkansas:http://www.city-data.com/elec/elec-PERRYVILLE-AR.html]

When William T. Kelly of Little Rock resigned as party chairman after a short period of service in 1985, Blaylock as the first vice-chairman filled the remainder of the two-year term. The period was difficult because party coffers were empty, Blaylock recalled. It was during this time that Blaylock invited U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona to meet with Arkansas Republicans in Little Rock. And 1986 was the year that one of the promising Republican leaders of the future, Asa Hutchinson of Fort Smith, later a member of the United States House of Representatives, was defeated in a bid for the U.S. Senate by a wide margin by the incumbent Dale Bumpers, who secured the third of his four terms. Twenty years later, Hutchinson was crushed by the Democrat Mike Beebe in the 2006 gubernatorial race.

Blaylock and his wife, previous victims of a house fire, reside on their now vastly reduced six-acre farm at Nimrod near Perryville, a part of the Little Rock Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Blaylocks are Southern Baptist and attend the Nimrod Baptist Church.

References