Obituaries

In Memory of
Dale Leon Bumpers
August 12, 1925 - January 1, 2016

Dale Leon Bumpers (August 12, 1925 – January 1, 2016) was 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 was a member of the Democratic Party. Senator Bumpers was most recently counsel at the Washington, D.C. office of law firm Arent Fox LLP, where his clients included Riceland Foods and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Dale Bumpers, a former Arkansas governor and U.S. senator who drew national attention for his defense of Bill Clinton during the president's impeachment trial, has died. His son, Brent Bumpers, says the former lawmaker, who was 90, died Friday night in Little Rock. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Bumpers was a little-known lawyer from Charleston, Ark., when he defeated former Gov. Orval Faubus for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1970, then defeated incumbent Republican Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller in the general election. Four years later he defeated incumbent U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright in the Democratic primary and won the seat.