Governor Benjamin Travis Laney Jr. Papers

Governor Benjamin Travis Laney Jr. Papers



Donated by Phillip Laney, son of Governor Ben T. Laney



Ben T. Laney, Jr. was born on November 25, 1896, on a farm in the Jones Chapel community of Ouachita County, Arkansas. He was one of eleven children of Ben T. Laney, Sr. and Martha Ella (Saxon) Laney. Ben Laney, Sr. was a small farmer, who through hard work and thrift was able to see six of eleven children receive college degrees. According to Governor Laney, his father was frugal by nature and did not spend money he did not have. This familial philosophy of “thrift” eventually made its way into Arkansas Government via Governor Laney’s landmark Revenue Stabilization Act of 1945.



Laney attended public school at Smackover, Arkansas in Union County, but dropped out prior to graduating. However, he did go on to teach a year in rural Ouachita County without the benefit of a high school education. Absent a high school degree, Laney was allowed entrance into Hendrix College in Conway, in 1915, after passing the entrance examination. Laney dropped out of college after one year and began a teaching career. During World War I Laney served in the U.S. Navy, and after the war returned to college, this time at Arkansas State Teachers College in Conway. Laney received an A.B. (equivalent to a B.A.) degree in 1924 from Arkansas State Teachers College, and later did graduate work at Utah University.



In 1925, Mr. Laney and one of his brothers bought a drug store in Conway, Greeson Drug Store, located at the corner of Oak and Front Street. Also, at about this time, Laney went to work in a local bank. He married Miss Lucille Kirtley of Lewisville, Arkansas, in 1926, and they would have three children: Benjamin Travis III, William David, and Phillip.



Good financial would visit the Laney family when oil was discovered on the family farm in 1922. Laney later moved from Conway to Camden where he was involved in the oil business, farming and banking, cotton gins, and grocery and hardware stores. He was elected mayor of Camden in 1935 and held this position until 1939 when he was named to the Arkansas Penitentiary Board of Governor Homer Adkins. Laney’s first experience into state politics came in 1942 when he was active in the campaign of future United States Senator John L. McClellan.



Laney’s opponents in the 1944 Governor’s Democratic Primary race were United States Representative David D. Terry of Little Rock, and former state Comptroller J. Bryan Sims. Laney led the three-way race during the primary with Sims coming in second. Terry threw his support to Laney and Mr. Sims withdrew from the runoff race two days later. This unusual move by Sims gave Laney the Democratic Primary victory, and set up a November general election that Laney easily won against his Republican opponent, H.C. Stump. Laney received 85% of the vote in the general election compared to only 15% for Stump. Laney’s re-election of 1946 was almost as lopsided in the general election with Laney receiving 84% and his Republican opponent, W.T. Mills, receiving 16% of the vote.



When Ben T. Laney ran for governor in 1944 he remarked: “I am not a politician.” Laney emphasized an economic and efficient means of operating state government. He campaigned on the platform that the state should not spend money it doesn’t have. His desire to administer a cost-effective state budget based on economic solvency would culminate in his legislation creating the Revenue Stabilization Act of 1945.



The Revenue Stabilization Act of 1945 is considered by many to be Laney’s greatest achievement and was adopted by many other states. This act allowed for money to be put into a single fund and disbursed as needed to various departments. In addition, the Revenue Stabilization Act prevented the state from becoming involved in deficit spending. The house passed Laney’s bill unanimously while the senate only had negative vote.



Governor Laney did not seek a third term in 1948, and chose to become very involved in the issue of states’ rights. Laney became chairman of the States’ Rights Democrats, also known as the Dixiecrats. This body of states rights proponents was made up of governors and leaders from several southern states. The States’ Rights Democrats were in disagreement with President Harry Truman over his speech on civil-rights that he delivered to Congress on February 2, 1948. Laney, and the other States’ Rights Democrats, felt changes in American society should originate with the individual states and not with the federal government.



Laney would run a third time for governor when he challenged Governor Sidney Sanders McMath in 1950. Laney’s campaign slogan was: Let’s Re-Elect Ben Laney Governor, for a Second Time. He lost the election to McMath but remained active in politics and the states’ rights cause. In 1969 Laney was a delegate to the Arkansas Constitutional Convention and was a member of the finance and taxation committee.



In the 1960’s former Governor Laney managed the rice farms of Winthrop Rockefeller and spent time looking after his own business affairs in south Arkansas. He died of a heart attack on January 21, 1977, and was buried in Camden Memorial Cemetery.