Old State House Biography of Ben Laney

Benjamin Travis Laney, Jr.
(1945-1949)


From the collection of the Old State House Museum
Laney, born at Cooterneck in Ouachita County in 1896, was one of eleven children. He entered Hendrix College in 1915, where he was an honor student, but left before graduating to join the Navy. After the war, he earned a degree from Arkansas Teachers College in Conway and briefly attended graduate school at the University of Utah. After the discovery of oil on the family farm, Laney established himself in Camden where he engaged in farming, banking and various other enterprises in addition to the oil business. In 1925, he married Lucile Kirtley of Lewisville, Arkansas. They had three sons.

Although Laney had become mayor of Camden in 1935, he was virtually a political unknown when announced for governor in 1944. He ran on the on the slogan: "I am not a politician" in a heated three-way primary contest against State Comptroller J. Bryan Sims and U. S. Representative David D. Terry. Both Laney and Terry concentrated their attacks on Sims, who was the front runner, charging him with using the State Police to the benefit of his campaign. Laney's contention that this amounted to "Gestapo tactics" struck a chord in 1944. Laney polled 38.5% of the vote, outdistancing Sims by only 7,500 votes. On the eve of the run-off, Sims suddenly withdrew causing many to speculate on behind-the-scene manipulations by Homer Adkins.

Chief among Laney's legislative programs in 1945 was his Revenue Stabilization Plan designed to pay off the state's outstanding debt, balance the budget, and protect Arkansas finances against future recessions. Despite predictions that the proposal was far too sensible ever to be adopted by the Arkansas General Assembly, the measure passed both houses with only one dissenting vote. Laney also signed Arkansas's "right to work" amendment barring closed union shops, a measure pushed in Arkansas by the Christian America Association, a Texas-based conservative organization.

Although a political outsider, Laney stunned veteran political observers with his ability to control the legislature. This stemmed in part from his lack of identification with any political faction and from his willingness to spend long hours cultivating legislators in order to get passed that he favored.

Evidence of Laney's political savvy was his handling of the so-called "GI revolt," led by reform-minded veterans returning from the war who sought to fight their way into the local Democratic committee in Hot Springs. While Laney was forced to assign state troopers to some polling places to prevent violence in 1946, he managed to avoid being associated with either rebels or the party machine.

Laney faced another challenge in the 1947 session in the form of the self-styled "economic bloc," a group of fiscal conservatives from rural districts who tended to oppose any measure which did not directly benefit their constituents. This group initially opposed three measures Laney supported: the building of the Governor's mansion and War Memorial Stadium, and the restoration of the Old State House. All three eventually passed, however, with scarcely a hint of opposition.

Laney declined to run again for governor in 1948, turning his attention instead to national politics. The occasion was Truman's civil-rights message to Congress in February of that year which attempted to address racial discrimination in the United States. Laney joined the forces opposed to federal civil rights legislation and figured prominently in the third party movement known as the "Dixiecrats," serving for a time as their chairman.

Angered by Sid McMath's opposition to the Dixiecrats, Laney vowed to unseat him in 1950. In a campaign marred by race-baiting, Laney lost by a margin of 2-to-1.

Laney died in January of 1977.