Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and US Senator, dies at 90

Bumpers, a former Arkansas governor and US senator who earned the nickname “giant killer” for taking down incumbents, and who later gave a passionate speech defending Bill Clinton during the president’s impeachment trial, died Friday, Jan. 1, 2016, in Little Rock, Ark. Dale Bumpers, a former Arkansas governor and USA senator, has died at age 90, the state’s current governor said on Saturday.

Bumpers had been in failing health for months. In December he suffered a broken hip in a fall at his home. J. William Fulbright in a Democratic primary, and went on to win the U.S. Senate seat.

Bumpers served as the 38th Governor of Arkansas from 1971 to 1975, and then in the US Senate from 1975 till 1999.

Just weeks after retiring from the Senate, Bumpers was part of Clinton’s legal team fighting impeachment. He would later say he believed his best chance at winning the presidency had been in 1976, when Democratic former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter won the White House. “Funny as all get-out and could talk an owl out of a tree”, another Arkansas politician, former President Bill Clinton, once observed.

“Dale Bumpers was a larger than life figure in Arkansas politics who was highly respected in Washington D.C. and here at home”.

“You can take some comfort, colleagues, in the fact that I’m not being paid”.

“Dale Bumpers gave me my start in public service and remained my dear friend and mentor throughout the decades that followed”.

“There’s a total lack of proportionality, a total lack of balance in this thing. The charge and the punishment are totally out of sync”, Bumpers told a rapt audience on the Senate floor.

Bumpers offered no apologies or excuses for Clinton’s behavior, saying it was “indefensible, outrageous, unforgivable, shameless”. He also described the suffering endured by First Lady Hillary Clinton and the couple’s 18-year-old daughter, Chelsea.

“An elite public speaker, Dale’s passion for good policy and responsible government brought opponents to common ground and inspired the detached to become involved citizens”, Beebe said in a statement released on Saturday.

Bumpers’ closing speech for Clinton’s defense team was credited with strongly buttressing Clinton’s cause.

After the Senate’s vote, Clinton was acquitted of both charges on February 12.

Gaining a law degree from Northwestern University in Chicago, in 1951, Bumpers was admitted to the Arkansas bar in 1952, according to his Senate biography. “As governor, Bumpers pressured legislators for an increase in the personal income tax in order to raise teachers” salaries and succeeded in securing free textbooks for high school students. The university renamed the college in honor of his four years of service as Arkansas governor and 24 years of service to the U.S. Senate.