This time of isolation as we attempt to protect ourselves and others in a pandemic provides ample opportunity to reflect on this and other uncertain times. Taking a desultory journey through a box of old records, I came across a newspaper clipping that sent me five decades back.
It was coverage of a day in the 1963 legislative session, and I had written it. As part of my duties as assistant editor of the Hendrix Profile, frequently that spring I sprinted from my last morning class to the bus station in Conway and rode an hour into Little Rock to cover the session. Hence, I got to witness firsthand the antics of such colorful characters as Guy “Mutt” Jones, the five-foot-tall (in cowboy boots) demagogue from Conway, Gov. Orval (“just because I said it doesn’t make it so”) Faubus, and Perry County’s legendary representative, Paul Van Dalsem.
It was Van Dalsem that intrigued me, perhaps because I have roots in Perry County. A fixture in and around the Arkansas Legislature for almost 40 years, Van Dalsem’s skills at machine politics, backroom deals, and public political brawls were commonplace, feared, and effective. His style was evidenced in this quote, recorded by Robert Thompson in the Arkansas Historical Quarterly: “A lot of these legislators try to keep out of controversy. I thrive on controversy. I’m the best hell-raiser that’s ever been in the legislature. If I figure I’m not smart enough to get something, I’ll raise enough hell until I get what I want.”
It wasn’t until he underestimated the times and made a statement to the Optimist Club of Little Rock in 1963 that his fortunes began to change. It is a comment, reported in the Arkansas Gazette, that became lodged in the craws and minds of Arkansas women ever since.
Asked about the actions of the American Association of University Women’s lobbying for election reform, he tossed off this reply: “We don’t have any of these university women in Perry County, but I’ll tell you what we do up there when one of our women starts poking around in something she doesn’t know anything about. We get her an extra milk cow. If that don’t work, we give her a little more garden to tend to. And then if that’s not enough, we get her pregnant and keep her barefoot.”
Reading this even now, I can’t help thinking of my university-educated cousin, who in 1963 had several milk cows and drove a school bus over icy county roads on her way to and from her classroom at Perryville High School.
In 1965 reapportionment on federal court order placed Van Dalsem’s district with more populous Pulaski County, where apparently there WERE more vocal university women, and Van Dalsem was defeated in 1966. According to his obituary, many women showed up to vote against him in their bare feet.
Hold on, though. Van Dalsem’s story, and the point of this narrative, does not end there. Between 1966 and 1971, Van Dalsem continued to be very active in the legislature. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, he took advantage of a House rule allowing former members on the floor, continuing to run bills he supported and opposing others. In 1972, he was re-elected to the House and to a remarkable opportunity.
On March 22, 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was passed and sent to the states for ratification. Arkansas women began lobbying on behalf of the amendment that year, led by Alice Glover of Little Rock and Margie Ann Chapman of Quitman. In 1974, Pat Johnson organized an Arkansas chapter of the National Organization of Women, and the Arkansas General Assembly first considered the issue of ratification in 1975, in the light of the publicity surrounding a debate between ERA supporter Diane Kincaid (Blair) and Phyllis Schlafly, national champion of the opposition.
Despite all efforts, the proposal in support of ratification never made it out of the State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee that year. However, one vocal advocate in the committee who voted for passage was none other than Representative Paul Van Dalsem. Although the ERA ratification would come up again in 1977 (the State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee passed it out, where it was promptly buried in the Rules Committee), Paul Van Dalsem was not a part of that vote. He had been defeated again in 1976.
Van Dalsem’s vote reminds me to never assume the vote until the lever is pushed. In his words, we’ll “raise hell until we get what we want.”
Dana Steward is a retired teacher who lives in Sherwood.