Jefferson W. Speck
Encyclopedia
Jefferson W. Speck was a planter
and business
man from Mississippi County, Arkansas
, who was the Republican
gubernatorial nominee in 1950 and again in 1952. He was a leader in the Dwight D. Eisenhower
faction
of his party in Arkansas during the early 1950s.
in eastern Arkansas. He graduated in 1939 from Georgia Institute of Technology
in Atlanta
, Georgia
, with a degree in electrical
, mechanical
, and civil engineering
.
captain during World War II
, Speck was among more than 1,600 prisoners captured and taken aboard the Japan
ese passenger ship Oryoku Maru
, a Hell ship
. The men as a whole suffered from dysentery
and other tropical diseases as well as hunger from the meager rations provided by their captors. The thirst and hunger caused many to undergo fits of insanity. Some even bit the fingers of other prisoners for a taste of blood to satisfy thirst. The men were forced to swim from the Oryoku Maru to the POW camp at Olongapo Naval Base, where they endured the last months of the war.
, a partisan of U.S. President Harry Truman. The former Arkansas Gazette said that Speck waged "an extensive and vigorous campaign for a Republican in historically Democratic
Arkansas." Speck's repeated calls for a debate with McMath went unanswered.
A Republican advertisement blamed the one-party system in Arkansas for the continued population losses in the state. "Our state government is loaded with cheap -- wanton waste. We have a real mess on our hands that can only be cleaned up by voting for Mr. Speck," declared a GOP
advertisement. Speck claimed that every vote McMath received would be interpreted as a "green light to Truman socialism."
Most voters paid little attention to the McMath-Speck contest, with attention instead focused on a state constitutional amendment. McMath polled 266,778 votes (84.1 percent) to Speck's 50,303 (15.9 percent). In site of Speck's meager showing, his total was the largest raw vote ever polled to date by a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arkansas.
of Jonesboro
, who had unseated McMath in the Democratic primary. Cherry was an active campaigner for the Democratic presidential nominee, Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois. Cherry described Stevenson as "the ablest and cleanest candidate for whom I have had the privilege to vote in my lifetime."The Arkansas Gazette endorsed Stevenson and warned that a Republican victory could cost the southern states congressional committee chairmanships. The newspaper also claimed that Eisenhower was not politically independent but "irrevocably chained to the Republican Party and to its powerful leaders, most of whom follow the line laid down by Robert A. Taft."
Speck's name was omitted in most party literature, which stressed the Eisenhower/Nixon ticket. Speck launched his campaign in Paragould
but made only sporadic, unpublicized appearances. After Eisenhower was nominated at the 1952 Republican National Convention
over the U.S. Senator Robert Taft of Ohio
, Speck was quoted as having said that he would be the "real governor" if Eisenhower were elected because he could then as titular head
of the Arkansas party made patronage recommendations. Such party stalwarts as chairman Osro Cobb and national committeeman Wallace Townsend criticized Speck for his comment, reflecting lingering Eisenhower-Taft divisions within the state party.
An early Eisenhower supporter, Speck was nominated for governor at the state convention in Little Rock when a more prominent Republican declined to step forward. The Arkansas Gazette remarked that the "slam-bang presidential campaign in the state still failed to raise the gubernatorial contest from its usual lethargic tempo in Democratic Arkansas." Two other Republicans ran with Speck, Lee Reynolds of Conway
and George W. Johnson of Greenwood
, who sought the positions of lieutenant governor
and attorney general
, respectively.
Speck received 49,292 votes (12.6 percent), compared to Cherry's 342,292 (87.4 percent). He ran nearly a thousand votes behind his 1950 showing against McMath.
Few Arkansas Democratic leaders openly supported Eisenhower, but Mrs. John Hackett, a member of the Democratic State Central Committee from Little Rock, endorsed the presidential ticket. Republicans relied heavily on the "Democrats-For-Eisenhower" committee in view of the small GOP organization. Chairman Osro Cobb predicted that Eisenhower might come "within a few thousand votes" of victory in Arkansas. An Arkansas Republican advertisement claimed that an Eisenhower victory would mean the end of the Korean War
, the "restoration of honesty" in Washington, D.C.
, and the recovery of "international respect." The GOP urged voters to "put loyalty to country first and vote Republican."
, Virginia, and Florida:
"I have made two races for governor against overwhelming odds and with practically no support from the leaders of the Republican Party. In my opinion, the Republican Party will never fully develop and take its place in Arkansas politics under its present leadership [Cobb and Townsend]. . . The same tired old men -- old in ideas, old in hopes -- will still keep a death grip on southern Republicanism."
Speck called upon Cobb and Townsend to resign their party positions. Cobb labeled the call "an impulsive move in the aftermath of defeat." Speck's hopes of serving as a "patronage governor" under Eisenhower never materialized, as Townsend served as the Arkansas patronage advisor to the national administration.
In 1954, though still a Republican, Speck refused to support the party's gubernatorial nominee, Little Rock Mayor
Pratt Remmel and instead urged the election of the Democrat Orval Faubus. Remmel polled the largest Republican vote for governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction.
(1890–1973), a stockbroker from Little Rock
, who retired to Plant City
, Florida
. The Specks moved to Florida in 1961 and resided in Grant, Florida, from 1975–1988, having previously lived in Satellite Beach
, both in Brevard County
.
Speck was an engineer in the Apollo manned space flight program. He was named director of the tracking station on Ascension Island. Speck was residing in Kerrville
, Texas
, at the time of his death at the age of seventy-six, some five years after his wife's passing in Grant, Florida. The couple had three children, Jefferson D. Speck, Russell M. Speck, and Rose Aline Roach. Rose works in Brevard County as a licensed clinical social worker and is married to James T. Roach, a documentation engineer with Lockheed Martin
.
Sowing
Sowing is the process of planting seeds.-Plants which are usually sown:Among the major field crops, oats, wheat, and rye are sowed, grasses and legumes are seeded, and maize and soybeans are planted...
and business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
man from Mississippi County, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, who was the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
gubernatorial nominee in 1950 and again in 1952. He was a leader in the Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
faction
Political faction
A political faction is a grouping of individuals, such as a political party, a trade union, or other group with a political purpose. A faction or political party may include fragmented sub-factions, “parties within a party," which may be referred to as power blocs, or voting blocs. The individuals...
of his party in Arkansas during the early 1950s.
Background
Speck was from Frenchman's Bayou, located near the Mississippi RiverMississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
in eastern Arkansas. He graduated in 1939 from Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
in Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, with a degree in electrical
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
, mechanical
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
, and civil engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
.
Prisoner of war
In the fall of 1944, as a 27-year-old United States ArmyUnited States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
captain during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Speck was among more than 1,600 prisoners captured and taken aboard the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese passenger ship Oryoku Maru
Oryoku Maru
was a Japanese passenger cargo ship. In World War II, Oryoku Maru was used as a troop transport and prisoners of war transport ship . She left Manila on December 13, 1944, with 1620 POWs, mostly American, packed in the holds. 1900 Japanese civilians & military personnel occupied the cabins...
, a Hell ship
Hell Ship
A hell ship is a ship with extremely unpleasant living conditions or with a reputation for cruelty among the crew. It now generally refers to the ships used by the Imperial Japanese Navy to transport Allied prisoners of war out of the Philippines, Hong Kong and Singapore during World War II. The...
. The men as a whole suffered from dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
and other tropical diseases as well as hunger from the meager rations provided by their captors. The thirst and hunger caused many to undergo fits of insanity. Some even bit the fingers of other prisoners for a taste of blood to satisfy thirst. The men were forced to swim from the Oryoku Maru to the POW camp at Olongapo Naval Base, where they endured the last months of the war.
Election of 1950
At thirty-three, Speck in 1950 challenged the reelection of Governor Sid McMathSid McMath
Sidney Sanders McMath was a decorated U.S. Marine, attorney and the 34th Governor of Arkansas who, in defiance of his state's political establishment, championed rapid rural electrification, massive highway and school construction, the building of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences,...
, a partisan of U.S. President Harry Truman. The former Arkansas Gazette said that Speck waged "an extensive and vigorous campaign for a Republican in historically Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Arkansas." Speck's repeated calls for a debate with McMath went unanswered.
A Republican advertisement blamed the one-party system in Arkansas for the continued population losses in the state. "Our state government is loaded with cheap -- wanton waste. We have a real mess on our hands that can only be cleaned up by voting for Mr. Speck," declared a GOP
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
advertisement. Speck claimed that every vote McMath received would be interpreted as a "green light to Truman socialism."
Most voters paid little attention to the McMath-Speck contest, with attention instead focused on a state constitutional amendment. McMath polled 266,778 votes (84.1 percent) to Speck's 50,303 (15.9 percent). In site of Speck's meager showing, his total was the largest raw vote ever polled to date by a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arkansas.
Campaign 1952
In 1952, Speck faced Francis CherryFrancis Cherry
Francis Adams Cherry was the 35th Governor of Arkansas, elected as a Democrat for a single two-year term from 1953 to 1955. He was only the second governor in Arkansas history to have been denied a second term—the first was Tom Jefferson Terral, who was defeated in 1926. After the...
of Jonesboro
Jonesboro, Arkansas
Jonesboro is a city in and one of the two county seats of Craighead County, Arkansas, United States. According to the 2010 US Census, the population of the city was 67,263. A college town, Jonesboro is the largest city in northeastern Arkansas and the fifth most populous city in the state...
, who had unseated McMath in the Democratic primary. Cherry was an active campaigner for the Democratic presidential nominee, Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois. Cherry described Stevenson as "the ablest and cleanest candidate for whom I have had the privilege to vote in my lifetime."The Arkansas Gazette endorsed Stevenson and warned that a Republican victory could cost the southern states congressional committee chairmanships. The newspaper also claimed that Eisenhower was not politically independent but "irrevocably chained to the Republican Party and to its powerful leaders, most of whom follow the line laid down by Robert A. Taft."
Speck's name was omitted in most party literature, which stressed the Eisenhower/Nixon ticket. Speck launched his campaign in Paragould
Paragould, Arkansas
-Health & Education:Paragould is home to Arkansas State University Paragould, Arkansas Northeastern College, Black River Technical College, and Crowley's Ridge College. Paragould has two public school districts, the Greene County Technical School District and the Paragould School District, as well...
but made only sporadic, unpublicized appearances. After Eisenhower was nominated at the 1952 Republican National Convention
1952 Republican National Convention
The 1952 Republican National Convention was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois from July 7 to July 11, 1952 and nominated the popular general and war hero Dwight D...
over the U.S. Senator Robert Taft of Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, Speck was quoted as having said that he would be the "real governor" if Eisenhower were elected because he could then as titular head
Titular head
A titular ruler, or titular head, is a person in an official position of leadership who possesses few, if any, actual powers. Sometimes a person may inhabit a position of titular leadership and yet exercise more power than would normally be expected, as a result of their personality or experience...
of the Arkansas party made patronage recommendations. Such party stalwarts as chairman Osro Cobb and national committeeman Wallace Townsend criticized Speck for his comment, reflecting lingering Eisenhower-Taft divisions within the state party.
An early Eisenhower supporter, Speck was nominated for governor at the state convention in Little Rock when a more prominent Republican declined to step forward. The Arkansas Gazette remarked that the "slam-bang presidential campaign in the state still failed to raise the gubernatorial contest from its usual lethargic tempo in Democratic Arkansas." Two other Republicans ran with Speck, Lee Reynolds of Conway
Conway, Arkansas
Conway is the county seat of Faulkner County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 58,908 at the 2010 census, making Conway the seventh most populous city in Arkansas. It is a principal city of the Little Rock–North Little Rock–Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area which had...
and George W. Johnson of Greenwood
Greenwood, Arkansas
Greenwood is a city in and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County, Arkansas, United States, perhaps best known locally for its Arkansas high school football...
, who sought the positions of lieutenant governor
Lieutenant governor
A lieutenant governor or lieutenant-governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction, but is often the deputy or lieutenant to or ranking under a governor — a "second-in-command"...
and attorney general
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
, respectively.
Speck received 49,292 votes (12.6 percent), compared to Cherry's 342,292 (87.4 percent). He ran nearly a thousand votes behind his 1950 showing against McMath.
Few Arkansas Democratic leaders openly supported Eisenhower, but Mrs. John Hackett, a member of the Democratic State Central Committee from Little Rock, endorsed the presidential ticket. Republicans relied heavily on the "Democrats-For-Eisenhower" committee in view of the small GOP organization. Chairman Osro Cobb predicted that Eisenhower might come "within a few thousand votes" of victory in Arkansas. An Arkansas Republican advertisement claimed that an Eisenhower victory would mean the end of the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, the "restoration of honesty" in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and the recovery of "international respect." The GOP urged voters to "put loyalty to country first and vote Republican."
Speck in retrospect
After his defeat, Speck resigned from the Arkansas Republican State Central Committee, having deplored that the party offered him only $1,400 in campaign assistance in 1952. Speck analyzed the still bleak Republican prospects in the South even though Eisenhower won in Texas, TennesseeTennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, Virginia, and Florida:
"I have made two races for governor against overwhelming odds and with practically no support from the leaders of the Republican Party. In my opinion, the Republican Party will never fully develop and take its place in Arkansas politics under its present leadership [Cobb and Townsend]. . . The same tired old men -- old in ideas, old in hopes -- will still keep a death grip on southern Republicanism."
Speck called upon Cobb and Townsend to resign their party positions. Cobb labeled the call "an impulsive move in the aftermath of defeat." Speck's hopes of serving as a "patronage governor" under Eisenhower never materialized, as Townsend served as the Arkansas patronage advisor to the national administration.
In 1954, though still a Republican, Speck refused to support the party's gubernatorial nominee, Little Rock Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
Pratt Remmel and instead urged the election of the Democrat Orval Faubus. Remmel polled the largest Republican vote for governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction.
Personal
Speck was married to the former Kilene Davies (February 23, 1921 – February 27, 1988), daughter of the former Aline Lower and Fulham Fairchild DaviesFulham Davies
Fulham Fairchild Davies, known as Ki Davies , was an Arkansas businessman who in 1923 opened the Merrill Lynch office in Little Rock...
(1890–1973), a stockbroker from Little Rock
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
, who retired to Plant City
Plant City, Florida
Plant City is a city in Hillsborough County, Florida, in the United States, approximately midway between Brandon and Lakeland along Interstate 4. The population was 34,721 at the 2010 census....
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. The Specks moved to Florida in 1961 and resided in Grant, Florida, from 1975–1988, having previously lived in Satellite Beach
Satellite Beach, Florida
Satellite Beach is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 9,577 at the 2000 census. As of 2005, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 9,811. It is part of the Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, both in Brevard County
Brevard County, Florida
Brevard County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the population is 536,521, making it the 10th most populous county in the state. Influenced by the presence of the John F. Kennedy Space Center, Brevard...
.
Speck was an engineer in the Apollo manned space flight program. He was named director of the tracking station on Ascension Island. Speck was residing in Kerrville
Kerrville, Texas
Kerrville is a city in Kerr County, Texas, United States. The population was 20,425 at the 2000 census. In 2009, the population was 22,826...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, at the time of his death at the age of seventy-six, some five years after his wife's passing in Grant, Florida. The couple had three children, Jefferson D. Speck, Russell M. Speck, and Rose Aline Roach. Rose works in Brevard County as a licensed clinical social worker and is married to James T. Roach, a documentation engineer with Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....
.