Defining Moments: Historic Decisions by Arkansas Governors from McMath through Huckabee

FRANK WHITE: 1981-1983

 FRANK WHITE 1981–1983 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves . . . , but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. —JAMES 1:22, 25, KING JAMES BIBLE To Governor Frank White, the issue was an easy one. “Hey, it’s fair,” you could hear him say. “You teach evolution, you teach creation science.” Reduced down to a question of balanced teaching and a structural, managerial approach, White was at ease with his commitment to allow both to be taught in the public schools. The commitment had been made after his campaign against incumbent Bill Clinton and during his early days as governor . He knew that a creation-science bill providing that both would be taught had fervent support, especially with certain Christians in northwestern Arkansas but, in truth, throughout the state. White saw no problem with it. Frank White was a born-again Christian, largely due to his devout second wife, Gay Daniels White, whom he married in  and who brought him into the fold. In a  interview, Gay White explained: “God has used me in Frank’s life. . . . Frank Frank White, . Personal photograph of his widow, Gay White. tried my approach to life and found it appealing. . . . He knows now God loves him. . . . He reads the Bible and believes it is the word of God.”1 White was more than willing to be saved. The Christianity practiced at Gay’s church,Fellowship Bible in Little Rock,a nondenominational church, gave him a strict creed and routine to follow.Each day,he and Gay prayed together and read scripture.2 His faith became the center and most important thing in his life. Hence, it was no surprise that on election night, November , , when he declared victory over Bill Clinton, he announced it was “a victory for the Lord.”3 Heartfelt, steadfast, and sincere, the statement typified the ebullient, boisterous, and blunt FrankWhite,who spoke often without a full understanding of the potential fallout from his words or how his statement might be received. His widow, Gay, now says White was too honest and candid to be a politician. He had too much integrity, she says.4 Nevertheless, his “victory” statement illustrated how once he accepted the faith, he did not hesitate to voice his beliefs for all “with ears to hear.” He found that he would spend the next three months explaining what he meant by his “victory” comment. It was apparently during his campaign against Bill Clinton in  that he was first approached by his friend and campaign worker Carl Hunt to support a creation-science bill that mandated equal time for teaching creation science so long as evolution was taught.5 Evolution was easily defined, dating back to Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species, first published in ,setting forth the doctrine of natural selection.The creationists advanced a more instantaneous creation rather than one that evolved over millions of years and, according to some, one more akin to the Genesis depiction of a six-day event.White agreed that equal time should be afforded to both evolution and creation science. A model bill FRANK WHITE  developed by the Creation Science Research Center, which provided that creation science be taught if evolutionary science was taught, was quickly introduced in the  regular session of the General Assembly. The bill, Senate Bill , was sponsored by Senator Jim Holsted of Little Rock, a supporter of creationism, and passed the Senate by a hasty vote of twenty-two to two. In the House, Representative Cliff Hoofman knew his obligation was to shepherd the bill of Senator Holsted, who was “his senator,” through that body. He did so, and the bill passed the House by a vote of sixty-nine to eighteen.It now sat before Frank White on his desk. It was not a lengthy piece of legislation—only six pages. What it did was define evolutionary science and creation science and call for a balanced approach to teaching both “sciences.” It specifically stated in the body of the bill that the legislation in no wise should be deemed a mandate for the teaching of religion. As Frank White gazed down at the bill, he knew the moment of truth had arrived. His legal aides, Bill Bethea and Linda Garner, had told him about the bill, and he was well aware that the bill was not without...