Statesmen, Scoundrels, and Eccentrics: A Gallery of Amazing Arkansans

Rep. Clyde T. Ellis

Rep. Clyde T. Ellis Clyde T.Ellis did as much as any single individual to advance Arkansas: he can be given credit for bringing electricity to the state’s vast rural areas.Harvey Couch,the visionary founder of Arkansas Power & Light Company, built his business by providing electricity to residents of more densely settled areas where return on investment was much higher. Ellis was ready and waiting when the New Deal’s rural electrification program came on the scene. Born in Benton County in , Ellis grew up on a farm near Garfield.In his later years,Ellis recalled Garfield as a “fine community” with two doctors, a drug store, bank, depot, two garages, cafés, several stores, an elementary school, and a high school. After attending the University of Arkansas,he was employed as a teacher and superintendent of schools in Garfield. His unsuccessful efforts to get electricity for the school caused him to become a crusader for extending electrical power to rural areas. In  Ellis won election to theArkansas House of Representatives, and two years later he was elected to the state senate. He immediately introduced and secured passage of legislation to create a rural electrification program in Arkansas through the use of cooperatives. Only  percent of American farms had electrical power in ,and the power companies were reluctant to sink the vast sums needed to extend electrical transmission lines to rural areas. Ellis recalled in his autobiography, “Those of us who experienced what really happened . . . know, first hand, of the sheer arrogance of utility executives in their dealings with rural people. I remember it well in my own state of Arkansas. I can remember the trips I made with my father to what is now the Southwestern Electric Power Company office [where] he literally pleaded with them to build lines into the hill country where we lived.” Buoyed by his success at the state level, Ellis ran for Congress in  as a New Deal Democrat. After a campaign of  speeches, he  defeated incumbent Congressman Claude Fuller by fewer than  votes. While he had an interest in a variety of reform initiatives, his passion remained rural electrification. Working closely with such powerful congressmen as Lyndon Johnson of Texas and George W. Norris of Nebraska, Ellis pushed for the development of hydroelectric plants. He was able to amend the Flood Control Act of  to get hydroelectric generation capacity included in flood-control dams being built along the White River. These were among the early hydroelectric plants built under federal legislation. Ellis and his New Deal allies were much less successful in creating an Arkansas River equivalent of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Arkansas Power & Light Company worked through U.S.Senate Majority Leader Joe T. Robinson to keep the federal government out of power production in Arkansas. Having grown up near the Pea Ridge Civil War battlefield, Ellis worked for years to have it recognized as a national park. Though his efforts failed, the park was authorized in  with the support of his successor, Congressman James Trimble. In  Ellis entered the race for the U.S.Senate,but he was defeated by former Congressman John L.McClellan.He was then appointed general manager of the new National Rural Electric CooperativeAssociation (NRECA), a nonprofit group that promoted public power. He named Arkansas attorney Thomas B. Fitzhugh as NRECA legal counsel. For the next twenty-five years Ellis used the NRECA to promote public utilities, frequently advocating consumer needs over corporate interests. The NRECA was especially crucial in organizing political support for the Federal Rural Electrification Administration (REA). His contacts in Congress were crucial to his success, with Lyndon Johnson and Sam Reyburn being especially supportive. Ellis had the opportunity to be at his parent’s farm in  when their home was electrified. He recalled later that though the lights glowed dimly, his mother wept with happiness. In addition to lights, electricity made possible running water, refrigeration, radio, and a multitude of conveniences that transformed daily life—especially for women. In ,shortly before his retirement,Ellis published a memoir titled Rep. Clyde T. Ellis  A Giant Step (Random House). He died in . A World War II Navy veteran, he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.When an electrical power generating station on theArkansas River was built at Barling in , it was named for Ellis, an honor that would undoubtedly have brought a broad smile to Clyde T. Ellis...