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EIGHT. Race, Sex, and Queer Renegotiated
- University of Arkansas Press
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EIGHT Race, Sex, and Queer Renegotiated O n an early morning campaign stop, supporters for Democratic gubernatorial candidate “Justice Jim” Johnson broke out in song. The rich man from the mountain With all of his grace, His boots made of leather and His panties of lace, With his greedy grin all over his face, His hunger for power that’s Held in his paw Reaches for the state of Arkansas.1 Johnson, a strict segregationist and one of the nastier figures to come out of Arkansas politics, faced a tough fight in the 1966 governor’s race. It was the first governor’s race after the Faubus era, a governor’s race still well within the long shadow of Central High. The unthinkable was about to happen. The man of boots of leather and panties of lace, the rich man from the mountain, Winthrop Rockefeller, was close to becoming the first Republican governor since Reconstruction. Arkansas Democrats were worried; they had, after all, enjoyed what was essentially a one-party state political system since Reconstruction had ended some eighty years before. The well-heeled Rockefeller, grandson of John D. Rockefeller, oil tycoon and one of America’s great robber-baron multimillionaires, had come to Arkansas in the mid-fifties bringing with him no real political ambitions but hardly escaping his New York playboy image. Rumors of his possible sub rosa East Coast homosexuality soon followed him. Rockefellerpurchasedextensivefarmlandsandmadehishomeatopscenic 89 Petit Jean Mountain just outside of tiny Morrilton, Arkansas. Once there, rumors continued to spread. Some hinted that his mountain retreat was in actuality a haven for his rumored alcoholism and his vast stockpiles of pornography.2 Despite these accusations, it was not long before he was beckoned into the state spotlight by then-governor Faubus. Anxious to use the Rockefeller name and Winthrop’s connections for the betterment of Arkansas, Faubus appointed him to the newly created Arkansas Industrial Development Commission. All in all, Rockefellerand the commission prospered from one another. The state, so desperate to industrialize after the Second World War, added almost a hundred thousand new industrial jobs under Rockefeller’s leadership, and Rockefeller became increasingly concerned with the state’s further economic progress.3 Along the way Rockefeller developed his own political ambitions. When Faubus suddenly announced his retirement from public office in 1966, Rockefeller again set his sights on the governor’s office. In 1964 he had run for governor and lost, though he did take an impressive 43 percent of the vote, a notable feat for a Republican candidate and an out-ofstater . Rockefeller spent the time after his first campaign shoring up support of state Republicans, who saw their first real chance at a state office in years, and moderate Democrats disenchanted with the Faubus machine and the national embarrassment it engendered. As he had for some time, Rockefeller continued to actively court African American voters , promising increasing access to the political process. A long and vicious battle ensued for the Faubus Democratic heir. From the Democratic primary election emerged “Justice Jim” Johnson, a race-baiter and the man considered by many to have pushed Faubus, whom he deemed Arkansas’s “nigger lover,” into the national showdown outside of Central High. Johnson had a formidable opponent in Rockefeller and immediately set out to discredit him on the grounds of his sexuality. Johnson had labeled Rockefeller as the “prissy sissy” and “winsome Winnie” since his days as head of the Industrial Development Commission.4 In 1955, in Arkansas Faith, Johnson’s newsletter for his group the White Citizens Council,Johnson’saccusationsastoRockefeller’ssexualitywereextremely subtle but always called to mind the burning and irrevocably linked issues of race and sexuality. When he moved to Arkansas, Rockefeller brought his trusted aide, a black man named James E. Hudson, to run his ranch operations. 90 RACE, SEX, AND QUEER RENEGOTIATED [44.197.114.92] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 12:43 GMT) Johnson’s publications described Hudson as a “wiry, balding negro who has been Winthrop’s right hand man since the two first teamed up as young men in New York City eighteen years ago.”5 The publication states that Hudson was afforded so much respect and responsibility from Rockefeller that locals went along, “granting him a courtesy all too rare in most southern states.” The Arkansas Faith further reported, “They called him ‘Mister.’” From that point Johnson would do more than hint at the nature of their relationship. The rumor that Rockefeller “sodomized black men” was now added...