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

Rep. Claude A. Fuller

Rep. Claude A. Fuller No single man changed the face of north Arkansas, but Congressman Claude A. Fuller of Eureka Springs certainly had a major impact through his support of damming rivers. Fuller, while a member of Congress during the s,secured approval of legislation that created a string of huge lakes along the White River in north Arkansas. The lakes, however, are merely the most obvious of Fuller’s endeavors; he was a political power for much of his life, a businessman with broad interests, and a popular member of the community. Claude Albert Fuller was born January , , in Springhill, Illinois, but his father moved the family to Eureka Springs to work as a carpenter while Claude was still a child. He attended the public schools in Eureka Springs before studying for two years at Kent College of Law in Chicago. After two more years of reading law in Eureka Springs, Fuller was admitted to the bar in . During all those years Fuller worked at a variety of jobs, including shining shoes and driving a mule-drawn streetcar.Symbolic of his general success,he later owned the streetcar company. The same year Fuller was admitted to the bar, he was elected city clerk of Eureka Springs—the first of many political positions he held over a long life.In  he was elected as a Democrat to the state House of Representatives, where he served through . As a leading legislator , young Fuller participated in hearings on the state penitentiary, and he helped draft legislation to reform the agency. In  Fuller was elected mayor of Eureka Springs, a post he held until , and then again during –. He worked hard to extend the city water and sewerage systems, and he also helped build a new courthouse. During his second period as mayor, he oversaw construction of a city auditorium, a historic structure that still functions. Perhaps the citizens of Eureka Springs most appreciated Fuller’s efforts to pave the city streets for the first time.After two terms as prosecuting attorney for Carroll, Madison, Benton, and Washington counties,  Fuller retired from politics for a few years—excepting his service on the Eureka Springs School Board during –. As a major campaign volunteer for successful gubernatorial candidate Charles H.Brough in ,Fuller built a lasting political power base. He later used his relationship with Governor Brough to get a prison labor camp established in Carroll County to help complete public highway construction. Fuller’s political career reached its zenith with his election to Congress in , the year Republican nominee Herbert Hoover took the White House. With the economy riding high, the future seemed bright for the Republicans in control of Congress. The onset of the Depression in  ushered in a political earthquake that changed the political landscape for many years to come.Fuller was a strong opponent of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act of , which probably made the depression much worse. By the time Franklin D. Roosevelt entered the White House in March ,the Democrats were already in firm control of the House,and Representative Fuller was well positioned for political leadership. His role as a leader in the election of Speaker of the House Henry T. Raney helped ensure Fuller’s appointment to the Ways and Means Committee, one of the most powerful in Congress. With the coming of the New Deal, public works flowed to Fuller’s district. He got millions of dollars in appropriations for the University of Arkansas, as well as equally large amounts for road construction. He received substantial credit for securing federal funding for a new Veterans Administration Hospital in Fayetteville. No doubt his close political affiliation with Sen. Joe T. Robinson, the majority leader in the U.S. Senate, helped Fuller secure federal largesse. Fuller considered himself a loyal “New Deal Democrat,” and he was a vigorous supporter of Roosevelt’s Social Security proposal. In  Fuller sponsored legislation to establish flood control dams along the entire White River Basin.This resulted in the dams at Norfolk,Bull Shoals, Table Rock, and Beaver. Fuller was defeated for reelection in  when a younger and far more liberal New Dealer,Clyde Ellis,waged a fierce campaign with the assistance of newspaper editor Roberta Fulbright of Fayetteville. Fuller quickly adjusted to life back in Eureka Springs, pitching headfirst into business again. He invigorated his law practice, where  TWENTIETH-CENTURY POLITICIANS he already had a reputation as a tenacious and...