Arkansas. Governor (1945-1949 : Laney)

Arkansas governor.

Benjamin Travis Laney was born in Ouchita County, Ark., on 25 Nov. 1896. He attended college at Hendrix College and Arkansas State Teachers College, where he earned his degree after World War I. He taught one year prior to entering the U.S. Navy in 1917. He began his career in Conway, Ark., but later moved back to Camden, Ark. He was drafted in 1935 as a candidate for mayor of Camden and re-elected in 1937. He retired as mayor in 1939. He was elected governor in 1944 and re-elected in 1946. In 1950 he made an attempt to unseat Gov. Sid McMath, but lost in the primaries. Major accomplishments of his administration included the Revenue Stabilzation Law (which pooled most separate tax funds into one fund to operate the state); increasing the public school fund; providing for the construction of a Governor's Mansion and War Memorial Stadium, and for the restoration of the Old State House; and reducing the number of school districts from 1500 to less than 500. Laney died on 21 Jan. 1977.