Ed Bethune

Ed Bethune
Ed Bethune
Chair of the Arkansas Republican Party
	In office; 1986–1988
Preceded by	Len E. Blaylock
Succeeded by	Ken Coon
Member of the ; U.S. House of Representatives ; from Arkansas's 2nd district
	In office; January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1985
Preceded by	Jim Guy Tucker
Succeeded by	Tommy F. Robinson
Prosecuting Attorney for the First Judicial District of Arkansas
	In office; 1970–1971
Personal details
Born	Edwin Ruthvin Bethune Jr.; December 19, 1935; Pocahontas, Arkansas, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Lana Bethune
Children	2
Residence	Little Rock, Arkansas
Education	University of Arkansas (BA, JD)
Occupation	Attorney; former FBI agent
Military service
Branch/service	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1954-1957
Rank	Sergeant

Edwin Ruthvin Bethune Jr. (born December 19, 1935), known as Ed Bethune, is an American lawyer and lobbyist in Washington, D.C., who was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Arkansas from 1979-1985.

Early years, education, military, legal practice

Bethune was born to Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Bethune Sr. in Pocahontas, Arkansas. He graduated in 1953 from Pocahontas High School. He was a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps from 1954–1957, with service in South Korea.

After military service, Bethune obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1961 from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity. He received the Juris Doctor degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1963 and was admitted to the Arkansas bar that same year.

Career

That year he began his practice in Pocahontas. In 1972, while he was living in Searcy north of Little Rock, he practiced with former Arkansas Republican Party chairman Odell Pollard, who served as his political mentor. Bethune also was admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court.

He was a prosecuting attorney for the First Judicial District of Arkansas from 1970-1971. He was chairman of the Ninth District Federal Home Loan Bank Board from 1973-1976.

Political career

Campaign for state attorney general, 1972

In 1972, Bethune was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for Arkansas attorney general against the Democrat James Guy Tucker Jr. Tucker defeated Bethune, 370,647 (60 percent) to 247,404 (40 percent).

Election to the U.S. House, 1978

Once in the House, Bethune made federal taxes and spending his chief concern.

Bethune opposed Reagan's proposal to sell AWACS fighter planes to Saudi Arabia, which was against the advice of Israel. Bethune joined Senators Bumpers and Pryor to veto a proposal to override Arkansas' 10 percent interest ceiling for retail loans.

Bethune was chosen in 1979 as the president of the U.S. House Republican freshman class. He was reelected with ease in 1980—he polled 159,148 votes (78.9 percent) to 42,278 (21 percent) for his Democratic opponent, Jacksonville Mayor James G. Reid.

Election of 1982

In 1982, a year of widespread election of Democrats, Bethune had a harder race. He did not begin campaigning until the final three weeks of the contest, as he had been confident of winning a third term. His opponent was the Democratic former state Senator Charles Lindbergh George Sr. (born ca. 1929), from Cabot. George was not the Democrats' first choice; party leaders failed to persuade Little Rock attorney Sandy Sidney McMath (born ca. 1942), the son of the former governor, Sidney Sanders McMath, to challenge Bethune.

Bethune survived the challenge and gained re-election: 96,775 (53.9 percent) to George's 82,913 (46.1 percent). It was his last election victory.

U.S. Senate campaign, 1984

In 1984, Bethune sought the Senate seat against the incumbent Senator Pryor. He was decisively defeated, with Pryor receiving 502,341 votes (57.3 percent) to Bethune's 373,615 (42.7 percent).

After leaving Congress, Bethune served from 1986-1988 as the Arkansas Republican Party state Chairman. He resisted suggestions that he run for governor in 1986, and the nomination went to Frank White.

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References

United States Congress. "Ed Bethune (id: B000422)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-04-01
Arkansas Gazette, November 5, 1972; October 23, 1981; November 29, 1981; March 31, 1982; May 9, 1982; July 31, 1982; August 1, 1982; October 24, 1982
Arkansas Democrat, August 10, 18, 20, 1982
Arkansas Outlook, Republican Party newspaper, September 1972; July 1978
John C. Topping Jr., ed., "1978 Election Preview"', Ripon Forum, September/October 1978, p. 11
Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, February 15, 1978, p. 424; February 27, 1982, p. 362; October 14, 1978, p. 2804
https://web.archive.org/web/20070930135721/http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/firmsum.asp?txtname=Ed+Bethune+&+Assoc&year=1999
https://web.archive.org/web/20070930121642/http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/firmsum.asp?txtname=Ed+Bethune+&+Assoc&year=1998
http://partners.nytimes.com/library/politics/10tran.html
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/01/10/gingrich.ethics/excerpts.shtml
https://archive.is/20130209115128/http://wired-vig.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/1997/01/1397
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2004/10/09/delay_assails_panel_accusers/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+National+News
Election Statistics, 1972, 1978, 1980, 1982, and 1984, Little Rock: Secretary of State
http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi
Appearances on C-SPAN

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by James Guy Tucker Jr.	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arkansas's 2nd congressional district 1979 – 1985	Succeeded by Tommy F. Robinson
Party political offices
Preceded by William Thomas "Tom" Kelly Jr.	Republican Party nominee for United States Senator from Arkansas (Class 2) 1984	Succeeded by No nominee in 1990 Tim Hutchinson in 1996
Preceded by Len Everette Blaylock Sr.	Chairman of the Republican Party of Arkansas 1986 – 1988	Succeeded by Kenneth Lloyd "Ken" Coon Sr.

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