Promises Kept: A Memoir

by Sidney S. McMath

Overview

Winner of the 2006 Booker Worthen Literary Prize and the 2004 Ragsdale Award.

Sidney Sanders McMath was a pivotal figure not only in Arkansas history but in the history of the Democratic Party and of American law. Still vibrant and engaged in his nineties, he sets out his story in full for the first time: how he rose and fell in public office, and rose again as a lawyer seeking justice for ordinary people.

McMath divides his story into four parts. In the first, he describes how his early life in rural Arkansas sparked his commitment to people. The second section describes his service to democracy in the military, including his commission in the U.S. Marines, a battlefield promotion in the Pacific and other honors, and his subsequent advancement to the rank of major general.

The revealing third section details McMath’s extraordinary life in politics, starting with his explosive debut in 1945, when he and other recent veterans dethroned one of Arkansas’s most powerful and corrupt political machines. Later, as a two-term governor, he fulfilled this promise of reform and modernization: he brought the first roads and electricity to rural areas, fought the poll tax, and built the state’s first medical center. He also helped change the party’s rules so that black citizens could vote in primaries. McMath describes how he worked with President Truman to keep the segregationist Dixiecrats from taking over the Democratic Party—and the presidency.

But here his story takes a dramatic turn: political opponents alleged bribery in his highway program, and although no indictments were handed down, McMath’s political career ended. Arguing his case for the first time in fifty years, he sets the facts straight.

McMath turned to the practice of law to fight for the people he had represented as governor. In the concluding section of the book he describes some of his most important cases, examples of how he put his life’s experience, knowledge, and integrity in the service of those who had few resources. These stories show exactly why he has been honored with membership in such exclusive groups as the Inner Circle of Advocates as well as the presidency of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.

Promises Kept shows us the excitement and the hard choices of real democracy, offering compelling human stories, new information on past conflicts, and the crucial perspective of a man at the center of history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781557287540
Publisher:	University of Arkansas Press
Publication date:	07/01/2003
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	474
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.60(d)

Table of Contents

	List of Illustrations	ix
	Dateline	xiii
	Foreword	xvii
	Acknowledgments	xxiii
	Prologue	xxv
Part 1.	Roots
I.	The Old McMath Homeplace	3
II.	John Ray Sanders	9
III.	Papa Rudd	15
IV.	The Confederacy and Reconstruction	21
V.	"Mother Mae"	25
VI.	"Old Judd"	29
VII.	"Pap"	33
VIII.	The Jack Parham Place	37
IX.	"Uncle Spooks"	39
X.	Bussey	41
XI.	Foreman and Taylor	47
XII.	Home Again	51
Part 2.	Duty Calls
I.	Hot Springs	63
II.	Elaine Broughton	75
III.	"The Old Breed"	81
IV.	My Hometown	87
V.	The Pull of the Corps	91
VI.	American Samoa	99
VII.	In the Mood	107
VIII.	New Zealand	109
IX.	Guadalcanal--The Solomon Islands	113
X.	Bougainville	127
XI.	Coconut Grove	155
XII.	Anne Phillips	159
Part 3.	Politics and After
I.	The GI Revolt	167
II.	Prosecuting Attorney	181
III.	My Race for Governor of Arkansas	191
IV.	The Governor's Mansion	213
V.	My First Term	225
VI.	My Second Term	245
VII.	Power Versus the People	267
VIII.	A Race for the Senate	295
IX.	Little Rock Central High School, 1957	301
X.	Vietnam	307
XI.	A People's Law Firm	319
XII.	Betty Dortch Russell	325
Part 4.	Conclusion	331
	"A Nation's Prayer"	337
Appendixes	Cases That Made a Difference
I.	Get the Facts	341
II.	Let the Jury Decide	349
III.	Sauce for the Goose	357
IV.	A Subsequent Shock Shows How: Admissibility	363
V.	Guns Don't Kill: Fleeing Fugitives Do	369
VI.	Advertisements That Prey: Negligent Inducement	373
VII.	Justice Weeps: A Petition for Redress	383
VIII.	A Scream in the Night	389
IX.	Death Takes a Holiday	397
X.	Poisoning a Neighbor's Well	403
XI.	Willful, Wanton, Reckless Disregard for Safety--A Policy Decision	415
XII.	Insult and Outrage--Defamation--Projecting an Innocent Person in a False Light	423
XIII.	Gee, Dad, That's a Lot of Tomatoes	431
XIV.	The Wrong Road Taken	449
XV.	Seek Justice, Plead for the Widow, Champion the Fatherless, Relieve the Oppressed--And Put the Money in Trust	459
	Index	465

Editorial Reviews

Sid McMath has been a significant regional and national figure for decades as a citizen, soldier, lawyer, and politician. His fascinating memoir serves to remind us of the American ideals that inspired his generation, and his life provides an example to which later generations can aspire.” —Judge Morris Arnold, United States Circuit Judge for the Eighth Circuit, and author of The Rumble of a Distant Drum: The Quapaws and Old World Newcomers, 1673–1804 (Arkansas, 2000)

From the Publisher