Betsey Wright (1943–)

Betsey Wright was Bill Clinton’s chief of staff during most of his time as governor of Arkansas, as well as a top aide during his 1992 presidential campaign. Clinton once characterized her as “the only person I had ever met who was more fascinated and consumed with politics than I was.” Wright chose not to follow Clinton to the White House, however, instead joining a high-powered lobbying firm in Washington DC. But by the late 1990s, back in Arkansas, she had become actively involved with prisoners’ rights and seeking an end to the death penalty. She was known as a hard-charging political operative about whom it was once said: “In the Capitol, you had to go through Betsey if you wanted to drink a glass of water.”

Betsey Wright was born on July 4, 1943, in Alpine, Texas, the second of four children. Her father, Joel Wright, was a doctor and the county health officer, and her mother, Onie May Wright, was a practical nurse. Her father was sixty years old when she was born and in declining health while Wright was in school, ultimately dying during her senior year in high school. She grew up in Alpine and attended Alpine High School before attending the University of Texas (UT) in Austin. She received her bachelor’s degree from UT in 1967, having double majored in English and zoology.

Long interested in politics—she had started her career in her rural West Texas home region, working in local campaigns before moving on to congressional and statewide contests—in 1965, she was elected secretary of the Texas Young Democrats. She became president in 1967, occupying that office until 1969. During her tenure as the Texas Young Dems president, she also served as co-chair of the Young Citizen’s Campaign for the national Democratic ticket. Meanwhile, closer to home, she also served on the Austin Human Relations Committee. Her civic involvement was not limited to Texas, as 1968 saw Wright serving in the U.S. delegation to the Atlantic Association of Young Political Leaders conference in Luxembourg. She worked as an administrative assistant to Mary Frances Tarlton “Sissy” Farenthold, a member of the Texas House of Representatives, who became a feminist icon when her name was placed in nomination for vice president at the 1972 Democratic National Convention.

In 1972, Wright worked in Texas for George McGovern’s presidential campaign. It was there that she met Hillary Rodham and Bill Clinton. Wright became especially close to Rodham and was an unabashed admirer, believing she could be a trailblazer for women in politics. Wright was among many of Rodham’s friends who urged her not to go to Arkansas and marry Clinton, fearing that the role of political wife would limit her.

Following McGovern’s defeat in 1972, Wright headed to Washington DC. There, she worked for the unofficial political arm of the National Women’s Political Caucus (Farenthold had been elected the organization’s first chair), founding and then serving as the executive director of the National Women’s Education Fund, a Washington-based organization that raised money for women candidates and also provided training to aspiring office holders. She created a training manual that got wide usage by women candidates over the years, and she also developed training programs for female political candidates as well as campaign managers and other stakeholders. Wright conducted workshops for potential women candidates and staffers across the nation, helping to create a new generation of female political leaders at all levels. But she also stayed in close contact with the Clintons, often returning to Arkansas on weekends to help Bill Clinton in his ultimately unsuccessful run for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974.

In addition, Wright became an associate of the Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press, and she served on the Women in Power Committee of the National Commission on the Observance of International Women’s Year in 1975 and 1976. In mid-1979, she resigned her position with the Education Fund and accepted a job as the political action director for the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees.

After losing his 1980 reelection campaign for governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton asked Wright to come to Arkansas, ostensibly to help organize the files and records of his term as governor. However, she set about laying the groundwork for his return to power, ultimately managing his 1982 campaign and overseeing a redemption effort that saw him defeat incumbent Frank White by almost ten percent. She would subsequently manage his 1984 and 1986 reelection campaigns. Following Clinton’s 1982 victory, Wright was named the governor’s chief of staff, a post she would hold until the end of 1989, when she resigned, citing health issues and burnout.

But she did not abandon Arkansas politics, becoming chair of the Arkansas Democratic Party in 1990, as well as its executive director. Recognizing her wealth of knowledge and experience, she was chosen to serve as a spring 1992 fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government’s Institute of Politics, where she led a study group on High Tech Politics.

When Clinton launched his campaign for president in 1992, she served as campaign co-chair. It fell to Wright to address the rumors of extramarital affairs that threatened to blow up his campaign. In an off-hand comment, she dismissively referred to the allegations as “bimbo eruptions,” a phrase that got wide play but which the dedicated feminist later said she would regret to her dying day.

She had a considerably reduced role in the general election campaign, and following the election, Wright opted not to join the administration. Instead, she accepted an offer from longtime women’s political activist and former Jimmy Carter administration official Anne Wexler to join the Wexler Group, a lobbying firm where she served as executive vice president. Wright’s clients included American Airlines, the American Dietetic Association, and ARCO.

As Clinton’s time in Washington came to a close, Wright returned to Arkansas, living in Rogers (Benton County), and established her own consulting business with clients like the Women’s Museum in Dallas. She grew orchids in a special basement room, while also tending to numerous cats and other small creatures. Most notably, she became active in efforts to end the death penalty, becoming a regular visitor to those awaiting execution. However, those efforts took a surprising turn in the summer of 2009, when Wright was arrested and charged with trying to smuggle almost fifty tattoo needles, a box cutter, and other contraband items into the Varner Unit. While Wright initially denied the charges, she pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors; in return, prosecutors dropped the fifty-one felony charges she had faced. She was sentenced to a year of probation with a fine of $2,000.

In 2011, Wright was awarded the Mahlon Martin Fellowship by the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS), which provided her with a small stipend that supplemented her salary from a job she had begun the previous summer, organizing the library’s collection of Clinton’s gubernatorial papers. There was some negative press coverage, given her recent plea bargain, but Wright did not address the controversy. Upon leaving her employment with CALS, Wright moved back to Texas.

During the 1991 term of the Arkansas General Assembly, Senator Bill Walters of Greenwood (Sebastian County) introduced SB31, a bill to rename Lake Conway after Betsey Wright. This bill did not pass, but an artificial reservoir near Greenwood, just created by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, was named Lake Betsey Wright. However, by 1993, it was renamed Lake Jack Nolen.

For additional information:
Dominus, Susan. “The Women Who Met Hillary, and Spotted a Future Political Star.” New York Times, December 24, 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/24/style/hillary-clinton-betsey-wright-women-in-politics.html (accessed October 17, 2025).

Masters, Kim. “Betsey Wright, Clinton’s Loyal Opposition.” Buffalo News (Buffalo, New York), June 1, 1994.

Troy, Gil. “The Feminist Who Used Sexism to Defend Bill Clinton.” Daily Beast, August 7, 2016. https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-feminist-who-used-sexism-to-defend-bill-clinton (accessed October 17, 2025).

“Wright Pleads No Contest, Gets Probation.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 7, 2010. https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2010/apr/07/wright-pleads-no-contest-gets-probation/ (accessed October 17, 2025).

Wright, Betsey. “Musings and Rantings from the Far (Arkansas) North.” Arkansas Times, August 14, 1998, pp. 12, 14–16.

William H. Pruden III
Raleigh, North Carolina