February 25, 2012

George W. Hays was elected as the twenty-fourth governor of Arkansas after a 1913 special election to fill the vacancy created when Governor Joe T. Robinson assumed his U.S. Senate seat. He was easily victorious in the general election held the next year. As governor, Hays was a leading figure in dealing with the issues of prohibition and women’s rights. After leaving the governor’s office in 1917, he returned to his law practice in Camden (Ouachita County).