November 25, 1896

Benjamin Travis Laney Jr., thirty-third governor of Arkansas, was born in Jones Chapel (Ouachita County). During his two terms as governor, his most notable achievement was the state’s 1945 Revenue Stabilization Law, which prohibited deficit spending. Though he once said, “I am not a politician,” his conservative views put him in the spotlight at a time when the Democratic Party was becoming more liberal. Although he opposed desegregation, the University of Arkansas School of Law became the South’s first all-white public institution to admit black students during his tenure.

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