September 17, 1968

Virginia Lillian Morris Johnson turned down an offer to serve on the state Democratic Committee on Revision of Party Rules because of the committee’s intention to force local Democrats to give support to national Democratic candidates. Johnson had been the first woman to run for the office of governor in Arkansas. Running as a conservative Democrat, Johnson had campaigned against six other Democrats, all male, vying to be the candidate to run against the Republican incumbent, Winthrop Rockefeller, in the gubernatorial race of 1968. She did not win the Democratic nomination, and Rockefeller was reelected.