Junius Marion Futrell, Governor

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Junius Marion Futrell (August 14, 1870 – June 20, 1955) was the 30th Governor of Arkansas from 1933 to 1937, and the Acting Governor for a short period in 1913.

Biography

Futrell was born in Jones Ridge in Greene County in northeastern Arkansas. Futrell attended the Arkansas Industrial University, now the University of Arkansas School of Law, from 1892 to 1893.

He was admitted to the bar in Arkansas in 1913. He taught school and worked as a farmer before beginning his political career.

Career

Futrell was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives and served from 1896 to 1904. He was elected Circuit Court Clerk from 1906 to 1910.

Futrell was elected to the Arkansas Senate and served from 1913 to 1917. He was the Senate President from 1915 to 1917. While President of the Senate, he served as acting governor for four months in 1913 after Governor Joseph Taylor Robinson resigned.

In 1922, Futrell became circuit court judge for the Second Judicial District. He served as chancellor of the district from 1923 to 1933.

Futrell was elected to a full term as governor in his own right in 1932 and reelected in 1934. In the 1932 general election, Futrell defeated the Republican J. O. Livesay, a lawyer of Foreman in Little River County in southwestern Arkansas, who had also been the gubernatorial nominee against Harvey Parnell in 1930. Livesay finished the race with 8.9 percent of the vote, less than half his percent polled in 1930.

The Futrell administration established the Arkansas State Planning Board and created the Arkansas Department of Public Welfare. His administration also rescinded prohibition and instituted some legalized gambling.

After leaving office, Futrell returned to the practice of law.

Death

Futrell died in 1955 in Little Rock and is interred at Linwood Cemetery in Paragould.