Drew Bowers (October 19, 1886 – December 15, 1985) was the
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
nominee
A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example:
* to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs.
* t ...
for
governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
of
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
in 1926 and 1928.
Early life and education
Milton Drew Bowers, Jr., was born in
Randolph County, Arkansas
Randolph County is located between the Ozark Mountains and Arkansas Delta in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The county is named for John Randolph, a U.S. senator from Virginia influential in obtaining congressional approval of the Louisiana Purcha ...
. He was the eighth of 15 children of Milton Drew "Mitt" Bowers, Sr. (1850-1914), a
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
minister and a native of
Palmyra
Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second ...
in
Montgomery County near
Clarksville in northern
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
. The senior Bowers served in the 1899 session of the
Arkansas House of Representatives
The Arkansas State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House is composed of 100 members elected from an equal amount of constituencies across the ...
. Bowers' mother, the former Lucinda Angelina Pratt (1855-1934), a native of
Ironton in
Iron County Iron County is the name of four counties in the United States:
*Iron County, Michigan
*Iron County, Missouri
*Iron County, Utah
*Iron County, Wisconsin
Iron County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, t ...
in southeastern
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
, was a daughter of Jesse Richardson Pratt and his second wife, the former Elizabeth Gibson.
Bowers attended the Ouachita-Maynard Academy in
Maynard in Randolph County. This institution was one of the forerunners of
Ouachita Baptist University
Ouachita Baptist University (OBU) is a private Baptist university in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. The university's name is taken from the Ouachita (pronounced WAH-shi-tah) River, which forms the eastern campus boundary. It is affiliated with the Arka ...
in
Arkadelphia
Arkadelphia is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,714. The city is the county seat of Clark County. It is situated at the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. Two universities, Henderso ...
in
Clark County. Bowers then enrolled at the
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...
at
Fayetteville, from which he procured a teacher's certificate in 1906.
[
]
Career
Bowers taught school at rural Clearview in Randolph County. Meanwhile, he studied law in the offices of lawyer friends in Pocahontas and in 1913 was admitted to the state bar. He ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for the Arkansas House in both 1908 and 1916 and for the United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
in 1924. In his two consecutive bids for governor, he was defeated by the Democrats John Ellis Martineau
John Ellis Martineau (December 2, 1873 – March 6, 1937) was the 28th governor of Arkansas and was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. His term as Governor was marked by the G ...
and Harvey Parnell
Harvey Parnell (February 28, 1880 – January 16, 1936) was an American farmer and politician from Southeast Arkansas. Parnell served in the Arkansas General Assembly for eight years, first in the Arkansas House of Representatives, and later servi ...
. He polled 23.6 percent of the general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
vote in 1926; 22.7 percent in 1928. In the latter election year, U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
Joseph T. Robinson
Joseph Taylor Robinson (August 26, 1872 – July 14, 1937), also known as Joe T. Robinson, was an American politician from Arkansas. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Arkansas in the United States Senate from 1913 to 1937, servin ...
was the vice presidential nominee on the Al Smith
Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was an American politician who served four terms as Governor of New York and was the Democratic Party's candidate for president in 1928.
The son of an Irish-American mother and a C ...
Democratic ticket, which won the electoral votes of Arkansas.
In 1925, during the Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...
administration, Bowers was appointed Assistant United States Attorney. After eleven years in that position, also under Presidents Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
and Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
, Bowers resigned in 1936 to enter private practice. In 1953, the Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
administration recalled him as Assistant United States Attorney. He retired from the federal position in 1962 at the age of seventy-six and returned to the private practice of law. In 1977, at the age of ninety, Bowers retired from his law practice. He died in 1985 in Little Rock
( The "Little Rock")
, government_type = Council-manager
, leader_title = Mayor
, leader_name = Frank Scott Jr.
, leader_party = D
, leader_title2 = Council
, leader_name2 ...
at the age of ninety-nine.[
]Osro Cobb
Osro Cobb (May 28, 1904 – January 18, 1996) was a Republican lawyer who worked to establish a two-party system in the US state of Arkansas. In 1926, he was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives from Montgomery County and served as th ...
, the chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party
The Republican Party of Arkansas (RPA), headquartered at 1201 West 6th Street in downtown Little Rock, is the affiliate of the Republican Party in Arkansas. It is currently the dominant party in the state, controlling all four of Arkansas' U.S ...
from 1932 to 1955 and a legal associate of Bowers, recalled his friend, accordingly:
Drew Bowers was the finest trial lawyer I ever met. Mr. Bowers had a photographic memory
Eidetic memory ( ; more commonly called photographic memory or total recall) is the ability to recall an image from memory with high precision—at least for a brief period of time—after seeing it only onceThe terms ''eidetic memory'' and ''pho ...
. When he quoted the testimony of a witness in argument, it would be word-for-word -- with voice inflections highly similar to those of the witness. Working with Mr. Bowers was a fruitful, unforgettable experience. I recall that we persuaded him on rather short notice one day to go to Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
(in Arkansas County) to try a nongovernment tort
A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...
damage case in which we had filed a cross complaint for $2,500. When Mr. Bowers arrived in court, Circuit Judge W. J. Waggoner was selecting a jury for the case preceding ours. The judge motioned for Mr. Bowers to approach the bench. He then arose, handed the gavel to Mr. Bowers, and asked him to preside while he was getting a haircut and attending to some personal matters!
Mr. Bowers took the bench and proceeded with the case. The jury was selected, opening statements were made by counsel, and the plaintiff had called its first witness by the time Judge Waggoner returned. Fortunately, our case was next. It was one in which we felt we had a strong defense and counter claim. Mr. Bowers demolished the opposition and obtained a judgment for the full amount of our counter claim. Mr. Bowers much preferred criminal cases, but he always did a good job on civil cases, too.
When Cobb was named U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, he asked the Eisenhower administration to waive age requirements so that Bowers, who had good physical health, could remain as the assistant U. S. attorney. In his memoirs, Cobb recalls another incident involving Bowers:
We were trying a criminal case for the government. Mr. Bowers was left-handed and he had the habit of pacing in front of the jury box during argument and flinging his arms to emphasize his remarks. Mr. Bowers reached a point directly in front of a juror seated at one end of the front row of the jury and suddenly thrust his left hand forward to make a point. The juror, who was a large man slumped in his chair, had an involuntary reaction that caused him to lose his balance, fall out of his chair and the jury box onto the floor.
Mr. Bowers and I rushed to help the fallen juror, who fortunately was not injured. After a short recess, the trial resumed, and the jury convicted the defendant. The incident caused an uproar and much chuckling, including from the judge.[Osro Cobb, p. 36]
Later life
On October 24, 1974, the U.S. District Court in Little Rock observed "Drew Bowers Day" in honor of the attorney's 88th birthday and his sixty-one years of legal practice. Bowers' papers are deposited at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UA Little Rock) is a public research university in Little Rock, Arkansas. Established as Little Rock Junior College by the Little Rock School District in 1927, the institution became a private four-year ...
.[
]
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowers, Drew
1886 births
1985 deaths
20th-century American lawyers
20th-century American politicians
Arkansas lawyers
Arkansas Republicans
Schoolteachers from Arkansas
People from Randolph County, Arkansas
Politicians from Little Rock, Arkansas
University of Arkansas alumni