Raymond Hoyt Thornton Jr. (July 16, 1928 – April 13, 2016)Arkansas Courts
A Self-Guided Tour of Justice Building Portraits
(2016), p. 11. was an American attorney and politician. He was a Democratic U.S. Representative for

Arkansas's 4th congressional district Arkansas's 4th congressional district is a congressional district located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Arkansas. Notable towns in the district include Camden, Arkansas, Camden, Hope, Arkansas, Hope, Hot Springs, Arkansas, Hot ...

from 1973 to 1979 and the 2nd district from 1991 to 1997. He served as an associate justice on the

Arkansas Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Arkansas is the highest court in the state judiciary of Arkansas. It has ultimate and largely discretionary appellate jurisdiction over all state court cases that involve a point of state law, and original jurisdiction ...

from 1997 to 2004.

Life and career

Thornton was born in Conway, Arkansas, on July 16, 1928, to Wilma Stephens and Raymond Thornton. A graduate of Sheridan High School, Thornton earned a degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

and, later, a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the University of Arkansas School of Law at Fayetteville,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. He served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, including service on the aircraft carrier USS Philippine Seat (CV-47), and reached the rank of lieutenant. Thornton returned to law school after returning from Korea and graduated in 1956, the same year he married Betty Jo Mann of Sheridan, Arkansas, his wife for 60 years. For more than 13 years, Thornton served as General Counsel for Stephens Inc. and Arkansas Louisiana Gas Co., businesses owned by his maternal uncle Wilton (Witt) Stephens. He left the private sector to seek public office and was elected as Arkansas Attorney General in 1970. He was elected two years later to Congress. He defeated fellow Democrats Richard S. Arnold of Texarkana and Richard Mays, El Dorado in the primary, with no Republican in the race. All three were lawyers and remained lifelong friends. Thornton went on to serve three terms in the House. He distinguished himself as a member of the Judiciary Committee, which considered articles of impeachment against U.S. President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

. He was among three southern Democrats and four moderate Republicans who drafted the articles adopted by the committee. Thornton did not run for a fourth term in the House. Instead, he ran for the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

but narrowly lost a runoff berth in the Democratic primary to his colleague from the Second District, Jim Guy Tucker, and his colleague from the Fourth District who had also served two terms as Arkansas Governor, David Pryor, with Governor Pryor prevailing in the primary and without Republican opposition in November. After his defeat in the Senate race, Thornton became involved in education, leading a consortium for cooperative academics at Henderson State University and Ouachita Baptist University, located side-by-side in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Then he served from 1980 to 1984 as the seventh President of Arkansas State University and then President of the

University of Arkansas System The University of Arkansas System is a state university system in the U.S. state of Arkansas. It comprises six campuses; a medical school; two law schools; a graduate school focused on public service; a historically black college, statewide rese ...

from 1984 to 1990. In 1990, Thornton ran for Congress in the

Little Rock Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

-based Second District, which included his birthplace of Conway, and won by a 61.5% margin over the Republican nominee, Jim Keet, then a state representative and the subsequent unsuccessful 2010 GOP gubernatorial nominee against Mike Beebe. In January 1997, after another three terms with only nominal opposition, Thornton left Congress, seeking a seat as an associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, for which he was unopposed. Thornton was elected as a justice of the

, serving from January 1997 to January 2005. After retiring from the court, he became the first public service fellow for the William H. Bowen School of Law at the

University of Arkansas at Little Rock The University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UA Little Rock, UALR) is a Public university, public research university in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States. Established as Little Rock Junior College by the Little Rock School District in 1927, the ...

. In 2009, he became the first chairman of the Arkansas Lottery Commission after his appointment to a six-year term. Ready for retirement, Thornton resigned that post after serving a year, during which the Commission supervised the establishment of the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery. Thornton died in Little Rock on April 13, 2016, at the age of 87.

References

* Image and Reflection: A Pictorial History of the University of Arkansas; Ethel Simpson. U of Ark. Press, 1991

External links

Retrieved on 2008-03-31 * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Thornton, Ray 1928 births 2016 deaths Sheridan High School (Arkansas) alumni Justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court Arkansas attorneys general Arkansas lawyers Arkansas State University faculty University of Arkansas alumni Yale University alumni United States Navy officers United States Navy personnel of the Korean War Politicians from Conway, Arkansas Politicians from Little Rock, Arkansas American members of the Churches of Christ Presidents of the University of Arkansas System Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Arkansas 20th-century Arkansas politicians 20th-century Arkansas state court judges 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

Life and career

See also

References

External links