who learned from it. Justice Jim Johnson was a cousin of mine on my dads side of the family. I go from a socialist grandfather who was in the bonus army thing in Washington all the way to Justice Jim.
On April 7, 1968, Rockefeller held a public ceremony of mourning for the death of Martin Luther King Jr. He was the only Southern governor to do so, which likely helped Little Rock escape some of the rioting that broke out elsewhere after King’s assassination.
Rockefeller went into the 1968 gubernatorial campaign with a strong organization and a solid list of accomplishments. Nevertheless, there was no guarantee he would triumph. Arkansas Democrats were presented with an unusual array of characters, with Justice Jim Johnson taking on U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright, while his wife, Virginia Johnson, ran for governor. Ultimately, state representative Marion Crank received the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, though Crank was badly tainted by his long association with Governor Faubus.
In November 1968, Arkansas voters cast votes in ways that defy easy explanation. Rockefeller, a Republican, was reelected as governor—again with a huge black majority compensating for a lukewarm reception among white voters. A Democrat retained the U.S. Senate seat, with Fulbright leading the ticket in Arkansas. George Wallace, an Independent, won the presidential vote in Arkansas. No political party, it seemed, could take Arkansas for granted. Also in 1968, Rockefeller garnered eighteen votes at the Republican National Convention, but the Republican presidential nomination went to Richard Nixon. Rockefeller's brother Nelson had made a more serious presidential run but was also unsuccessful.
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