Jim Caldwell (Arkansas politician)
| James Ray "Jim" Caldwell | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Arkansas Senate from the 9th (then Benton and Carroll counties) district |
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In office January 1, 1969 – December 31, 1978 |
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| Preceded by | Russell Elrod |
| Succeeded by | Kim Hendren |
| Chairman of Arkansas Republican Party | |
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In office March 1973 – December 1974 |
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| Preceded by | Charles T. Bernard |
| Succeeded by | Lynn Lowe |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1936 Dardanelle, Yell County Arkansas, USA |
| Spouse(s) | Laferne Muller Caldwell |
| Children | Four daughters |
| Residence | Tulsa, Oklahoma |
| Alma mater |
Central High School (Tulsa) |
| Occupation | Minister; After-dinner speaker |
| Religion | Church of Christ |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | United States Air Force |
Central High School (Tulsa)
Harding University
Southern Methodist University
James Ray Caldwell, known as Jim R. Caldwell (born 1936), is a retired Church of Christ minister in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who was a Republican member of the Arkansas State Senate from 1969 to 1978, the first member of his party to sit in the legislative upper chamber in the 20th century. His first two years as a senator corresponded with the second two-year term of Winthrop Rockefeller, the first Republican governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction. Caldwell was closely allied with Rockefeller during the 1969-1970 legislative sessions.
A native of Dardanelle in Yell County in west central Arkansas, Caldwell was a son of Reece E. Caldwell (1912-1971) and the former Oval Ermice Greene (1914-2000). He attended the first eleven years of school in Dardanelle but completed his senior year at Central High School in Tulsa. In 1958, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in general studies from the Church of Christ-affiliated Harding College in Searcy in White County, Arkansas. He received a Master of Science from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and pursued but did not complete doctoral studies at the private University of Tulsa. He became a minister in 1956, and while a state senator, he was the minister at the Southside Church of Christ in Rogers in Benton County in northwestern Arkansas. He began after-dinner speaking before church and civic groups. For eight years before his return to Arkansas from Oklahoma, Caldwell served on stand-by in the Oklahoma Air National Guard.
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