Sid McMath
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The Honorable Sidney McMath |
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|---|---|
Sid McMath, from the cover of his autobiography Promises Kept (University of Arkansas Press, 2003)
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| 34th Governor of Arkansas | |
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In office January 11, 1949 – January 13, 1953 |
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| Lieutenant | Nathan Green Gordon |
| Preceded by | Benjamin Travis Laney |
| Succeeded by | Francis Cherry |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 14, 1912 Magnolia, Arkansas |
| Died | October 4, 2003 (aged 91) Little Rock, Arkansas |
| Resting place | Pinecrest Memorial Cemetery in Saline County, Arkansas |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Elaine Braughton McMath, 1937 Anne Phillips McMath, 1944 Betty Dortch Russell McMath, 1996 |
| Profession | Attorney |
| Awards |
Silver Star Medal Legion of Merit See more |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 United States
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| Service/branch |
 United States Marine Corps
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| Years of service | 1936–1939 (reserve) 1940–1945 (active) 1946–1970 (reserve) |
| Rank | Major General |
| Commands |
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| Battles/wars |
World War II Vietnam War |
Sidney Sanders McMath (June 14, 1912 – October 4, 2003) was a decorated U.S. Marine, attorney and the 34th Governor of Arkansas (1949–1953) who, in defiance of his state's political establishment, championed rapid rural electrification, massive highway and school construction, the building of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, strict bank and utility regulation, repeal of the poll tax, open and honest elections and broad expansion of opportunity for black citizens in the decade following World War II.
McMath remained loyal to President Harry S. Truman during the "Dixiecrat" rebellion of 1948, campaigning throughout the South for Truman's re-election. As a former governor, McMath led the opposition to segregationist Governor Orval Faubus following the 1957 Little Rock school crisis. He later became one of the nation's foremost trial lawyers, representing thousands of injured persons in precedent-setting cases and mentoring several generations of young attorneys.
McMath was born in a dog-trot log cabin on the old McMath home place near Magnolia, Columbia County, Arkansas, the son of Hal Pierce and Nettie Belle Sanders McMath. His paternal grandfather, Columbia County Sheriff Sidney Smith McMath, grand nephew of his martyred Goliad namesake, had himself been killed in the line of duty the previous year, leaving a pensionless widow and eight children, Hal being the eldest. After years of wrangling horses and bad-luck wildcatting in the Southwest Arkansas oil fields, Hal McMath moved his family by wagon to Hot Springs in June 1922. There, he sold the last of his horses and took a job as a barber. Nettie went to work as a manicurist and for the Malco movie theater as a ticket vendor. Sid and his sister, Edyth, attended Hot Springs public schools, where the boy excelled in boxing and drama and became an Eagle Scout, while shining shoes and hawking newspapers to supplement the family's meager income. He was elected president of his class each of his high school years, the last of which he won the state Golden Gloves welterweight boxing title. He attended Henderson State College and the University of Arkansas, where he was elected president of the student body. He was a member of the Arkansas Pershing Rifles military fraternal organization, Blue Key, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon. He graduated from the University's School of Law in 1936.
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