- Harvey Parnell
Harvey Parnell (
28 February 1880 –16 January 1936 ) was the Democratic Governor ofArkansas from 1928 to 1933.Harvey Parnell was born in Orlando in
Cleveland County, Arkansas . Parnell attended public schools and graduated from Warren High School inWarren, Arkansas . After graduating he worked as a bookkeeper and store clerk, and took up farming inChicot County, Arkansas .Parnell was a member of the
Arkansas House of Representatives from 1919 to 1921. He was elected to the Arkansas Senate and served from 1923 to 1925.In 1927 he assumed the post of Lieutenant Governor and the next year was elevated to the office of governor when
John Ellis Martineau resigned from office to become a Federal judge. Parnell won election to the office in his own right in 1928 and was reelected to a second term in 1930.The Parnell administration focused on establishing a state highway fund, creating a Bureau of Commerce and Industry, ugrading the school system. Henderson State Teachers College was also created during his administration. Parnell himself was a consistent supporter of
women's suffrage and appointedHattie Caraway to theUnited States Senate . Caraway would later win election for the office and become the first woman elected to the Senate.The state's citizens blamed the incumbent Parnell for their situation as the
Great Depression began and he left office in 1933 and returned to farming. He later worked for theReconstruction Finance Corporation .Harvey Parnell died in
Little Rock, Arkansas . He is buried at the Roselawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Little Rock.External links
* Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture entry: [http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=117 Harvey Parnell]
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