Beauties, politicians thumped in diaries

Arkansans’ talks ‘boring,’ ‘tedious’

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STATON BREIDENTHAL  1/7/11 
Former Gov. Dale Bumpers (left) talks with Gov. Mike Beebe before the release of the new book "Open House: The Arkansas Governor's Mansion and Its Place in History"  Friday at the Governor's Mansion.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STATON BREIDENTHAL 1/7/11 Former Gov. Dale Bumpers (left) talks with Gov. Mike Beebe before the release of the new book "Open House: The Arkansas Governor's Mansion and Its Place in History" Friday at the Governor's Mansion.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Former U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers was critical of beauty queens, long-winded politicians and Ronald Reagan, in particular, according to diaries in the University of Arkansas library.

Bumpers purportedly wrote that President Reagan was "without question the biggest charlatan and troglodyte this country has ever elected."

The diaries became an issue last week after Mother Jones magazine and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette published excerpts that were critical of Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Members of the Bumpers family said they knew of no such diaries and had them "temporarily pulled" from the library's special collections department Wednesday. Brent Bumpers, son of the former U.S. senator, said he plans to inspect the documents in a week or so to determine their origin and authenticity.

"I'm shocked," Brent Bumpers said Tuesday when informed of the diaries. "I say there's something bogus about this."

The UA library's online index enumerates 10 "Dale Bumpers Diary" folders that are each labeled by year or parts of years. The years listed are 1973, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1992 and 1993. Some years have no folders, and some years have more than one folder.

The diary folders contain 200 or so typewritten pages and were among 1,142 boxes of papers that Dale Bumpers donated to the university in 2000. The pages, which appear to have been transcribed by a secretary who worked in Bumpers' Washington office, had been available to the public at the library since March 2014.

Diary comments regarding the Clintons included references to them being obsessed with political ambition.

"Everything centers around them and their ambitions," according to a Sept. 16, 1982, entry. "You can never do quite enough for him and Hillary."

Clinton was governor of Arkansas from 1979-81 and again from 1983-92, when he was elected president. Now, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is considering a run for the White House.

Bumpers was Arkansas governor from 1971-75 and U.S. senator from 1975-99. Bumpers and the Clintons are Democrats.

An entry in the diary on June 11, 1982, refers to Bill Clinton as a "tragic figure" but says he was popular with Arkansas voters.

"They like him, but they know he'll do anything to get the office," the entry says. "He's bright, his heart's in the right place, he's energetic, he really wants to make a difference, and he cares deeply about his state. He just simply cannot sort it all out when character is required to make the right decision."

Although the diaries are no longer on public display, at least temporarily, a reporter from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette inspected some of them Tuesday.

Bumpers apparently reserved his harshest criticism for the country's 40th president.

"Unquestionably, Ronald Reagan will go down in history as the worst, or close to the worst, president the United States has ever suffered," according to an April 29, 1982, entry.

Unemployment that month climbed to 9.3 percent and the 71-year-old Republican's approval ratings continued sinking.

"His mind is blown. He has absolutely no conception of what he has wrought and thinks that if he just sticks with his crazy ideology somehow everything will work out. It is an unmitigated disaster," the diary notes.

Some of the barbs are aimed at Bumpers' Democratic colleagues.

He purportedly wrote that former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., was "one of the goosiest people I've ever known."

"He sees conspiracy behind every move and would obviously be a basket case in the Oval Office," according to the diary entry for April 29, 1982.

Hart finished second in the 1984 Democratic primary and emerged as an early 1988 front-runner. His presidential aspirations were derailed in 1987 after a sex scandal with a 29-year-old model.

Bumpers -- who is famous for eloquent, humorous speeches -- was critical of political speakers who apparently lacked his oratorical skills, regardless of political party.

According to May 18, 1982, diary entries, Arkansas' former U.S. Rep. Bill Alexander, a Democrat from Osceola, delivered "the most boring, irrelevant speech I have ever heard in my life" at an event in Wynne, and Arkansas' former U.S. Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt, a Republican from Harrison, droned on the next day at a Dixie Cup plant in Fort Smith.

"John Paul delivered his usual pandering speech lamenting the size of government; waste, fraud and abuse, etc.," according to the diary. "It was the most ridiculous, tedious defense of Reaganomics I ever heard."

The speeches were supposed to last 5-10 minutes, according to the diary, but Hammerschmidt spoke for 25.

"He reminded me of Ronald Reagan," Bumpers purportedly wrote. "He approached the podium, took out his notes and read verbatim what his staff had prepared for him. I couldn't believe it. I spent about 10 minutes with mostly humorous stories, but I did get in a lick about the outrageous defense budget."

There are indications in the diary that Bumpers thought highly of his own speeches.

In a June 15, 1982, entry regrading a speech at the Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival, Bumpers purportedly wrote, "My luncheon remarks were all humorous and extremely well received."

Bumpers, who is a veteran, also took issue with some veterans organizations. He served in the Marine Corps from 1943-46 and was on a ship heading to the Pacific theater when World War II ended.

In a June 8, 1982, entry, he reportedly commented that only about five people at a memorial service at that National Cemetery were younger than 50 years of age.

"I don't know [what] happens to veterans' organizations as the old World War II jocks die off," according to the diary. "Veterans organizations have always been a turn-off to me but in politics you have to deal with them.

"There are a few sensible, honestyly [sic] dedicated veterans, but most of them were drafted in World War II, forced to do something noble for a change and have been trading on it ever since," according to the diary. "Their demands are incessant, and for the life of me I can't understand why veterans, other than those who are actually disabled in combat, should receive preferential treatment. All people in need deserve consideration, but a veteran no more than anybody else."

Journalists were also the target of barbs.

Bumpers purportedly wrote on Feb. 14, 1983, "I have never been able to fully describe my contempt for the media and what they've done to the election process in this country."

A television reporter in New York City asked Bumpers to sum up in 25 seconds why he wanted to be president, according to the diary.

"I uttered some inanity in response but what I should have said is that the question is the very epitome of what is wrong with this country: something I've agonized over for a year, they want an answer to in 25 seconds or less," according to the diary.

Beauty queens fared poorly, too, in the sometimes scathing diaries.

Regarding three different former Miss Americas, Bumpers purportedly wrote that one was dull, another dim and the third had legs "bigger than mine."

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