By Jeff Arnold
Stephens Media
FORT SMITH — As many were predicting victory for U.S. Rep. James W. Trimble in his 1966 campaign for re-election, his 22-year career in Washington in reality was nearing an end.
Trimble was the last Democrat to represent Arkansas’ 3rd Congressional District before he was defeated in 1966 by the founder of a Harrison lumber company, John Paul Hammerschmidt, who became the state’s first Republican congressman since the end of Reconstruction.
During more than two decades on Capitol Hill, Trimble became an influential member of the House, steering more than $1 billion toward projects in the Arkansas and White river basins, according to a Nov. 10, 1966, Arkansas Gazette article housed with the Trimble family papers at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
The same article quoted “one Arkansan,” saying about Trimble, “Nobody I know ‘sold’ and delivered more for his congressional district through the years.”
Trimble was credited with bringing post offices to Fayetteville, Springdale and Rogers, helping shape legislation that created the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System and promoting rural electrification and creation of the Pea Ridge National Military Park.
His longevity and popularity also landed Trimble a seat on the U.S. House Committee on Rules, one of the most powerful House committees. He was the second-ranking member of the panel by 1966.
That year, Arkansas’ congressional delegation — all Democrats — held seats on the Rules Committee and House Agricultural Committee, and the chairmanships of the House Ways and Means Committee, House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the Senate Government Operations Committee.
1966 Opponents
Despite his popularity among colleagues in Washington and a seat on the powerful Rules Committee, Trimble drew two challengers in the 1966 Democratic primary.
Then-state Rep. David J. Burleson of Fayetteville told the Dardanelle Post-Dispatch in an article published Aug. 12, 1965, that Trimble’s age — he was then 72 — was among the reasons he was mounting a primary challenge.
Ultimately Burleson and Hot Springs businessman Jim Evans, provided little resistance; when the primary votes were counted in June 1966, Trimble had more than his opponents combined.
The idea that Trimble strolled through a primary was not surprising, considering he’d never received less than 55 percent of the vote in the general election and was unopposed for re-election five times.
The 1966 general election was different:
When Hammerschmidt filed for the 3rd District seat, he warned he was not filing as a “token candidate, just so the party will be represented in the race,” according to an April 23, 1966, Associated Press article. He backed up the statement with a vigorous campaign.
Also that year:
—Democratic President Lyndon Johnson’s approval rating was below 50 percent by August, two years after a landslide victory.
—Republican gubernatorial candidate Winthrop A. Rockefeller was running a spirited — and ultimately successful — campaign against Democrat “Justice Jim” Johnson.
—Former Vice President Richard Nixon appeared in Fort Smith in support of Arkansas’ Republican candidates and House Minority Leader Gerald Ford appeared at a Hammerschmidt campaign event in Springdale only days before the general election.
—The 3rd Congressional District grew from 18 counties in 1964 to 25 counties in 1966, stretching as far south as Hempstead County.
As chairman of Republican Party of Arkansas, Hammerschmidt was responsible for recruiting a candidate to oppose Trimble; with the filing deadline days away and no willing candidate, Hammerschmidt said someone suggested he run against Trimble.
“I thought about it overnight and at the last minute thought, well I will, so I filed just a couple days before filing ended,” Hammerschmidt said in a recent interview.
Hammerschmidt was unsure about his chances to win while developing a campaign strategy but felt buoyed because the GOP candidate in 1964 received 45 percent of the vote against Trimble.
“So I wasn’t totally pessimistic; in fact, I was somewhat optimistic about it when I got to campaigning. I enjoyed that campaign. It was very hard work. I got up early in the morning and did it until late at night,” Hammerschmidt said.
The strategy Hammerschmidt settled on was a 100-day retail campaign, which stretched from Siloam Springs to just north of Texarkana.
“I shook hands with everyone at every county fair and beef roast and every type of place I could find people gathered,” he said. “I went in the back of the restaurant where the cooks were. I went to the filling stations, under the grease rack. I went wherever we had to go to see people.”
It was the same strategy a University of Arkansas law professor named Bill Clinton used to almost unseat Hammerschmidt in the 1974 election, Hammerschmidt said.
Democratic Worries
While Hammerschmidt was shaking hands across the 3d District, Trimble remained in Washington, despite concerns being raised by friends and party faithful back in Arkansas.
Gov. Orval Faubus, who wasn’t seeking re-election, told Trimble in a Sept. 2, 1966, letter that Rockefeller likely would defeat Jim Johnson in the gubernatorial race, and that it was “probable” he would carry some other GOP candidates into office with him.
“Therefore it might behoove you to make a supreme effort with President Johnson and the administration to get the Ozarka program implemented now, some projects selected and approved, and perhaps work started. I don’t think your Republican opponent can defeat you, but sometimes a tide overcomes strong men and sweeps weaker men into office. Just some thoughts for your consideration,” Faubus wrote in the letter, which is included in the Trimble papers collection.
The Ozarka program was a proposed economic development partnership between the federal government and local governments in the Ozarks region.
Mountain Home attorney Roy E. Danuser told Fort Smith attorney Lem Bryan, Trimble’s campaign manager, in a Sept. 16, 1966, letter, that Trimble had always done well in Marion and Baxter counties, but “it is apparent that he needs to do some campaigning in this area for the coming election.”
Danuser explained that a large number of Republican voters recently had moved into Marion County, and Rockefeller was running stronger in Baxter, Marion, Boone and other surrounding counties against Johnson than he against Faubus two years earlier.
Finally, Danuser said he was concerned that if Johnson didn’t also start campaigning in the area, Rockefeller might build so much momentum “it could seriously affect Trimble’s race.”
Paris attorney Ray Blair told Trimble in an Aug. 12, 1966, letter that Hammerschmidt was out “in a big way” in Sebastian County; Harrison businessman Joe Hickman in a Sept. 27, 1966, letter warned that Hammerschmidt was “spending a lot;” and Eve Patterson of Pea Ridge told Trimble in an Oct. 13, 1966, letter that Republicans in her area “sure are working.”
Trimble’s response to the letters exhibited little concern and assured the authors he would be back to campaign after Congress adjourned.
Congress adjourned Oct. 22 that year, less than three weeks before the Nov. 8 election.
By late October, Hammerschmidt’s confidence that he could win the election was growing.
Early in his campaign, Hammerschmidt took advantage of Faubus’ decision not to seek re-election by hiring the governor’s former pollster, Gene Newsom, who Hammerschmidt described as the “best pollster in the state.”
The first poll taken Aug. 28, 1964, showed Trimble with a comfortable lead over Hammerschmidt, 52 percent to 22 percent, with 23 percent undecided, according to a Feb. 22, 1967, Arkansas Democrat article on the role that polls played in the 1966 elections.
Growing Numbers, Confidence
Hammerschmidt said his poll numbers increased as he began advertising in newspapers and on television and radio.
Although the Rockefeller campaign was offering campaign contributions and the use of his advertising agency to GOP candidates, Hammerschmidt said he never took money from Rockefeller in 1966 or future elections.
Even though he declined Rockefeller’s offer, Hammerschmidt said, the Rockefeller’s advertising agency would still present him with newspaper ads they prepared for his campaign.
“I would take it and change it totally. It looked too slick. I would change it (to look) like an old grocery store ad or a lumber company ad. I’d just make it look like it was a small town-type ad. So I changed all my newspaper ads that way even though the Rockefeller people were trying to encroach to help me,” Hammerschmidt said.
By Oct. 3, 1966, the gap between Trimble and Hammerschmidt closed to 50 percent to 27 percent, and a week later the numbers were 54 percent to 30 percent.
Through Oct. 10, 1966, Hammerschmidt was making his gain from the undecided vote, but after that began drawing from Trimble supporters, according to the Democrat article.
Hammerschmidt said Newsom’s polling showed he and Trimble were in a dead heat the Friday before the election, with 10 percent of voters undecided, and Newsom predicted he’d win the election with 53 or 54 percent of the vote.
In a Nov. 2, 1966, Northwest Arkansas Times report, Trimble told the paper he was “just wandering around the district trying to find a few votes.”
The author of the article, Floyd Carl Jr., noted, “In the past, his wanderings have turned up enough votes to crush his opponents (when he has had them) regularly and this year appear likely to repeat.”
Had Trimble been a believer in polls, and seen Newsom’s numbers, “he would not have been sitting back on Election Day, confident, as were all of his supporters that he would win,” according to the Democrat article.
“It was any man’s race (days before the election), and Hammerschmidt went out and won it,” according to the article.
Hammerschmidt Victory
Hammerschmidt garnered 53 percent of the vote in defeated Trimble by almost 10,000 votes.
Hammerschmidt said Trimble’s complacency was a contributing factor to his defeat, but that Trimble also came from a different era when congressmen only came home a few times a year on the train.
“And it used to be that the primary was the election, we were just such a strong Democrat state,” Hammerschmidt said.
Hammerschmidt said there was also “no question” that President Johnson’s sinking popularity and Rockefeller’s vigorous campaign against Jim Johnson were factors that helped him defeat Trimble.
In a Tulsa Tribune article, date unknown, Trimble said he was not surprised at his defeat.
“I knew I would lose two weeks ahead of the election. I blame nobody but myself. I didn’t get home enough. I went to the district an average of once a month, but couldn’t stay long — with the workload (in Washington). And with 25 counties that’s a lot to cover,” Trimble said.
He also agreed with Hammerschmidt that President Johnson’s unpopularity and the bitter Rockefeller-Jim Johnson gubernatorial race contributed to his downfall.
Hammerschmidt said “Judge Trimble,” who was a family friend and his friend for many years, was gracious in defeat.
“He accepted it very well,” Hammerschmidt said.
A day after his defeat, Trimble sent the following Western Union telegram to Congressman-elect Hammerschmidt:
“My heartiest congratulations upon your election to Congress. It was a fine win for you. Please call on me if I may be of any help at all in your new work. You will find it a very interesting and challenging job.”
Hammerschmidt said he and Trimble remained friends and had breakfast together several times after the election, even though Trimble’s wife was bitter about her husband’s defeat.
“She worked in his office with pay, because that was before the nepotism rules, and they were grandfathered in. She was a nice lady too, but that was kind of their life,” Hammerschmidt said.
The correspondence Trimble received from constituents after his defeat revealed that Mrs. Trimble wasn’t alone in her bitterness.
Floyd Carl Jr., who wrote the Northwest Arkansas Times article predicting Trimble’s re-election, wrote in a Nov. 9, 1966, letter, “We have made a bitter mistake and one that all of us will, in time, regret as much as I do today.”
Other letters suggested Hammerschmidt would be “unable to accomplish anything of consequence” in Washington, while some letters were more personal in their animosity toward Hammerschmidt.
“I do not believe that the man who defeated you is competent to fill the job. I hope and believe he will not be there but for two years,” L.A. Watkins, of the Watkins Company of Harrison, wrote in a Nov. 19, 1966, letter to Trimble.
Hammerschmidt went on to serve 13 terms in the House from 1967 until he retired in 1993.
Hammerschmidt rarely had serious competition for re-election, except for 1974 when Clinton came within about 6,000 votes of winning the 3rd District race.
Although he found his career in Congress rewarding, Hammerschmidt said he never intended to stay in Washington for 26 years and believes members of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate should both be limited to 12 years of service.
Hammerschmidt said he didn’t retire from Congress earlier because he was worried the GOP could not continue to hold the seat.
But as he approached 70, Hammerschmidt said he felt like it was time to retire and Tim or Asa Hutchinson could hold the seat.
Tim Hutchinson won a close race against Democrat John VanWinkle, 50 percent to 47 percent, in 1992 to replace Hammerschmidt.
After the 1992 race, the Democrats have lost by an average of 44,280 votes in the five elections cycles the party fielded a 3rd District candidate.
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Correspondence and newspaper clips used in this report are part of the James W. Trimble family papers maintained in the special collections section at the University of Arkansas library in Fayetteville.
