Carl Edward Bailey

Carl Edward Bailey (1894-1948) was Democratic governor of the State of Arkansas from 1937 to 1941.

Bailey was born on October 8, 1894, in Bernie, Missouri. He graduated from Chillicothe Business College in 1915. Two years later he moved to Weona, Poinsett County, Arkansas, and took a job as a cashier. In nearby Trummann and Augusta, Arkansas, Bailey worked as a railroad brakeman, café owner, deputy tax collector. He opened a law office in Arkansas in 1925. He became attorney general of the state ten years later.

In 1936 Bailey campaigned for the governorship and served two terms beginning in 1937. During his administration the state founded the first agricultural experiment station in Batesville and created the first Department of Public Welfare and the Arkansas State Police.

After serving as governor, Bailey became a railroad union lobbyist and instructor of law at the University of Arkansas. Bailey died of a heart attack on October 23, 1948, and is interred at Roselawn Memorial Park cemetery in Little Rock.

References

• Donald Holley, "Carl E. Bailey, the Merit System, and Arkansas Politics, 1936-1939," Arkansas Historical Quarterly 45 (Winter 1986): 291-320.