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Concept
Ray Thornton
Summary
Raymond Hoyt Thornton Jr. (July 16, 1928 – April 13, 2016) was an American attorney and politician. He was a Democratic U.S. Representative for Arkansas's 4th congressional district from 1973 to 1979 and the 2nd district from 1991 to 1997.
Thornton was born in Conway, Arkansas, on July 16, 1928, to Wilma Stephens and Raymond Thornton. A graduate of Sheridan High School, Thornton earned a degree in political science from Yale University and, later, a Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas School of Law at Fayetteville, Arkansas. He served in the United States Navy during the Korean War,including service on the aircraft carrier USS Philippine Seat (CV-47), and reached the rank of lieutenant.
Thornton returned to law school after returning from Korea and graduated in 1956, the same year he married Betty Jo Mann of Sheridan, Arkansas, his wife for 60 years. For more than 13 years, Thornton served as General Counsel for Stephens Inc. and Arkansas Louisiana Gas Co., businesses owned by his maternal uncle Wilton (Witt) Stephens. He left the private sector to seek public office and was elected as Arkansas Attorney General in 1970. He was elected two years later to Congress. He defeated fellow Democrats Richard S. Arnold of Texarkana and Richard Mays, El Dorado in the primary, with no Republican in the race. All three were lawyers and remained lifelong friends. Thornton went on to serve three terms in the House. He distinguished himself as a member of the Judiciary Committee, which considered articles of impeachment against U.S. President Richard Nixon. He was among three southern Democrats and four moderate Republicans who drafted the articles adopted by the committee.
Thornton did not run for a fourth term in the House. Instead, he ran for the Senate, but narrowly lost a runoff berth in the Democratic primary to his colleague from the Second District, Jim Guy Tucker, and his colleague from the Fourth District who had also served two terms as Arkansas Governor, David Pryor, with Governor Pryor prevailing in the primary and without Republican opposition in November.
Official source
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