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340:, California. After his military duties, Sheets returned to John Brown University 1958 as director of public relations and student recruitment, a position that he maintained until 1969. The John Brown University enrollment in 1958 was only 250 students, but before Sheets left the position, the number was nearing 800.
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in the
Republican primary for secretary of state, 35,954 (68 percent) to 16,881 (32 percent). In the campaign, Sheets was invited to ride on Rockefeller's helicopter. Ultimately, he won majorities in his own Benton County and in Searcy County. Sheets lost by a single vote in Washington County, where
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Unlike
Nowotny, who considered Rockefeller's drinking to have been serious in his later years, Sheets said that it appeared to him that reports of excessive liquor may have been exaggerated. In 1973, Sheets was among the mourners at Winthrop Rockefeller's funeral on Petit Jean Mountain, where he met
373:, a position at odds with most Arkansans in both parties. According to Sheets, Rockefeller told him that their disagreement on the death penalty would not affect their personal and political association. Sheets said that he was contacted at the time by
550:, a position that he retained until he retired in 1998. In this role, he traveled to nearly fifty countries, including Australia and New Zealand, to establish Kiwanis clubs. He spurred the raising of $ 100 million to finance, in conjunction with the
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degree in Bible and
English in 1953, Sheets immediately joined the John Brown University staff as manager of the campus radio station. While attending John Brown University, he had met his future wife, the former Martha Hamlin, a native of
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would retire in 1972. Had that scenario developed, Hammerschmidt, known in particular for his prompt and effective constituent service, planned to run for the Senate and would have endorsed Sheets as his preferred House successor.
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523:. Although Sheets visited most of the counties in the campaign, Ford polled only 35 percent of the vote in Arkansas, with the larger Republican vote confined to its traditional stronghold in northwestern Arkansas.
385:", a term not yet coined, that the death penalty is a deterrent to murder because it causes some miscreants to think twice about the taking of life if they know that their own existence would be jeopardized.
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Sheets was the first member of the
Republican Party in the 20th century sent to the legislature from Benton County in the far northwestern portion of the state. In time, Benton County became the
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for the first time when both were seeking office in 1966, he for the state House and
Rockefeller as the first of the post-Faubus era governors and the first Republican in the position since the
535:; in 1965, he served a year as governor of the Missouri-Arkansas District during the golden anniversary of the organization. After he made a Kiwanis presentation to Democratic Governor
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lent Bryant the use of his political team. Sheets said that he had never expected to win the race though he finished in the balloting some twenty thousand votes ahead of
Rockefeller.
511:. Dole took the second spot with Ford as Nelson Rockefeller had earlier withdrawn from contention. Sheets managed the Arkansas state campaign for Ford-Dole, with his counterpart for
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many of the local
Democrats were also political reformers hostile to Bryant. Official results showed Bryant with 360,209 (62.3 percent) to Sheets’ 216,752 (37.7 percent).
245:’s banner county in Arkansas. Sheets did not seek reelection because of the time required away from his employment as public relations director of his alma mater, the
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In waging a campaign against Kelly Bryant, Sheets recalls that he was hoping to establish regional name identification for a possible 1972 congressional race. Then
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369:, he disagreed with Rockefeller on certain issues. In the 1967 legislative session, Sheets introduced a revised death penalty bill, but Rockefeller opposed
257:, Arkansas. At the time, evangelicals had not yet organized politically to become a vital part of the Republican voter base; with many still active in the
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Reflecting on his life, Sheets remarks: "I've loved everything I've done. I attribute it to the Lord’s blessing and his leading me through my life."
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Kelly Bryant died in 1975 early in his seventh two-year term as secretary of state and is interred at Memory
Gardens Cemetery south of Hope.
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Thereafter, Sheets and his wife returned to Benton County and settled in Bella Vista. The couple attends the
Village Baptist Church, a
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Sheets recalls that the last pre-election poll that he had seen showed the race competitive, but the situation changed quickly when
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33:
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for the 1972 Democratic senatorial nomination, McClellan then easily turned aside
Republican Wayne H. Babbitt, a North Little Rock
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543:: I had no problems with Faubus. He was amicable. Many of the things he did were what the people of Arkansas then wanted."
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Upon leaving John Brown University in 1969, Sheets took the position of full-time executive director of the Siloam Springs
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539:, Sheets encountered Faubus on several occasions while Faubus was selling individual copies of his scrapbook memoirs,
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was not traditionally Republican; prior to 1950, the GOP for decades had controlled at the local level neighboring
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In 1982, Sheets left Siloam Springs to become executive director of the Kiwanis International Foundation, based in
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929:(1896-1977) was elected to a final term which he did not complete. After he narrowly defeated U.S. Representative
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409:, but the next year he was back in politics as the Republican nominee against the Democratic Secretary of State,
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at the top of the ticket, had informed Sheets that he believed, incorrectly as it turned out, that U.S. Senator
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ticket was easily carrying Arkansas that year, the first Republican ticket to have done so since
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in Benton County; Kevin James Sheets (born 1981) of Bella Vista, and Aaron Sheets (born 1983) of
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361:. Sheets recalls having excellent personal relations with Rockefeller though, like colleague
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By the mid-1970s, Sheets had left the chamber of commerce position and was engaged in
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in northeastern Oklahoma. The couple married in 1954 and adopted four children.
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in northwestern Oklahoma, and the former Mae Robinson (1904-2002), a native of
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counties in northwestern Arkansas. In 1964, Newton County, however, voted for
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562:. "We got iodine into almost every country in the world," Sheet recalls.
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Arkansas Secretary of State, General election returns, November 5, 1970.
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in southeastern Kansas, to June P. Sheets (1903-1982), originally from
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ticket, narrowly preferred by the delegates over the rival slate of
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in northern Oklahoma. Therefore, Jim Sheets graduated in 1949 from
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Republican Party members of the Arkansas House of Representatives
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in south Arkansas, also known as the hometown of later Governors
297:. June Sheets was employed in Arkansas City as an agent for the
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Arkansas Secretary of State, Primary election returns, 1970.
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Jim Sheets had a sister, Jenta D. Strombeck (1928-2007), a
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in southern North Carolina; Mark R. Sheets (born 1961) of
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having been Bill Clinton, who ran unopposed that year for
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winner first elected in 1966, along with Rockefeller and
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The Sheets children are Kimberly Norton (born 1958) of
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in Siloam Springs. He was an alternate delegate to the
853:"Sheets: Life Work Is Result of the Lord's Blessings"
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301:, but in 1943, he was transferred as a dispatcher to
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for a single term in the lower legislative chamber.
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332:, partly under a secret clearance of the former
990:Arkansas State Representative for Benton County
16:American businessman and politician (1931-2020)
873:Sheets' other Republican House colleague was
8:
975:Arkansas election returns, November 4, 1976.
908:Arkansas election returns, November 5, 1970.
48:January 1, 1967 – December 31, 1968
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218:(March 29, 1931 – March 1, 2020), known as
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226:, Arkansas who was a former member of the
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429:. Sheets first defeated John Thompson of
328:From 1955 to 1958, Sheets served in the
234:. From 1967 to 1968, Sheets represented
964:The Transformation of Southern Politics
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336:at the Oakland Naval Supply Station in
456:Arkansas's 3rd congressional district
7:
1038:People from Benton County, Arkansas
489:1976 Republican National Convention
395:Vice President of the United States
120:Martha Hamlin Sheets (married 1954)
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1073:People from Arkansas City, Kansas
228:Arkansas House of Representatives
1063:Businesspeople from Indianapolis
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787:Statement of James Lee Sheets,
379:Federal Bureau of Investigation
1078:Military personnel from Kansas
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1043:Politicians from Indianapolis
574:congregation in Bella Vista.
349:Relationship with Rockefeller
34:Arkansas State Representative
1053:John Brown University alumni
1033:Businesspeople from Arkansas
804:who spent her last years in
521:Attorney General of Arkansas
495:, Missouri, to nominate the
1058:United States Army soldiers
462:Republican businessman and
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554:, a campaign to eradicate
479:Managing the Ford campaign
312:After having received his
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987:
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222:, was a businessman from
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149:, Benton County, Arkansas
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566:Retired in Benton County
401:Challenging Kelly Bryant
334:Atomic Energy Commission
1083:Enid High School alumni
531:In 1953, Sheets joined
452:John Paul Hammerschmidt
102:March 1, 2020 (aged 88)
1093:Educators from Indiana
1088:Baptists from Oklahoma
1048:Baptists from Arkansas
668:Business and Economics
128:Four adopted children:
23:James Lee "Jim" Sheets
789:Bella Vista, Arkansas
533:Kiwanis International
527:Kiwanis International
472:John Little McClellan
251:John Brown University
202:Years of service
180:Kiwanis International
164:John Brown University
812:in eastern Oklahoma.
750:Winthrop Rockefeller
509:Richard S. Schweiker
442:J. William Fulbright
355:Winthrop Rockefeller
344:Political activities
1068:Indiana Republicans
931:David Hampton Pryor
541:Down from the Hills
449:U.S. Representative
407:Chamber of Commerce
269:Sheets was born in
937:, even though the
715:. Westfield chapel
713:"James Lee Sheets"
558:deficiency in the
391:Nelson Rockefeller
377:, director of the
371:capital punishment
359:Reconstruction era
330:United States Army
196:United States Army
182:executive director
135:Kevin James Sheets
131:Kimberly S. Norton
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997:Succeeded by
985:Preceded by
517:Walter F. Mondale
381:, who presented "
363:George E. Nowotny
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36:for Benton County
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505:Ronald W. Reagan
468:Maurice L. Britt
419:Hempstead County
314:Bachelor of Arts
307:Enid High School
293:in southwestern
259:Democratic Party
232:Republican Party
216:James Lee Sheets
187:Military service
160:Enid High School
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69:Personal details
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84:March 29, 1931
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859:September 2,
857:. Retrieved
835:Fayetteville
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791:, June 2009.
746:Orval Faubus
729:
717:. Retrieved
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692:Conservatism
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548:Indianapolis
545:
540:
537:Orval Faubus
530:
513:Jimmy Carter
491:that met in
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439:U.S. Senator
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423:Bill Clinton
411:Kelly Bryant
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323:Mayes County
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283:Ellis County
268:
249:-affiliated
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143:Residence(s)
138:Aaron Sheets
130:
94:Kansas, U.S.
54:Succeeded by
43:
1023:2020 deaths
1018:1931 births
966:, page 104.
837:, Arkansas.
560:Third World
493:Kansas City
485:real estate
353:Sheets met
287:Pierce City
224:Bella Vista
176:Businessman
147:Bella Vista
1012:Categories
823:Laurinburg
802:missionary
699:References
367:Fort Smith
265:Background
220:Jim Sheets
170:Occupation
155:Alma mater
111:Republican
80:1931-03-29
855:. jbu.edu
806:Tahlequah
719:8 January
656:Education
596:Biography
431:Morrilton
247:Christian
205:1955-1958
44:In office
680:Politics
620:Oklahoma
460:Harrison
295:Missouri
173:Educator
125:Children
752:in the
644:Indiana
582:Portals
338:Oakland
230:in the
831:Rogers
742:Newton
738:Searcy
608:Kansas
556:iodine
552:UNICEF
319:Disney
117:Spouse
943:Agnew
939:Nixon
748:over
279:Fargo
861:2013
740:and
721:2021
515:and
507:and
501:Dole
497:Ford
458:, a
425:and
415:Hope
303:Enid
99:Died
74:Born
877:of
808:in
454:of
417:in
413:of
365:of
321:in
289:in
281:in
273:in
253:in
243:GOP
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