GOVERNOR FRANCIS ADAMS CHERRY - AUTOGRAPH - HFSID 70528

FRANCIS ADAMS CHERRY, SR.

The 35th Governor of Arkansas signs this 3½x2¼ card in black ink

Signature: “Francis Cherry” in black ink. 3½x2¼. Francis Adams Cherry (1908-1965) was the 35th governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas who was elected as a Democrat for a single two-year term from 1953 to 1955. He was born in Fort Worth, Texas but grew up in El Reno and Enid, Oklahoma and graduated from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater in 1930. In 1932 Cherry moved to Fayetteville to attend the University of Arkansas Law School and received his law degree four years later; then he moved to Jonesboro in northeastern Arkansas to establish a law practice. In 1942 Cherry was elected chancellor and probate judge of the 12th Judicial District, which included Clay, Crittenden, Greene, Craighead, Mississippi and Poinsett counties. During World War II Cherry waived his judicial immunity and applied for a commission in the United States Navy and served for the last two years of the war. Francis Adams Cherry was selected governor of Arkansas in 1952 after defeating the two-term incumbent Sidney Sanders McMath in the primary. He then overwhelmed the Republican candidate, Jefferson W. Speck. His administration was responsible for establishing the Department of Finance and Administration and promoted industrial development. He was only the second governor in Arkansas history to have been denied a second term, so after his governorship, Republican U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Cherry, a staunch anti-communist, to head the Subversive Activities Control Board, a position that continued under Democratic Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Following a heart operation in Houston in 1963, Francis Adams Cherry was not able to devote full-time to his duties but went to his office in Washington, District of Columbia., several times a week. Cherry died in Washington, District of Columbia on July 15, 1965. Lightly toned. Typed notations on front (unknown hand). Otherwise, fine condition.