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Louis Leon Griffith (January 19, 1936 – July 13, 2010) was a master plumber〔''Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report'', May 15, 1976, p. 1220〕 from North Little Rock, who was the Arkansas Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1976, losing the election to Democratic incumbent Governor David H. Pryor. Griffith was born in Almyra, a small town in Arkansas County in eastern Arkansas, to the late Henry T. Griffith and the former Lennie Opal Golden, later Lennie Davis (1914–2008).〔Death of Leon Griffith, ''The Pine Bluff Commercial'', July 13, 2010〕 ==1976 gubernatorial candidacy== Even after Griffith's entry into the gubernatorial race, reports surfaced that the GOP leadership had earlier approached former Democratic Governor Orval E. Faubus, who had lost to Pryor in the 1974 primary, about switching parties and running again for governor in the 1976 general election. The liberal Republican Ripon Society, which had supported former Republican Governor Winthrop Rockefeller, termed the suggestion, if true, "an ignominious end to the reform heritage" that the GOP had earlier championed in Arkansas. Faubus and Republican leaders denied that such talk ever even occurred.〔''Ripon Forum'', XII (June 15, 1976), p. 2〕 To make the race against Pryor, the GOP had recruited James E. "Jim" Lindsey (born 1944), an insurance broker then from Fayetteville and a former football player for the University of Arkansas and the Minnesota Vikings. Lindsay, however, filed as a Democrat and ran as a conservative against Pryor, under whom there had been a 20 percent increase in violent crime in Arkansas during 1975. After Lindsay declined the Republican offer, the party permitted Griffith to run as an essentially placeholder nominee.〔CQWR, May 15, 1976, p. 1220〕 Before carrying the Republican banner, however, Griffith first had to defeat maverick Republican Joseph H. Weston of Cave City, editor of the ''Sharp Citizen'', a mimeographed newspaper that often criticized local and state officials for alleged corruption. Weston, whose work had led to a change in Arkansas libel law, embarrassed the GOP with his peculiar antics. He told a group of farmers that World War III had begun and that they should lay up provisions.〔''CQWR, May 15, 1976, p. 1220; May 29, 1976, p. 1393〕 In 1974, Weston had opposed in the primary the Republican gubernatorial nominee, Ken Coon, whom Pryor, as a former U.S. representative, had handily defeated in the general election that year. Griffith polled 15,500 votes (59.5 percent) to Weston's 10,540 (40.5 percent).〔State of Arkansas, Secretary of State, Primary election returns, 1976〕 The Griffith-Weston race drew more than four times the participation of the Coon-Weston primary two years earlier, a factor attributed to the presidential primary between Ronald W. Reagan and Gerald R. Ford, Jr. During his campaign, Griffith relocated from Pine Bluff to North Little Rock. He complained about his lack of media coverage and small campaign coffers. At one point, Griffith threatened to withdraw from the race unless he received more funding from the party. He ultimately spent less than $10,000 on the race and depended almost entirely on the small staff at state headquarters in Little Rock.〔CQWR, October 9, 1976, p. 2756〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Leon Griffith」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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