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Walking (or biking) on the University of Arkansas campus and Dickson Street is one of our favorite family activities. My family is also into political history. So, we created this walking tour to combine the two. I hope you like it! If anyone has additions or suggestions for this post, use the comments or email me directly.
REMEMBRANCES OF SENATOR WILLIAM J. FULBRIGHT
Park near the east edge of the University of Arkansas campus. (There is an inexpensive parking lot on the Southeast corner of Lafayette and Gregg Streets).
Old Main
Walk west on Lafayette Street, crossing Arkansas Avenue, up the steps onto the lawn of Old Main. At the top of the steps you will find a historical marker briefly describing Senator Fulbright’s life.
- Senator Fulbright spent his childhood in Fayetteville (mostly in a home on Mt. Nord) where his mother, Roberta, was the editor of the Northwest Arkansas Times. Fulbright played quarterback on the football team while he was a student at the University of Arkansas. Less than two decades later, he served as the University’s President.
Let the kids run around on the lawn of Old Main (which is the University’s arboretum). If the weather is nice, you will likely see college students and others walking dogs, and playing frisbee or touch football on the lawn. On the sidewalk directly in front of Old Main, notice the names etched into the walkway of the University’s earliest graduating classes.
Fulbright Statute and Peace Fountain
Walk either around or through Old Main to the building’s “back” or west side. There you will see a statute of Senator Fulbright.
- A few years after being elected to the US Senate in 1944, Fulbright co-sponsored a resolution censuring Wisconsin’s Senator Joe McCarthy (of Hollywood “black list” and anti-Communist hysteria infamy) — a gutsy move at the time.
To the west of the Fulbright Statute is the Fay Jones-designed Fulbright Peace Fountain.
- Senator Fulbright chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — which represented the center of national debate over foreign policy and particularly the Vietnam War in the late 60’s and early 70’s.
- Of course, Fulbright sponsored the bill that created the Fulbright Program for International Exchange, which has benefited hundreds of thousands of scholars from the US and more than 50 other countries.
Walk to Dickson Street for lunch or a snack. You have several options, including Smiling Jack’s Sandwich Shop (just behind the Dickson Street Bookshop), the Flying Burrito or Haagen-daz ice cream.
Fulbright Grave site
Return to the intersection of Dickson Street and University Avenue. Head south on University Avenue, a half-block to the historic Evergreen Cemetery. Turn right on the small alley called Whiteside Drive. The cemetery (which will be on your left) has two entrances on the north side. Use the second entrance.
After you walk through the gates, immediately turn right (West) and pass through the grave sites.
- You will get a sense of this cemetery’s historical significance as you pass markers of a few of Fayetteville’s famous names like Lemke, Campbell, and McIlroy.
Walking about 40 yards west, you will arrive at the Fulbright family site, and see the stone marking the life of Senator Fulbright who died in 1995 at the age of 90.
If you are interested in learning more about Fulbright, purchase University of Arkansas Professor Randall Woods’ definitive work on the Senator — Fulbright: A Biography. The first chapters of the book, in particular, provide a good flavor of Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas in the first half of the 20th century. You could also borrow from the library or purchase Senator Fulbright’s own book, The Arrogance of Power, which addresses issues of foreign wars and international diplomacy.
Finally, you might decide later to ask for an introduction with the University of Arkansas’ Woods, the Fulbright biographer, or Hoyt Purvis, a long-time aide to the Senator. Both of these men teach at the University and are a wealth of knowledge in many historical and political subjects, including Senator Fulbright.
Hopefully, this short tour will show you that Bill Clinton was not Arkansas’ first contribution to national politics — but he did get his first job on Capitol Hill from Senator Fulbright in 1966. Of course, that’s an entirely different story . . .
