Lee Cazort

William Lee Cazort, Sr.
7th Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas
In office
January 9, 1933[1] – January 11, 1937[2]
Governor Junius Marion Futrell
Preceded by Lawrence Wilson[3]
Succeeded by Robert L. Bailey[4]
5th Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas
In office
January 14, 1929[5] – January 12, 1931[6]
Governor Harvey Parnell
Preceded by Harvey Parnell
Succeeded by Lawrence Wilson
Member of the Arkansas Senate
from the Fourth district
In office
January 13, 1919[7] – January 8, 1923[8]
Preceded by J. M. Barker[9]
Succeeded by Robert Bailey[10]
41st Speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives
In office
January 8, 1917[11] – January 13, 1919[12]
Preceded by L. E. Sawyer[13]
Succeeded by C. P. Newton[14]
Member of the Arkansas House of Representatives
from the Johnson County district
In office
January 11, 1915[15] – January 13, 1919[16]
Preceded by Heartsill Ragon[17]
Succeeded by E. T. McConnell[18]
Personal details
Born (1887-12-03)December 3, 1887
Lamar, Arkansas, USA
Died October 6, 1969(1969-10-06) (aged 81)
Little Rock, Arkansas
Resting place Oakland Cemetery in Little Rock
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Rachel Cora Cline Cazort (married 1916)
Children

Four children, all deceased:
William L. Cazort, Jr. (died 1999)
Bettie Belle Cazort Vaughan Emery Stover (1918–2011)
Cornelia Cazort Phillips

Ronald Cazort
Alma mater

Hendrix College
University of Arkansas

Washington and Lee University School of Law
Profession Lawyer; Businessman

William Lee Cazort, Sr. (December 3, 1887 – October 6, 1969), was a lawyer and Democratic politician from Johnson County in the Arkansas River Valley. Winning a seat in the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1915, Cazort would become a rising star in Arkansas politics for the next eight years. He was defeated in the 1924 Democratic gubernatorial primary, but would go on to serve as the fifth and seventh Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas from 1929 to 1931 under Governor Harvey Parnell and from 1933 to 1937 under Governor Junius Marion Futrell. Cazort also sought the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1930 and 1936, but failed to gain necessary statewide support and withdrew before the primary both times.

Early life

One of eight children, Cazort was born in Johnson County near Cabin Creek, now Lamar, the son of John Robert Cazort and the former Belle Gardner. His father held interests in land, lumber, cotton, livestock, and mercantile trade.The family-owned Cazort Brothers operated throughout Arkansas and into neighboring states. Cazort attended the public school in Lamar but graduated from high school in Fort Smith, the seat of Sebastian County and traditionally the second-largest city in the state. From 1903 to 1904, Cazort attended Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas. In 1907, he enrolled at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. In 1910, he received his legal degree from Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington, Virginia. He practiced law in Fort Smith and maintained orchards on Big Danger Mountain in Johnson County.[19] In 1916, Cazort married the former Rachel Cline of Newton County.

Political career

Prior to his tenure as lieutenant governor, Cazort served in both the Arkansas House of Representatives from Johnson County and the Arkansas Senate from Johnson and Pope counties. While in the House, he introduced what became the Tick Eradication Act and sponsored legislation which provide taxpayer-funded textbooks for the first eight grades in Arkansas public schools. From 1917 to 1919, Cazort was Speaker of the Arkansas House. At twenty-nine, he was in 1917 the youngest ever Arkansas House Speaker; at thirty-three in 1921, he was the youngest ever State Senate President.[19]

After his service as state senator ended in 1922, Cazort returned to his law practice in Little Rock. Much of his early practice centered on representing veterans of World War I with insurance claims.

1924 gubernatorial bid

He lost in 1924 to Tom Terral, when the Ku Klux Klan was the overwhelming state issue. Cazort and rival Terral carried Klan support. A third candidate John Ellis Martineau, ran without Klan backing and lost but two years later in 1926 unseated Governor Terral, one of the few chief executives in Arkansas to serve only a single two-year term.

Lieutenant governor and 1930 gubernatorial bid

In 1930, as the sitting lieutenant governor, and with the KKK no longer an issue, Cazort challenged Governor Parnell. He questioned Parnell's spending and cronyism in the state highway department. Prior to the primary, Cazort withdrew to support Brooks Hays, later a U.S. Representative from Little Rock. Parnell was also Cazort's predecessor as lieutenant governor. Cazort was again elected lieutenant governor in 1932 and 1934, when he drew no opposition.

1936 gubernatorial bid

In 1936, Cazort once more ran for governor but again withdrew from the race when Carl Edward Bailey gained the advantage.[19]

After he left the lieutenant governorship for the final time, he was from 1937 to 1962 a bankruptcy referee for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Cazort died in a Little Rock hospital in 1969 and is interred there at Oakland Cemetery.[19]

Personal

The couple had four children, all now deceased: William L. Cazort, Jr. (died 1999), Bettie Belle Cazort Vaughan Emery Stover (1918–2011), Cornelia Cazort Phillips, and Ronald Cazort. A former resident of Wynne and a one-time employee of the Arkansas Legislative Council, Bettie Stover was the Cross County chairman of the Winthrop Rockefeller gubernatorial campaigns.[20]

References

  1. ↑ "SOS" (1998), p. 287.
  2. ↑ "SOS" (1998), p. 290.
  3. ↑ "SOS" (1998), p. 285.
  4. ↑ "SOS" (1998), p. 290.
  5. ↑ "SOS" (1998), pp. 283.
  6. ↑ "SOS" (1998), pp. 285.
  7. ↑ "SOS" (1998), p. 275.
  8. ↑ "SOS" (1998), p. 278.
  9. ↑ "SOS" (1998), p. 275.
  10. ↑ "SOS" (1998), p. 278.
  11. ↑ "SOS" (1998), pp. 273-274.
  12. ↑ "SOS" (1998), p. 275.
  13. ↑ "SOS" (1998), p. 272.
  14. ↑ "SOS" (1998), p. 276.
  15. ↑ "SOS" (1998), pp. 271-273.
  16. ↑ "SOS" (1998), p. 275.
  17. ↑ "SOS" (1998), p. 271.
  18. ↑ "SOS" (1998), p. 276.
  19. 1 2 3 4 "William Lee Cazort (1887-1969)". encyclopediaofarkansas.net. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  20. ↑ "Bettie Belle Cazort Vaughan Emery Stover". ruebelfuneralhome.com. Retrieved April 15, 2012.

  • Priest, Sharon (1998). Runnells, Jonathan, ed. Historical Report of the Arkansas Secretary of State. Office of the Arkansas Secretary of State. OCLC 40157815.
Political offices
Preceded by
Lawrence Wilson		 Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas
January 9, 1933 – January 11, 1937		 Succeeded by
Robert L. Bailey
Preceded by
Harvey Parnell		 Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas
January 14, 1929 – January 12, 1931		 Succeeded by
Lawrence Wilson
Preceded by
Harry L. Ponder		 President of the Arkansas State Senate
1921 – 1922		 Succeeded by
Jacob R. Wilson
Preceded by
J. M. Barker		 Arkansas Senate
Fourth District
January 13, 1919 – January 8, 1923		 Succeeded by
Robert Bailey
Preceded by
L. E. Sawyer		 Speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives
January 8, 1917 – January 13, 1919		 Succeeded by
C. P. Newton
Preceded by
Heartsill Ragon		 Arkansas House of Representatives
Johnson County District
January 11, 1915 – January 13, 1919		 Succeeded by
E. T. McConnell
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