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==Background==

==Background==

Sheets was born in Arkansas City in Cowley County in southeastern [[Kansas]], to June P. Sheets (1903-1982), originally from Fargo in Ellis County in northwestern [[Oklahoma]], and the former Mae Robinson (1904-2002), a native of Pierce City in Lawrence County in southwestern [[Missouri]]. June Sheets was employed in Arkansas City as an agent for the former Frisco Railroad, but he was transferred as a dispatcher in 1943 to Enid in northern Oklahoma. Therefore, Jim Sheets graduated in 1949 from Enid High School.<ref name=statement/><ref>Jim Sheets had a sister, Jenta D. Strombeck (1928-2007), a missionary who spent her last years in Tahlequah in Cherokee County in eastern Oklahoma.</ref>

Sheets was born in Arkansas City in Cowley County in southeastern [[Kansas]], to June P. Sheets (1903-1982), originally from Fargo in Ellis County in northwestern [[Oklahoma]], and the former Mae Robinson (1904-2002), a native of Pierce City in Lawrence County in southwestern [[Missouri]]. June Sheets was employed in Arkansas City as an agent for the former Frisco Railroad, but he was transferred as a dispatcher in 1943 to Enid in northern Oklahoma. Therefore, Jim Sheets graduated in 1949 from Enid High School.<ref name=statement/><ref>Jim Sheets had a sister, Jenta D. Strombeck (1928-2007), a missionary who spent her last years in Tahlequah in Cherokee County in eastern Oklahoma.</ref>

==Political activities==

==Political activities==

In 1953, Sheets joined Kiwanis International; 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 [[Orval E. Faubus]], Sheets encountered Faubus thereafter on several occasions while Faubus was peddling his scrapbook memoirs, ''Down from the Hills.'' “I had no problems with Faubus. He was amicable. Many of the things he did were what the people of Arkansas then wanted," Sheets recalls.<ref name=statement/>  

In 1953, Sheets joined Kiwanis International; 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 [[Orval E. Faubus]], Sheets encountered Faubus thereafter on several occasions while Faubus was peddling his scrapbook memoirs, ''Down from the Hills.'' “I had no problems with Faubus. He was amicable. Many of the things he did were what the people of Arkansas then wanted," Sheets recalls.<ref name=statement/>  

===Relationship with Rockefeller===

===Relationship with Rockefeller===

===Challenging Kelly Bryant===

===Challenging Kelly Bryant===

Upon leaving John Brown University in 1969, Sheets became the full-time executive director of the Siloam Springs [[Chamber of Commerce]]<ref name=statement/> but the next year he was back in politics as the Republican nominee against the Democratic Secretary of State, Kelly Bryant of Hope in Hempstead County in south Arkansas. Hope is also the hometown of later Governors [[Bill Clinton]] and [[Mike Huckabee]]. In that 1970 campaign, Sheets was invited to ride on Rockefeller’s helicopter.<ref name=statement/>  He won majorities in his own Benton County and the usually Republican Searcy County. By a single vote, Sheets lost in Washington County, where many of the local Democrats were also political reformers.  Official results showed Bryant with 360,209 (62.3 percent) to Sheets’ 216,752 (37.7 percent).<ref>Arkansas Secretary of State, Election results for November 5, 1970</ref>

Upon leaving John Brown University in 1969, Sheets became the full-time executive director of the Siloam Springs [[Chamber of Commerce]]<ref name=statement/> but the next year he was back in politics as the Republican nominee against the Democratic Secretary of State, Kelly Bryant of Hope in Hempstead County in south Arkansas. Hope is also the hometown of later Governors [[Bill Clinton]] and [[Mike Huckabee]]. In that 1970 campaign, Sheets was invited to ride on Rockefeller’s helicopter.<ref name=statement/>  He won majorities in his own Benton County and the usually Republican Searcy County. By a single vote, Sheets lost in Washington County, where many of the local Democrats were also political reformers.  Official results showed Bryant with 360,209 (62.3 percent) to Sheets’ 216,752 (37.7 percent).<ref>Arkansas Secretary of State, Election results for November 5, 1970</ref>

===Managing the Ford campaign===

===Managing the Ford campaign===

By the mid-1970s, Sheets had left the chamber of commerce position and was engaged in [[real estate]] in Siloam Springs. He was an alternate delegate to the 1976 Republican National Convention that met in [[Kansas City]], Missouri, to nominate the ticket of [[Gerald Ford]], and [[Robert Dole]], narrowly preferred by the delegates over the rival slate of [[Ronald Reagan]] and Richard S. Schweiker,  then a U.S. senator from [[Pennsylvania]]. Dole took the second spot with Ford as Nelson Rockefeller had earlier withdrawn from contention. Sheets was the Arkansas state campaign for Ford-Dole, with his counterpart for [[Jimmy Carter]] and [[Walter Mondale]]  having been Bill Clinton, who ran unopposed that year for the office of Arkansas attorney general. Although Sheets visited most of the counties in the campaign, Ford polled only 35 percent of the vote in Arkansas, with the Republican strength confined to its traditional stronghold, the northwest quadrant of the state.<ref>Arkansas election returns, November 4, 1976</ref>

By the mid-1970s, Sheets had left the chamber of commerce position and was engaged in real estate in Siloam Springs. He was an alternate delegate to the 1976 Republican National Convention that met in [[Kansas City]], Missouri, to nominate the ticket of [[Gerald Ford]], and [[Robert Dole]], narrowly preferred by the delegates over the rival slate of [[Ronald Reagan]] and Richard S. Schweiker,  then a U.S. senator from [[Pennsylvania]]. Dole took the second spot with Ford as Nelson Rockefeller had earlier withdrawn from contention. Sheets was the Arkansas state campaign for Ford-Dole, with his counterpart for [[Jimmy Carter]] and [[Walter Mondale]]  having been Bill Clinton, who ran unopposed that year for the office of Arkansas attorney general. Although Sheets visited most of the counties in the campaign, Ford polled only 35 percent of the vote in Arkansas, with the Republican strength confined to its traditional stronghold, the northwest quadrant of the state.<ref>Arkansas election returns, November 4, 1976</ref>

==Kiwanis International==

==Kiwanis International==

In 1982, Sheets left Siloam Springs to become executive director of the Kiwanis International Foundation, based in [[Indianapolis]], 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 United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, a campaign to eradicate [[iodine]] deficiency in the [[Third World]].<ref name=statement/>

In 1982, Sheets left Siloam Springs to become executive director of the Kiwanis International Foundation, based in [[Indianapolis]], 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 United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, a campaign to eradicate [[iodine]] deficiency in the [[Third World]].<ref name=statement/>

==References==

==References==

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