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'''Louis Leon Griffith''' (January 19, 1936 &ndash; July 13, 2010) was a master [[plumber]]<ref>''Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report'', May 15, 1976, p. 1220</ref> from [[North Little Rock, Arkansas|North Little Rock]], who was the [[Arkansas]] [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[gubernatorial]] [[nominee]] in 1976, losing the election to [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[incumbent]] [[Governor]] David Hampton Pryor.

'''Louis Leon Griffith''' (January 19, 1936 &ndash; July 13, 2010) was a master [[plumber]]<ref>''Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report'', May 15, 1976, p. 1220</ref> from North Little Rock, who was the [[Arkansas]] [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[Governor|gubernatorial]] nominee in 1976, losing the election to [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[incumbent]] [[Governor]] David Hampton Pryor.

Griffith was born in Almyra, a small town in Arkansas Count in the eastern portion of the state. to the late Henry T. Griffith and the former Lennie Opal Golden, later Lennie Davis (1914–2008).<ref name=obit>Death of Leon Griffith, ''The Pine Bluff Commercial'', July 13, 2010.</ref>

Griffith was born in Almyra, a small town in Arkansas Count in the eastern portion of the state. to the late Henry T. Griffith and the former Lennie Opal Golden, later Lennie Davis (1914–2008).<ref name=obit>Death of Leon Griffith, ''The Pine Bluff Commercial'', July 13, 2010.</ref>

==1976 gubernatorial candidacy==

==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 Eugene 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.<ref>''Ripon Forum'', XII (June 15, 1976), p. 2.</ref>

Even after Griffith's entry into the gubernatorial race, reports surfaced that the GOP leadership had earlier approached former Democratic Governor Orval Eugene 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.<ref>''Ripon Forum'', XII (June 15, 1976), p. 2.</ref>

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.<ref>CQWR, May 15, 1976, p. 1220.</ref>

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.<ref>CQWR, May 15, 1976, p. 1220.</ref>