Changes

| name= Aylmer Lynn Lowe​

| name= Aylmer Lynn Lowe​

| birth_date=March 6, 1936​

| birth_date=March 6, 1936​

| birth_place=Texarkana, Miller County, [[Arkansas]], USA​

| birth_place=Texarkana, Miller County, [[Arkansas]], USA​

| death_date=August 14, 2010 (aged 74)​

| death_date=August 14, 2010 (aged 74)​

| death_placeGarland, Miller County, Arkansas

| death_placeGarland, Miller County, Arkansas

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'''Aylmer Lynn Lowe''', known as '''Lynn Lowe''' (March 6, 1936 &ndash; August 14, 2010),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi|title=Social Security Death Index|publisher=ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=January 31, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=12529|title=Our Campaigns: Lowe, Lynn|publisher=ourcampaigns.com|accessdate=December 27, 2009}}</ref> was an American [[farmer]] and [[politician]] from Garland in Miller County in southwestern [[Arkansas]], who was a leading figure in his state's [[Republican Party]]. He was the  [[governor|gubernatorial]] nominee in 1978 against the [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] [[Bill Clinton]], served as state party chairman from 1974 to 1980, and was the GOP candidate in Arkansas's 4th congressional district in 1966, having been defeated by the Democrat [[David Pryor]], then a state representative but a future governor of Arkansas and [[U.S. Senator]].

'''Aylmer Lynn Lowe''', known as '''Lynn Lowe''' (March 6, 1936 &ndash; August 14, 2010),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi|title=Social Security Death Index|publisher=ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=January 31, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=12529|title=Our Campaigns: Lowe, Lynn|publisher=ourcampaigns.com|accessdate=December 27, 2009}}</ref> was an American [[farmer]] and [[politician]] from Garland in Miller County in southwestern [[Arkansas]], who was a leading figure in his state's [[Republican Party]]. He was the  [[governor|gubernatorial]] nominee in 1978 against the [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] [[Bill Clinton]], served as state party chairman from 1974 to 1980, and was the GOP candidate in Arkansas's 4th congressional district in 1966, having been defeated by the Democrat [[David Pryor]], then a state representative but a future governor of Arkansas and [[U.S. Senator]].

 

==Personal life==​

==Personal life==​

Lowe was born in Texarkana in Miller County to Jesse Luther Lowe, Sr. (1890–1967), and the former Ruth McKinley (1894–1987), originally from Waldo in Nevada County in southern Arkansas. He graduated from Garland  High School and attended Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia for two years before he received in 1959 his [[Bachelor of Science]] degree in agricultural engineering from the [[University of Arkansas]] at Fayetteville. He farmed his entire life near the Red River and for a time also raised [[cattle]].​

Lowe was born in Texarkana in Miller County to Jesse Luther Lowe, Sr. (1890–1967), and the former Ruth McKinley (1894–1987), originally from Waldo in Nevada County in southern Arkansas. He graduated from Garland  High School and attended Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia for two years before he received in 1959 his Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural engineering from the [[University of Arkansas]] at Fayetteville. He farmed his entire life near the Red River and for a time also raised [[cattle]].​

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Lowe was married to the former Nedra Jean Bledsoe, originally from Boyce in northern Rapides Parish to the north of [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] in central [[Louisiana]]. The Bledsoes relocated to Miller County, where Jena's father operated a [[cotton]] gin. Lynn and Jean Lowe have a son, Michael Lynn Lowe (born 1959, also a farmer, and wife, Diana; two daughters, Ruth Evelyn Lowe of Garland City and Martha Lowe Robertson and husband, Chris, of [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]], and three grandchildren. Lynn Lowe had a surviving brother Robert McKinley Lowe of Weems, [[Virginia]], and two sisters Jean Davis of [Mesa, [[Arizona]], and Dot Fisher of Ames, [[Iowa]]. He was predeceased by a brother, Jesse Luther Lowe, Jr. Lowe was long active in the [[Missouri]] Synod of the [[Lutheran Church]] in Texarkana, [[Texas]].<ref name=obit/><ref name=lowe>Billy Hathorn, Interview with A. Lynn Lowe,  December 28, 2009.</ref>​

Lowe was married to the former Nedra Jean Bledsoe, originally from Boyce in northern Rapides Parish to the north of [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] in central [[Louisiana]]. The Bledsoes relocated to Miller County, where Jena's father operated a [[cotton]] gin. Lynn and Jean Lowe have a son, Michael Lynn Lowe (born 1959, also a farmer, and wife, Diana; two daughters, Ruth Evelyn Lowe of Garland City and Martha Lowe Robertson and husband, Chris, of [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]], and three grandchildren. Lynn Lowe had a surviving brother Robert McKinley Lowe of Weems, [[Virginia]], and two sisters Jean Davis of [Mesa, [[Arizona]], and Dot Fisher of Ames, [[Iowa]]. He was predeceased by a brother, Jesse Luther Lowe, Jr. Lowe was long active in the [[Missouri]] Synod of the [[Lutheran Church]] in Texarkana, [[Texas]].<ref name=obit/><ref name=lowe>Billy Hathorn, Interview with A. Lynn Lowe,  December 28, 2009.</ref>​

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Pryor first won a hard-fought Democratic primary against the Texarkana [[attorney]] Richard S. Arnold, then a son-in-law of the media owner Walter E. Hussman, Sr. In the general election, Pryor carried all twenty counties, including Lowe's Miller County, which gave the Republican only 46.8 percent though it had supported Republican gubernatorial nominee [[Winthrop Rockefeller]] against the more [[conservative]] Democrat (later Republican) [[James D. Johnson]]. Pryor received 86,887 votes (65 percent) to Lowe's 46,804 (35 percent).<ref>State of Arkansas, Secretary of State, Election returns, November 8, 1966.</ref> Lowe ran as a |conservative and refused to deny or confirm reports that he had formerly belonged to the [[John Birch Society]]. Lowe had told voters that they could repudiate President Johnson in 1966, when Johnson's name was not on the ballot, by supporting the Republican congressional campaign. He urged "local determination of local problems", and David Pryor stressed his record as one of the "Young Turks" of the Arkansas House of Representatives.<ref>''Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report,'' October 7, 1966, p. 2353.</ref>​

Pryor first won a hard-fought Democratic primary against the Texarkana [[attorney]] Richard S. Arnold, then a son-in-law of the media owner Walter E. Hussman, Sr. In the general election, Pryor carried all twenty counties, including Lowe's Miller County, which gave the Republican only 46.8 percent though it had supported Republican gubernatorial nominee [[Winthrop Rockefeller]] against the more [[conservative]] Democrat (later Republican) [[James D. Johnson]]. Pryor received 86,887 votes (65 percent) to Lowe's 46,804 (35 percent).<ref>State of Arkansas, Secretary of State, Election returns, November 8, 1966.</ref> Lowe ran as a |conservative and refused to deny or confirm reports that he had formerly belonged to the [[John Birch Society]]. Lowe had told voters that they could repudiate President Johnson in 1966, when Johnson's name was not on the ballot, by supporting the Republican congressional campaign. He urged "local determination of local problems", and David Pryor stressed his record as one of the "Young Turks" of the Arkansas House of Representatives.<ref>''Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report,'' October 7, 1966, p. 2353.</ref>​

 

==Gubernatorial bid==​

==Gubernatorial bid==

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In 1978, Lowe, midway in his tenure as state party chairman, ran unopposed for the party's gubernatorial nomination. No other prominent figure stepped forward for the task of challenging Bill Clinton, who had been unopposed in the general election of 1976 for the office of state attorney general. Many seemed to have thought that Clinton had won the governorship merely by winning the Democratic nomination. Clinton supported the [[Equal Rights Amendment]] to the [[United States Constitution]], which was never ratified by the Arkansas legislature or the required number of states. He declared the matter a "dead issue" in Arkansas though [[ratification]] was still being sought on the national level by the administration of President [[Jimmy Carter]].<ref>''Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report,'' May 20, 1978, p. 1233.</ref>​

In 1978, Lowe, midway in his tenure as state party chairman, ran unopposed for the party's gubernatorial nomination. No other prominent figure stepped forward for the task of challenging Bill Clinton, who had been unopposed in the general election of 1976 for the office of state attorney general. Many seemed to have thought that Clinton had won the governorship merely by winning the Democratic nomination. Clinton supported the [[Equal Rights Amendment]] to the [[United States Constitution]], which was never ratified by the Arkansas legislature or the required number of states. He declared the matter a "dead issue" in Arkansas though [[ratification]] was still being sought on the national level by the administration of President [[Jimmy Carter]].<ref>''Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report,'' May 20, 1978, p. 1233.</ref>​

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Lowe was elected state party chairman in December 1974, when the Arkansas state Senator [[Jim Caldwell]], stepped down from the unpaid position, to which he had been elected in March 1973.<ref>''Arkansas Outlook'' (Republican newsletter), May 1973</ref> Lowe defeated three candidates, Dr. Robert Luther of Arkadelphia, who later served as the party executive director; Marshall Martin of  Benton in Saline County ,party chairman and a former aide to Governor Rockefeller, and Bob Scott of Little Rock, a moderate and former Rockefeller associate.<ref>''Arkansas Outlook,'' December 1974; ''Arkansas Gazette'' (now ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette''), December 8, 1974.</ref> Though considered a conservative, Lowe was friendly with [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[Nelson Rockefeller]], Winthrop Rockefeller's older brother who had been nominated to fill the second slot by President [[Gerald Ford]], upon Ford's accession to the presidency after the resignation of President [[Richard M. Nixon]]. Lowe said that Nelson Rockefeller was popular among Arkansas Republicans because of "the feelings for his brother." Yet, Lowe said that a more conservative running mate might be needed for Ford in 1976, having foreshadowed the replacement of Nelson Rockefeller on the GOP ticket with [[Bob Dole]] of [[Kansas]].<ref>''Arkansas Outlook,'' October 1975.</ref>​

Lowe was elected state party chairman in December 1974, when the Arkansas state Senator [[Jim Caldwell]], stepped down from the unpaid position, to which he had been elected in March 1973.<ref>''Arkansas Outlook'' (Republican newsletter), May 1973</ref> Lowe defeated three candidates, Dr. Robert Luther of Arkadelphia, who later served as the party executive director; Marshall Martin of  Benton in Saline County ,party chairman and a former aide to Governor Rockefeller, and Bob Scott of Little Rock, a moderate and former Rockefeller associate.<ref>''Arkansas Outlook,'' December 1974; ''Arkansas Gazette'' (now ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette''), December 8, 1974.</ref> Though considered a conservative, Lowe was friendly with [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[Nelson Rockefeller]], Winthrop Rockefeller's older brother who had been nominated to fill the second slot by President [[Gerald Ford]], upon Ford's accession to the presidency after the resignation of President [[Richard M. Nixon]]. Lowe said that Nelson Rockefeller was popular among Arkansas Republicans because of "the feelings for his brother." Yet, Lowe said that a more conservative running mate might be needed for Ford in 1976, having foreshadowed the replacement of Nelson Rockefeller on the GOP ticket with [[Bob Dole]] of [[Kansas]].<ref>''Arkansas Outlook,'' October 1975.</ref>​

 

Lowe described Winthrop Rockefeller as "a very unusual guy with the best interest of Arkansas and its people at heart. If he made a mistake, it was not because he wanted to do so."<ref name=lowe/> Lowe said that his early years as chairman came at a time when the Arkansas GOP was "about as flat on our back as a party could be. By 1980, we had come from one state legislator to a governor, [[Frank D. White]], and two members of the U.S. House", John Paul Hammerschmidt and Edwin Ruthvin Bethune, Jr.<ref name=lowe/>

Lowe described Winthrop Rockefeller as "a very unusual guy with the best interest of Arkansas and its people at heart. If he made a mistake, it was not because he wanted to do so."<ref name=lowe/> Lowe said that his early years as chairman came at a time when the Arkansas GOP was "about as flat on our back as a party could be. By 1980, we had come from one state legislator to a governor, [[Frank D. White]], and two members of the U.S. House", John Paul Hammerschmidt and Edwin Ruthvin Bethune, Jr.<ref name=lowe/>

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Lowe's death came one month after the passing of [[Leon Griffith]], the 1976 GOP gubernatorial nominee, who was overwhelmed in that heavily Democratic year by Governor David Pryor, who had defeated Lowe for Congress a decade earlier.​

Lowe's death came one month after the passing of [[Leon Griffith]], the 1976 GOP gubernatorial nominee, who was overwhelmed in that heavily Democratic year by Governor David Pryor, who had defeated Lowe for Congress a decade earlier.​

 

==References==​

==References==

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{{reflist}}

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==External links==​

==External links==​

*{{C-SPAN|Lowe Lynn}}​

*C-SPAN|Lowe Lynn​

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