Changes

==One last race==

==One last race==

In 1968, Bennett sought a comeback in the Democratic gubernatorial primary on the theme that Winthrop Rockefeller had become "an expensive luxury which the state of Arkansas can no longer afford," a reference to state financial shortfalls.<ref>''Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report,'' July 19, 1968, p. 1826.</ref> Bennett finished a weak fourth in the primary, with 65,905 votes (15.7 percent).<ref>Arkansas Secretary of State, Primary Election Returns, 1968.</ref> The winner of the gubernatorial nomination, State Representative Marion H. Crank of Foreman in Little River County, defeated in a heated runoff contest Virginia Morris Johnson, Jim Johnson's wife and the first woman ever to seek the Arkansas governorship.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?search=1&entryID=1167|title=Virginia Lillian Morris Johnson (1928–2007)|publisher=encyclopediaofarkansas.net|accessdate=October 22, 2019}}</ref> Crank went on to lose narrowly to Rockefeller in November general election; then Rockefeller was defeated for a third term in 1970 by [[Dale Bumpers]].​

In 1968, Bennett sought a comeback in the Democratic gubernatorial primary on the theme that Winthrop Rockefeller had become "an expensive luxury which the state of Arkansas can no longer afford," a reference to state financial shortfalls.<ref>''Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report,'' July 19, 1968, p. 1826.</ref> Bennett finished a weak fourth in the primary, with 65,905 votes (15.7 percent).<ref>Arkansas Secretary of State, Primary Election Returns, 1968.</ref> The winner of the gubernatorial nomination, State Representative Marion H. Crank of Foreman in Little River County, defeated in a heated runoff contest Virginia Morris Johnson, Jim Johnson's wife and the first woman ever to seek the Arkansas governorship.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?search=1&entryID=1167|title=Virginia Lillian Morris Johnson (1928–2007)|publisher=encyclopediaofarkansas.net|accessdate=October 22, 2019}}</ref> Crank went on to lose narrowly to Rockefeller in November general election; then Rockefeller was defeated for a third term in 1970 by [[Dale Bumpers]].

 

==Later years==​

==Later years==​

Bennett had helped to found the Arkansas Loan and Thrift Company, which collapsed by scandal from within its ranks. AL&T padded officers’ accounts by soliciting investors for disputed industrial development projects. Company executives profited while investors were ruined by the bankruptcy of the firm in 1967. While attorney general, Bennett protected the company from state regulation in an opinion which declared it beyond the scope of state securities laws. In 1969, Bennett was charged with twenty-eight counts of securities violations and postal and wire fraud. However, a ten-year struggle with throat[[ cancer]] prevented him from facing trial.<ref name=ency/>

Bennett had helped to found the Arkansas Loan and Thrift Company, which collapsed by scandal from within its ranks. AL&T padded officers’ accounts by soliciting investors for disputed industrial development projects. Company executives profited while investors were ruined by the bankruptcy of the firm in 1967. While attorney general, Bennett protected the company from state regulation in an opinion which declared it beyond the scope of state securities laws. In 1969, Bennett was charged with twenty-eight counts of securities violations and postal and wire fraud. However, a ten-year struggle with throat[[ cancer]] prevented him from facing trial.<ref name=ency/>