Orval Eugene Faubus

Faubus' name became internationally known during the Little Rock Crisis of 1957, when he used the National Guard to stop African Americans from attending Little Rock Central High School as part of federally ordered racial desegregation. His strong stand on this issue may seem surprising considering Faubus' 1954 run for governor as a progressive candidate promising to increase spending on schools and roads. During the first few months of his administration, Faubus desegregated state buses and public transportation and began to investigate the possibility of introducing multi-racial schools.

However, by the start of 1957, Faubus had obtained legislative passage of a controversial tax to increase teacher salaries, and he faced a primary election challenge from James Douglas "Jim" Johnson of Conway, the segregationist leader of conservatives.

Critics have long charged that Faubus' fight in Little Rock against the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that separate schools were inherently unequal, was politically motivated. The ensuing battle helped to shield him from the political fallout from the tax increase, and to diminish Johnson's appeal.

Journalist Harry Ashmore (who won a Pulitzer Prize for his columns on the subject) portrayed the fight over Central High as a crisis manufactured by Faubus. Ashmore said that Faubus used the Guard to keep blacks out of Central High School because he was frustrated by the success his political opponents were having in using segregationist rhetoric to arouse white voters.

Faubus' decision led to a showdown with President Dwight Eisenhower and former Governor Sid McMath. In October 1957 Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard and ordered them to return to their armories which effectively removed them from Faubus' control. Eisenhower then sent elements of the 101st Airborne Division to Arkansas to protect the black students and enforce the Federal court order. In retaliation, Faubus shut down Little Rock high schools for the 1958-1959 school year. This is often referred to as "The Lost Year" in Little Rock.

Though Faubus later lost general popularity as a result of his stand against desegregation, at the time he was included among the "Ten Men in the World Most Admired by Americans", according to the Gallup Poll for 1958. This dichotomy was later summed up as follows: Faubus was both the "best loved" and "most hated" of Arkansas politicians of the second half of the twentieth century.

Orval Faubus died of prostate cancer, with his third wife Jan, a former teacher whom he married in 1986, at his side. She was the former Janice A. Hines Wittenburg (January 23, 1943 - April 6, 1996), herself a cancer victim. Survivors included his stepson, Jeff L. Wittenburg (born ca. 1971) of Fayetteville, a stepdaughter, Donita Jan Wittenburg Cyr (born ca. 1967) of Conway; a brother, Doyle Faubus of Fayetteville; three sisters, Connie Tucker of Elkins, Cressye Buckingham of Bridgeport, Washington (July 31, 1916 - July 1995), and Bonnie Saleldo of Madera, California; three granddaughters, Fara Elizabeth Faubus of Seattle and Ellen Faubus Kreth of Little Rock (daughters of Farrell and Martha Jo Faubus) and Ashley Cyr of Conway.

The body lay in state on December 15, 1994, in the rotunda of the Arkansas State Capitol. Services were held, first on December 16, at the Second Baptist Church in Conway and, then on December 17, at the First Baptist Church of Huntsville. Faubus is interred in Orval Faubus Memorial Gardens in Combs near his parents and two infants of his and his first wife, the former Celia Alta Haskins. Jan and Alta became friends over the years and sat together at the funeral.