Dale Leon Bumpers (August 12, 1925 – January 1, 2016) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 38th Governor of Arkansas (1971–1975) and in the United States Senate (1975–1999).

He was counsel at the Washington office of law firm Arent Fox LLP, where his clients included Riceland Foods and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Bumpers's parents died five days apart in March 1949 of injuries sustained in an automobile accident; the couple are interred at Nixon Cemetery in Franklin County.

However, his oratorical skills, personal charm, and outsider image put him in a runoff election for the Democratic nomination with former governor Orval Faubus.

His victory over Rockefeller ushered in a new era of youthful reform-minded governors, including two of his successors, David Pryor (who would later serve alongside Bumpers in the Senate) and future U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Dan Durning reports that Bumpers' foremost objective was to streamline the state government by reducing the number of agencies under his office.

In a special session in 1972, significant programs were approved to upgrade county social services for the elderly, the handicapped, and the mentally disabled.

Nonetheless, Bumpers' proposals to allocate $10 million for the purchase of wilderness and scenic lands, and to approve the Equal Rights Amendment for women, were both turned down by the legislature.

Secondly, the newly elected general assembly in 1971 was more open to change than previous ones, owing to new members especially from cities, and the decline of the old guard men from rural counties.

He unseated the long-term incumbent J. William Fulbright in the Democratic primary by a wide margin and then faced the Republican banker John Harris Jones.

Jones accused Bumpers of excessive spending as governor, citing the construction of a $186 million state office complex.

Time magazine wrote that "many to their sorrow have had trouble taking Bumpers seriously ... Dandy Dale, the man with one speech, a shoeshine, and a smile.

"[13] Clark questioned Bumpers's opposition to school prayer and support for the Panama Canal Treaties of 1978, an issue which Reagan had used against President Jimmy Carter as well.

Clark further claimed that Bumpers had derided citizens of Newton County, a frequent Republican stronghold in Arkansas, as "stupid hill people".

"[15] Unlike Bumpers, Bill Clinton lost in the Reagan electoral vote landslide, temporarily sidelined by the Republican Frank D. White.

In 1992, after besting State Auditor Julia Hughes Jones with 64 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary, he defeated future governor Mike Huckabee in the general election.

Many observers felt that Bumpers perhaps lacked the obsessive ambition required of a presidential candidate, especially one who would have started out the process with low name identification.

It is a legitimate request.In 1995, the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville founded the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences in his honor.

[22] Bumpers opposed constitutional amendments throughout his Senate tenure and was critical of his Republican colleague Jesse Helms for attempting that route to enact conservative policy proposals.

In the 1986 revised edition of the novel, Archer replaced Kennedy with the fictional character of Florentyna Kane, and Bumpers with the real-life Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey.