He was the Speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1963 to 1964[1] and his party's gubernatorial nominee in 1968, but he was narrowly defeated by the incumbent Republican Winthrop Rockefeller.
In the general election campaign, Crank accused Rockefeller of fiscal irresponsibility and noted the addition of 1,700 state government employees since January 1967.
Another daughter, 14-year-old Margaret, was on the payroll, as was Crank's 18-year-old son, Robert, a student at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, the legislative sergeant-at-arms.
[6] In a television address Crank conceded these payments and contrasted his modest personal background with that of his wealthy opponent: "Neither could I afford to send my children to an expensive private school in Switzerland, as Mr. Rockefeller did with his son (later Lieutenant Governor Winthrop Paul Rockefeller).
Crank noted that Lieutenant Governor Maurice Britt's brother worked for the Arkansas Department of Revenue.
And, a Democrat former legislative colleague, Jerry Thomasson of Arkadelphia, who switched parties to run twice for attorney general, had placed his own wife on the state payroll.
[10] Fulbright, nationally known for his opposition to the Vietnam War, handily defeated the conservative Republican Charles T. Bernard for the U.S. Senate.
[11] Years after his active political career, Crank in 1991 was a campaign donor to fellow Democrat Bill Clinton, the only Arkansan thus far to become U.S.