John Ellis Martineau

John Ellis Martineau (December 2, 1873 – March 6, 1937) was the 28th governor of Arkansas and was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. His term as Governor was marked by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, with Martineau serving as President of the Tri-State Flood Commission.

Education and career

Born on December 2, 1873, in Clay County, Missouri,<ref name="fjc.gov">Template:Cite web</ref> to Sarah Hetty Lamb and Gregory Martineau, a farmer recently arrived from Quebec, Canada,<ref name="encyclopediaofarkansas.net">Template:Cite web</ref> Martineau received an Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1896 from the Arkansas Industrial University (now the University of Arkansas) and a Bachelor of Laws in 1899 from the University of Arkansas School of Law.<ref name="fjc.gov"/> He entered private practice in Little Rock, Arkansas starting in 1899.<ref name="fjc.gov"/> He was a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1903 to 1905.<ref name="fjc.gov"/> He was a Chancellor for the Arkansas Chancery Court for the First Chancery District from 1907 to 1927.<ref name="fjc.gov"/>

Grant of habeas corpus

While serving on the chancery court, Martineau issued a writ of habeas corpus for defendants in the criminal prosecutions arising out of the Elaine Race Riot in Phillips County in eastern Arkansas.<ref name="encyclopediaofarkansas.net"/> Although the Arkansas Supreme Court later vacated that order, it allowed the defendants enough time to avoid execution and to seek habeas corpus relief in federal court.<ref name="encyclopediaofarkansas.net"/> Their guilty verdicts were eventually reversed by the United States Supreme Court in its decision in Moore v. Dempsey.<ref name="encyclopediaofarkansas.net"/>

Gubernatorial service

Martineau ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Arkansas in the 1924 Democratic primary.<ref name="encyclopediaofarkansas.net"/> In 1926, he unseated in the primary the one-term incumbent Tom Jefferson Terral and then defeated in the general election the Republican attorney Drew Bowers, originally from Pocahontas in Randolph County, in northeastern Arkansas.<ref name="encyclopediaofarkansas.net"/> Martineau received 76.5 percent of the vote to Bowers's 23.6 percent.Template:Citation needed Bowers was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas in both the Coolidge and Eisenhower administrations.Template:Citation needed Martineau left office early to accept a federal judgeship.<ref name="encyclopediaofarkansas.net"/>

Achievements as governor

Martineau was the first Governor of Arkansas to broadcast his inaugural address on radio.<ref name="encyclopediaofarkansas.net"/> The Martineau administration established a Confederate pensions board and authorized state aid to cities for highway construction through the Martineau Road Plan.<ref name="encyclopediaofarkansas.net"/> Martineau was forced to deal with a major crisis when the Mississippi River broke free of its banks and covered 13 percent of the state during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.<ref name="encyclopediaofarkansas.net"/> Martineau was named President of the Tri-State Flood Commission.<ref name="encyclopediaofarkansas.net"/> In May 1927, Martineau called out the National Guard in response to the lynching of an African-American prisoner by a mob of 2,000 to 5,000 people in Little Rock.<ref name="encyclopediaofarkansas.net"/> Martineau earned the reputation of fairness, integrity, and as a progressive politician.<ref name="encyclopediaofarkansas.net"/> His role in state politics and effective management of crisis situations further secured his reputation as one of Arkansas better governors and brought him national attention.<ref name="encyclopediaofarkansas.net"/>

Federal judicial service

Martineau was nominated by President Calvin Coolidge on March 2, 1928, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas vacated by Judge Jacob Trieber.<ref name="fjc.gov"/> He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 2, 1928, and received his commission the same day.<ref name="fjc.gov"/> His service terminated on March 6, 1937, due to his death.<ref name="fjc.gov"/> He was interred in Roselawn Memorial Park in Little Rock.<ref name=PG/>

Memberships

Martineau was a member of the secret society, Knights of Pythias, and the fraternal organization of the Freemasons<ref name=PG>Template:Cite web</ref> Martineau is an 1894 initiate of Kappa Sigma - Xi chapter at the University of Arkansas.<ref name="auto">Xi Chapter: Century of Tradition at the University of Arkansas</ref> Contemporaries of Martineau at Xi Chapter included future State Senator and acting Arkansas Governor Xenophon Overton Pindall, future acting Governor Michael Pleasant Huddleston, future Federal Judge Thomas Clark Trimble III, and future Congressman and Federal Judge Samuel Billingsley Hill.<ref name="auto"/>

See also

• List of governors of Arkansas
• Moore v. Dempsey

External links

• Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture entry: John Ellis Martineau