A Look Back at Dale Bumpers

By Roll Call Staff

Posted January 5, 2016 at 3:17pm

Dale Bumpers, a reformist governor in Arkansas and four-term senator known for his wit and oratorical skills, as well as his passionate defense of President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial, died on Jan. 1 at age 90.

Sen. Dale Bumpers, left, has the ear of first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at a Small Business Committee lunch in August 1993. (Chris Martin/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Bumpers was best known in the Senate for his oratory, which he used in a passionate closing argument for Clinton in his impeachment trial on charges of lying under oath about his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky.

After retiring from the Senate, Bumpers was a lobbyist with the Arent Fox law firm in Washington. He also served as director of the Center for Defense Information, as distinguished professor of public policy at the University of Arkansas and as a guest lecturer at Hendrix College, according to his biography at the University of Arkansas. He retired to Little Rock in 2008.