This Week In Arkansas History: Frank White Signs Creation Science Law

This week in Arkansas history, we turn our attention to the gubernatorial administration of Frank White. The Little Rock Republican had upset Gov. Bill Clinton, who had only served one two-year term.

In late March 1981, Gov. White signed into law a bill requiring schools to give “balanced treatment” to “creation science” and “evolution science.”

From his press conference signing the bill into law, White said, “I look at it this way. That it is an equal treatment of creation science and evolution science.”

The bill requiring the biblical teachings in public schools drew a firestorm of criticism and national press attention. White later admitted that he had not read the bill before signing it. Eventually, the state’s attorney general Steve Clark defended the law in court; it was struck down and the state chose not to appeal the decision.

White’s attachment to the legislation earned him a place of distinction in editorial cartoon history. The legendary Arkansas Gazette cartoonist George Fisher depicted Gov. White holding a half-eaten banana from that point on – a play on the theory of evolution.

The video below is the “Newscene 7” report from KATV’s Leslie Doubleday. It comes courtesy of the University of Arkansas’ David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History. Talk Business & Politics will be collaborating with the center to bring you more unique video, audio and photos of events in Arkansas history in the weeks and months to come. The editorial cartoon obviously from the pen of the late, great George Fisher.