“Footsie Britt”
LOL, I probably should have heard of him before.
Too bad he up and retired.
Well, he deferred to Sterling Cockrill, the former AR House Speaker who had switched parties to run for Lt Governor. I wasn’t clear on the reasons for Britt’s stepping aside, perhaps he surmised the ticket might fail. One individual claimed Britt should’ve been the nominee for Governor instead. As it turned out, Cockrill got more votes than Rockefeller did in 1970.
Curiously, Britt was one of two Medal of Honor winners to serve back-to-back as Lt Governor. Nathan Gordon came off 20 years (1947-67) after he was awarded it during WW2, as was Britt. Gordon, like Britt, also stepped aside and didn’t run for Governor (though he also might’ve prevailed against Rockefeller in 1966). The Conservative Democrat “Justice Jim” Johnson who got the nomination for Governor that year ended up switching to the GOP.
Ill-advisedly, Britt did finally run for Governor in 1986, only to badly lose (3rd place) to ex-Gov. Frank White and another candidate. White lost his 3rd match with Clinton.