Ben C. Henley
Henley's older brother, Benjamin Charles Henley (October 7, 1907 - November 7, 1987), was a lawyer from Harrison who served as a chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party prior to 1962.
In 1956, as his party's unsuccessful nominee for the U.S. Senate against J. William Fulbright, Ben Henley finished with 17 percent of the vote, well behind his party's presidential nominee, Dwight Eisenhower, who still lost Arkansas in the second race against Adlai E. Stevenson II, of Illinois. In the Senate race Henley did not actively campaign against Fulbright, who was mainly out of state working for the election of Adlai Stevenson. The national Democratic campaign that year was managed by the Arkansas journalist Harry S. Ashmore. Fulbright received 331,679 votes to Henley's 68,016.
Like his younger brother, Ben Henley graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Law. He tutored an aunt by marriage, Mary Elizabeth Smith Massey (1900-1971), in the study of law. Mrs. Massey became one of the first women lawyers in Arkansas. In 1934, she ran on the Republican ticket for county and circuit clerk in Searcy County, won the election, and served three terms in the position. As an appointed city attorney in 1935, she developed the blueprint for the water city system in Marshall, Arkansas, and campaigned for a bond issue to finance the project.
In addition to serving as state party chairman, Ben Henley was a delegate to the 1956 and the 1960 Republican national conventions held in San Francisco and Chicago, respectively.
Ben Henley was married to Jewel Ivie Henley (March 21, 1909 - May 26, 1995). Henley died at the age of eighty. He and his wife are interred along with his brother, parents, and other family members at the Henley Cemetery near Saint Joe in Searcy County.
Read more about this topic: Jesse Smith Henley