Betty Bumpers

{{Short description|American activist (1925–2018)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Betty Bumpers | image = Betty Bumpers was pictured with Bill Clinton and Dale Bumpers 1999.jpg | caption = Bumpers in 1999 | order = First Lady of Arkansas | term_label = In role | term_start = January 12, 1971 | term_end = January 3, 1975 | predecessor = Jeannette Edris Rockefeller | successor = Claudia Riley {{small|(acting)}}<ref name=adg>{{cite news|first=Frank|last=Lockwood |title=1st lady for 11 days, Claudia Riley dies; Arkadelphian a Democrat stalwart |url=http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/sep/17/1st-lady-for-11-days-claudia-riley-dies/?f=news |work=Arkansas Democrat-Gazette |date=2016-01-03 |access-date=2015-10-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181124035324/https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/sep/17/1st-lady-for-11-days-claudia-riley-dies/?f=news |archive-date=2018-11-24 |url-status=live}}</ref> | governor = Dale Bumpers | birth_name = Betty Lou Flanagan | birth_date = {{birth date|1925|1|11}} | birth_place = Grand Prairie Community, Arkansas, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2018|11|23|1925|1|11}} | death_place = Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S. | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | monuments = | other_names = | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = Teacher<br>Activist | years_active = | employer = | organization = | agent = | known_for = Advocacy for immunizations and world peace | notable_works = | style = | influences = | influenced = | home_town = | title = | term = | party = | movement = | opponents = | boards = | denomination =  | spouse = {{marriage|Dale Bumpers|1949|2016|end=died}} | partner = | children = 3 | parents = | relatives = | awards = | module = | module2 = | module3 = | module4 = | module5 = | module6 = | website =  | footnotes = | box_width = }} '''Betty Lou Bumpers''' (née '''Flanagan'''; January 11, 1925 – November 23, 2018) was an American politician, advocate for childhood immunizations, and world peace activist, who served as the First Lady of Arkansas from 1971 to 1975.<ref name=adg2>{{cite news|first=Bill|last=Bowden |title=Betty Bumpers, Arkansas' former first lady, dies: She advocated for vaccinations, peace |url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2018/nov/24/betty-bumpers-state-s-former-first-lady/ |work=Arkansas Democrat-Gazette |date=2018-11-24 |access-date=2018-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181126182019/https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2018/nov/24/betty-bumpers-state-s-former-first-lady/ |archive-date=2018-11-26 |url-status=live}}</ref> Together, she and Rosalynn Carter ran a successful campaign to ensure that all American school children were immunized. Bumpers was the wife of Dale Bumpers, who served as governor of Arkansas from 1971 to 1975 and as a U.S. Senator from 1975 to 1999.<ref name=ArkEncy>{{cite encyclopedia| url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=410 |title=Betty Bumpers (1925–) |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture}}</ref><ref name=WomensHall>{{cite web|url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women-of-the-hall/search-the-hall-results/details/2/210-Bumpers |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404184417/http://www.greatwomen.org/women-of-the-hall/search-the-hall-results/details/2/210-Bumpers |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-04-04 |title=Betty Bumpers |work=National Women's Hall of Fame }}</ref>

==Early life== Bumpers was born in the Grand Prairie community in Franklin County, Arkansas, to salesman and auctioneer Herman Edward "Babe" Flanagan and his wife, the former Ola Callans, a teacher.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://pryorcenter.uark.edu/interview.php?thisProject=Arkansas%20Memories&thisProfileURL=BUMPERS-Betty&displayName=Betty%20Bumpers&thisInterviewee=457|title=Betty Bumpers Interviews|publisher=PryorCenter|access-date=November 23, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Barnes |first1=Steve |title=Betty Bumpers, Campaigner for Childhood Vaccinations, Dies at 93 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/24/obituaries/betty-bumpers-dead-vaccinations.html |access-date=November 26, 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=November 24, 2018}}</ref> She grew up in Franklin County, except for a period during World War II when her family lived in Fort Smith and in the state of Iowa.<ref name=bio/>

After studying at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and Iowa State University,<ref>The ''Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture'' states she attended the University of Iowa.</ref> she taught elementary school.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://newswire.uark.edu/article.aspx?id=18151 |title=President Clinton to Visit University of Arkansas |work=University of Arkansas Newswire |date=April 9, 2012}}</ref> In 1949 she married Dale Bumpers, a high school classmate who was then in law school at Northwestern University.<ref name=InArkansasJune2012/> After her husband finished law school, the couple settled in Charleston, Arkansas, where Dale Bumpers practiced law and Betty worked as an elementary school teacher.<ref name=ArkEncy/> They had three children.<ref name=ArkEncy/><ref name=InArkansasJune2012>{{cite web |url=http://www.inarkansas.com/article/soiree/31533/betty-bumpers-on-her-lifetime-of-service-and-volunteerism |title=Betty Bumpers On Her Lifetime of Service and Volunteerism |publisher=InArkansas.com |date=June 1, 2012 |last=Martin |first=Karen}}</ref>

==Advocacy for childhood immunization== In 1970, Dale Bumpers was elected governor and after his inauguration in 1971, she became the state's first lady.<ref name=bio/> In that role, she decided to focus on the well-being of children and families.<ref name="ArkEncy"/>

Responding to Arkansas' having one of the lowest rates of childhood immunization in the United States, she initiated a statewide campaign to immunize all of the state's children against childhood diseases.<ref name="InArkansasJune2012" /> Her Every Child by '74 program, which involved cooperative effort by state government, professional organizations of doctors and nurses, the Arkansas National Guard, the University of Arkansas extension service, faith-based organizations, and other volunteers.<ref name="ArkEncy" /><ref name="WomensHall" /> It was a very successful campaign, delivering immunizations to over 350,000 children on just one Saturday near its peak.<ref name="InArkansasJune2012" /> As a result of the program, the state attained one of the highest childhood immunization rates of any U.S. state. The Arkansas program was adopted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a model for nationwide use.<ref name="ArkEncy" /><ref name="WomensHall" />

Dale Bumpers entered the U.S. Senate in 1975, and the couple moved to Washington, D.C.<ref name="InArkansasJune2012" /> Two years later, when Jimmy Carter arrived in Washington as the new President, Betty Bumpers sought his support for a nationwide program of childhood immunization and enlisted the assistance of First Lady Rosalynn Carter.<ref name=ArkEncy/><ref name=WomensHall/> After finding only a small number of states required children to be immunized before entering school, the two women joined forces and undertook a campaign to convince every state to adopt this requirement.<ref name="InArkansasJune2012" /> After just two years of advocacy work focused on individual state governments, they achieved their goal of having all 50 U.S. states require immunization for school entry.<ref name=WomensHall/><ref name=InArkansasJune2012/>

A measles epidemic in 1989-1991 that killed more than two hundred children led to a new collaboration between Bumpers and Carter.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://aidsinfo.nih.gov/news/490/nih-dedicates-new-vaccine-research-center-to-dale-and-betty-bumpers-president-clinton-delivers-keynote-address|title=NIH Dedicates New Vaccine Research Center to Dale and Betty Bumpers President Clinton Delivers Keynote Address|publisher=AIDS Info|date=June 9, 1999|access-date=November 24, 2018|archive-date=July 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727004856/https://aidsinfo.nih.gov/news/490/nih-dedicates-new-vaccine-research-center-to-dale-and-betty-bumpers-president-clinton-delivers-keynote-address|url-status=dead}}</ref> Concerned that preschool children were vulnerable to preventable illnesses because they were not getting immunized on schedule, they founded the organization Every Child By Two, with the aim of assuring immunizations for all American children by the age of two.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vaccinateyourfamily.org/about-us/|title=About Us|access-date=November 23, 2018|publisher=Vaccinate Your Family}}</ref> Bumpers said that the group's efforts to establish outreach programs and immunization registers in each state had contributed to an immunization rate of 90 percent for children from birth to age two in 2012.<ref name=WomensHall/><ref name=InArkansasJune2012/>

==Peace Links== [[File:Betty Bumpers and Jimmy Carter.tif|right|thumb|200px|Bumpers with President Jimmy Carter at the White House]] A 1981 conversation with her college-student daughter Brooke inspired Bumpers to become a peace activist, focused on ending the nuclear weapons race.<ref name=ArkEncy/> While driving together to Washington, D.C., they crossed the Clinch River, the namesake of the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Project, leading Brooke to ask her mother what the family would do in a nuclear war or the aftermath of a nuclear disaster.<ref name=InArkansasJune2012/> Bumpers' light-hearted response of "Well, honey, I guess we'd just go back to Arkansas" did not silence her daughter, who responded "Don't be so stupid, Mother," and asked what would happen if Arkansas was destroyed.<ref name=InArkansasJune2012/> The realization her daughter considered nuclear war to be a real threat to her future motivated Bumpers to start a campaign for peace.<ref name=InArkansasJune2012/><ref name=Extraordinary>{{cite book|title=Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives: Women in American History |first=Kriste |last=Lindenmeyer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QmFUC1HZIl8C&pg=PA251 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2000 |isbn=9780842027540 |pages=251–253}}</ref>

After discussing the matter with her fellow Senate wives and other like-minded women in Washington, Bumpers decided to work to bring mainstream American women into the campaign for a nuclear weapons freeze, building on her earlier experience with grassroots volunteer activism.<ref name=ArkEncy/> She started the organization Peace Links in Little Rock in 1982, Peace Links worked with established women's groups such as garden clubs, parent teacher associations, and church organizations to educate women about the consequences of the nuclear arms race and to engage them in campaigning for world peace.<ref name=InArkansasJune2012/><ref name=Extraordinary/><ref name=UArkPeaceLinks/> Within a short time, Peace Links expanded beyond Arkansas and counted some 30,000 members around the United States.<ref name=ArkEncy/><ref name=InArkansasJune2012/> It operated as a national organization for nearly 20 years, disbanding in 2001 after the end of the Cold War.<ref name=ArkEncy/><ref name=InArkansasJune2012/>

==Later life== [[file:Bill Clinton and Dale and Betty Bumpers 1999.jpg|thumb|Bumpers, Bill Clinton, and Dale Bumpers in 1999]] In their later years, the Bumpers lived in Little Rock, Arkansas.<ref name=death/> She and Rosalynn Carter continued to be involved with the leadership of Every Child By Two in her later years.<ref name=InArkansasJune2012/> Her husband of 66 years Dale Bumpers died of complications from Alzheimer's disease in January 2016.<ref>{{Cite news|title = Dale Bumpers, Arkansas politician and barbed wit of the Senate, dies at 90|url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/dale-bumpers-arkansas-governor-and-senator-dies-at-90/2016/01/02/02973892-b17b-11e5-b820-eea4d64be2a1_story.html|newspaper = The Washington Post|date = January 2, 2016|access-date = January 5, 2016|issn = 0190-8286|language = en-US|first = Michael H.|last = Brown}}</ref>

On November 23, 2018, Bumpers died from complications of dementia and a broken hip in Little Rock at the age of 93.<ref name=death>{{cite web|url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2018/nov/23/betty-bumpers-arkansas-first-lady/|title=Former Arkansas first lady Betty Bumpers dies at 93|publisher=Arkansas Online|date=November 23, 2018}}</ref>

==Awards and recognitions== The National Institutes of Health Vaccine Research Center was named for Betty and Dale Bumpers in recognition of their efforts to promote childhood immunizations and vaccine research.<ref name=ArkEncy/>

Among the awards that Bumpers received were:

* Woman of Conscience Award from the National Council of Women of the United States, 1985<ref name=UArkPeaceLinks>{{cite web|url=http://libinfo.uark.edu/SpecialCollections/findingaids/peacelinks.html |title=The Peace Links Papers; Description from the Special Collections Brochure Series |publisher=Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries }}</ref> * The first Wilton Peace Prize from the Unitarian Universalist Church, 1986<ref name=UArkPeaceLinks/> * Distinguished Citizen Award, jointly presented by the Governor of Arkansas, the Arkansas Office of Volunteerism and KARK-TV, 1987<ref name=ECBTawards>{{cite web |url=http://www.ecbt.org/aboutecbt/awards.cfm |title=Betty Bumpers' Awards and Recognitions |publisher=Every Child By Two |access-date=October 10, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130222055616/http://www.ecbt.org/aboutecbt/awards.cfm |archive-date=February 22, 2013 }}</ref> * Peacemakers Award from the National Peace Institute Foundation, 1989<ref name=UArkPeaceLinks/> * Pediatric Nursing Humanitarian Award, 1992<ref name=ECBTawards/> * Surgeon General's Medallion, from U.S. Surgeon General Antonia C. Novello, 1993<ref name=ECBTawards/> * Isaac K. Beckes Award of the National League for Nursing, awarded for service to the League by a non-nurse of national stature, 1997<ref name=ECBTawards/> * Rotary International Polio Eradication Champion award, 1998<ref name=ECBTawards/> * Centers For Disease Control and Prevention Champion of Prevention award, 2000<ref name=ECBTawards/> * Hepatitis Foundation International Humanitarian Award, 2001<ref name=ECBTawards/> * 2005, Induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame<ref>[https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/betty-bumpers/ National Women's Hall of Fame, Betty Bumpers]</ref> * Billie Ann Myers Paragon Award from the Arkansas Department of Human Services Division of Community Service and Non-profit Support, 2012<ref name=InArkansasJune2012/>

In 1994, Peace Links gave her a special Peace Links Founders Award.<ref name=UArkPeaceLinks/> In 1995, she and her husband shared the Maxwell Finland Award of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases; in 1998, they shared the March of Dimes Citizen of the Year Award, recognizing their commitment to children's health and polio eradication.<ref name=ECBTawards/> The couple also were joint recipients of the Excellence in Public Service Award of the American Academy of Pediatrics.<ref name=ECBTawards/>

Bumpers received honorary degrees from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas; the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and the University of Massachusetts.<ref name=ECBTawards/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usip.org/newsroom/news/institute-welcomes-new-board-directors |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130113111707/http://www.usip.org/newsroom/news/institute-welcomes-new-board-directors |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 13, 2013 |title=Institute Welcomes New Board of Directors |publisher=United States Institute of Peace |access-date=October 10, 2012}}</ref>

==See also== * The Ribbon International

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==External links== {{commons category|Betty Bumpers}}

* {https://vaccinateyourfamily.org/} Betty Bumpers' national nonprofit to protect people of all ages from vaccine preventable diseases. Co-Founded in 1991 by Betty Bumpers and Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter

* [http://libinfo.uark.edu/specialcollections/findingaids/bettybumpers.html Betty Bumpers Childhood Immunization Project Papers], University of Arkansas Libraries Special Collections * [https://web.archive.org/web/20140113204103/http://www.niaid.nih.gov/about/organization/vrc/pages/default.aspx/vrc/Pages/default.aspx Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center] * {{YouTube|Sla5_mNPyF4|Betty Bumpers' Life Story}} video of Bumpers * {{C-SPAN|39315}} {{S-start}} {{S-hon}} {{S-bef|before=Jeannette Edris Rockefeller}} {{S-ttl|title=First Lady of Arkansas |years=1971–1975}} {{S-aft|after=Claudia Riley}} {{S-end}} {{Arkansas Women's Hall of Fame}} {{National Women's Hall of Fame}} {{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bumpers, Betty}} Category:1925 births Category:2018 deaths Category:First ladies and gentlemen of Arkansas Category:Vaccination in the United States Category:American anti-war activists Category:American anti–nuclear weapons activists Category:Activists from Little Rock, Arkansas Category:Arkansas Democrats Category:Iowa State University alumni Category:School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni Category:People from Charleston, Arkansas Category:Politicians from Little Rock, Arkansas