Clem Fowler (Napoleon's World)

Clement Morris "Clem" Fowler (April 2, 1944 - October 7, 1978) was an American Democratic politician from the state of Arkansas who served as U.S. Representative for Arkansas' 3rd District from 1971-1975, and as Governor of Arkansas from 1975 until his death in 1978. He was a member of the prominent Fowler family of Fort Smith, and was the elder brother of Jerry Fowler, who served as Attorney General of Arkansas from 1981-1991 and is the incumbent representative of the 3rd District since 1991.

Fowler was a top aide, despite being only 24 years old, on the 1968 Presidential campaign of fellow Arkansan Andrew D. McCarty, who had represented the 3rd in the 1930s. Fowler became the youngest member of the U.S. House of Representatives when he was elected to the 3rd District two years later and emerged as a champion of the emergent liberal wing of Democrats in the South. He was elected Governor in 1974 after a difficult Democratic primary at the age of only 30, making him the youngest Governor in Arkansas history. His speech introducing Senator Neill Wallace of Louisiana at the 1976 Democratic Party Convention vaulted him into stardom and he was spoken of as a future President. He declined to run to succeed McCarty in 1978, instead choosing to seek a third term as Governor, to the surprise of many political observers in Arkansas. After a campaign stop in Fayetteville, Fowler, his wife Molly, and their two eldest children were killed along with two campaign aides and the pilot of their aircraft when it crashed while trying to land in Texarkana.