Remembering the Great Federal Judge Billy Roy Wilson--Lawyer, Judge, Humorist, Mule Farmer

Posted on October 28, 2025 at 03:32 PM

Remembering Federal Judge Bill Wilson–Lawyer, Judge. Humorist, Mule Farmer

Memo to Delta partners and supporters of justice nation-wide From Lee Powell, Delta Caucus Director

Arkansas and the nation lost a great champion of justice yesterday with the passing of Federal District Judge Billy Roy Willson. I was his first law clerk from 1993 to late 1995, and I know I join countless other lawyers and public servants who worked for or with him in saying he was one of the greatest jurists of our era.

Billy Roy Wilson was widely recognized as the most brilliant trial lawyer in Arkansas for many years before President William Jefferson Clinton nominated him to the federal bench in 1993. He ruled on many important cases for decades with a wise mind aimed at following the law and bringing about justice. Many legal and public policy experts across the region have commented that Clinton’s elevation of Judge Wilson to the federal court was one of his best actions as President.

Racial justice: Among the many important cases he decided was Conway School District v. Wilhoit 854 F. Supp. 1430 (Ed. Ark 1994) which prevented an attempt to dilute the rights of minority voters. He was deeply aware of Arkansas’ painful history in racial issues, and always had thoughtful and wise judgment for African Americans and other minorities. His many rulings on civil rights issues combined a progressive outlook for the downtrodden with tremendous experience in the law.

He ruled on a vast range of cases: He ruled with wisdom and a vast wealth of experience in the law over a broad range of cases on issues ranging from abortion to civil rights to criminal law and many others during four decades. He will be greatly missed.

There were so many important cases he ruled on that I can’t even scratch the surface here. If you have any thoughts, recollections or comments of any kind please pass them along to LeePowell@delta.comcastbiz.net (this is not a link so you will need to type in the email address) so that we may include them in this tribute.

Fair treatment of lawyers who came before his court: Judge Wilson was noted for his considerate treatment of the lawyers who came before him to practice. There was a limit to his patience, however.

I recall one day he was trying to soften the blow in ruling against a particular lawyer’s motion, saying, “Well, counsel for the defendant makes a strong argument and it’s a close question, but the court rules otherwise.” The lawyer mistakenly thought he saw an opening to change the judge’s mind, filed a motion to re-consider and talked on way too long about how the judge had called it a close question.

The judge patiently listened for a while, but then said, “Well the court has thought about this issue at length, but on further reflection, it’s actually not a close question. Motion denied.”

Anecdote with President Clinton: I recall visiting the White House in 1995, and President Clinton asked how Judge Wilson’s heart was–referring to an episode that thankfully turned out to be minor heart trouble. I said he was doing fine and dispensing justice right and left.

Then Clinton acted like he suddenly became very serious and said, “When you go back to Little Rock you need to remind Judge Wilson that my appointment of him to the federal court was only during ‘good behavior.’”

When I reported back to the judge about the POTUS’ comment, he replied, “Well, they should have told me about that requirement before I took this job.”

Case with Ken Starr before Judge Wilson’s court: Even in the most controversial cases, Wilson was imperturbable as far as ruling according to the law. When Webb Hubbell was indicted by the special prosecutor Ken Starr, Wilson decided to take Hubbell’s plea (which happened to be “guilty”). Starr and the crowd who were determined to portray anyone and everyone in any way connected to President Clinton as grossly corrupt, tried to make a big deal out of Wilson agreeing to take a plea. He was mistakenly thinking that everybody in Arkansas is very close to everybody else.

Actually, Wilson and Hubbell had known each other when they were both prominent lawyers in Arkansas, but they were not close and there was no reason for Wilson to recuse on something as routine as taking a plea—which does not usually require much judgment beyond determining if the defendant is drunk, mentally imbalanced or otherwise not competent to state whether he was innocent or not.

A special prosecutor complaining to a federal law clerk?I remember Ken Starr taking it upon himself to complain to me at the time that Judge Wilson was hearing Hubbell’s plea. I was surprised that a special prosecutor would be complaining to a federal law clerk about his boss’ ruling, and I just said taking a plea is about as routine as it gets and left it at that. Did he think I was going to go to my boss and tell him that Ken Starr told him to reverse his decision? I wasn’t going to argue with the man.

After taking the plea, Wilson did recuse as far as presiding over the rest of the case. This was on the basis that while the judge had no reason to be biased for or against Hubbell, Wilson was a Clinton appointee to the bench and Hubbell was a Clinton appointee to the federal executive branch, so it could give the appearance of impropriety. I thought that was the right decision.

The Wall Street Journal, true to their inaccurate and condescending view of Arkansas, said that Wilson’s decision showed that there is still some honor left in the state. But it just wasn’t a very difficult decision, either in taking the plea or in recusing from the trial. There was no big question of “honor,” and of course the insinuation was that most lawyers and other public officials in Arkansas were unethical and Wilson was an exception to the shameful rule.

Experience at the Rasputin Mule Farm: Judge Wilson also had distinguished stature as a mule farmer. I recall one time when he invited a group of law clerks and other federal court personnel out to the Rasputin Mule Farm and we had the honor of riding his mules. My mule unfortunately was not very mobile and unusually stubborn, even by mule standards. The critter stopped at a fence where there were some plants growing and just stood there feasting for a long time. I couldn’t get the mule to budge an inch.

The others rode off, and Judge Wilson finally wondered what had happened to me. So he rode back and hit the mule hard enough to get it to start moving back to the mule farm. The mule knew who was boss. I was glad that a federal judge had rescued me so I was not marooned in the middle of a field in rural Arkansas.

Comments from Harry Truman Moore, distinguished lawyer based in Paragould, Arkansas, who knew Judge Wilson for many years:

“At a meeting of lawyers in Arkansas many years ago, I asked one of the best younger lawyers I knew, William R. Wilson, as he was then known, to speak on the Voir Dire process, another noted lawyer for a criminal case, and Bill Wilson for a civil case. They wooed the crowd. One young lawyer from Springfield, MO., called them “a pair of thoroughbreds.” Judge Wilson would have been happier had they called him a ‘mule,” which was the nickname some people had used for him back then.

We didn’t do criminal work in the federal courts, and when we had a client in need of such services, Bill Wilson was the first person we called.

It was a pleasure to have known him, to have visited with him over the years about politics, and to watch him lead his mule team in a Presidential inaugural parade. My condolences to Judge Compton. We have lost a true leader, and a legend.” H.T. Moore

---

On another note about Judge Wilson:

The Amon Clopton rule for avoiding over-work: Wilson was a hard worker, but also had common sense about avoiding over-work, citing what he called the “Amon Clopton rule.” Amon Clopton was a worker out in west Arkansas where Wilson was from, and he learned from one of his colleagues who worked so hard one day that he was too worn out to show up for work the next. So Amon’s rule was, “Don’t ever work so hard one day that it keeps you from working at all the next day.”

Well, we feel it’s important to pay tribute to a great man when he passes. Again, if you have any comments to pass on, please do so to LeePowell@delta.comcastbiz.net

Thanks and Rest in Peace for Judge Wilson.

I will now invoke the Amon Clopton rule and stop working for a while.

Lee Powell, Executive Director, Delta Grassroots Caucus (202) 360-6347 leepowell@delta.comcastbiz.net

Delta News Conference Calls for Restoring Food Aid & Continuing USDA Hunger Report

Posted on October 02, 2025 at 02:57 PM

Delta Caucus News Conference Calls for Restoration of Food Aid Cuts and USDA Hunger Report

The Delta Caucus held a news conference including Joel Berg of Hunger Free America; Annette Dove of the TOPPS nonprofit in Pine Bluff, Arkansas; former Clinton administration appointee and Mississippi native Wilson Golden, and Caucus Director Lee Powell.

The news conference was including in the news highlights by Arkansas Public Radio at KUAR.org

Annette Dove of TOPPS in Pine Bluff has been described by the national media as “America’s Mother Theresa” for her dynamic programs on hunger and nutrition and a broad range of other services for people in Jefferson, County AR.

She said Arkansas makes it too difficult to access SNAP. One third of Arkansas children who get school lunch do not get school breakfast, which is probably the most important meal of the day for kids to get nutrition to have nutrition for their morning activities.

TOPPS feeds many children aged 18 and under: they fed 700 children a day this summer, and are feeding 400 children after school now.

Dove said that “we are seeing a lot of senior citizens, a lot of working poor. Some people are living in their cars or motel rooms. We are seeing hunger numbers growing in Jefferson County.”

The application process can be complicated for many people, and the rules and regulations are often difficult to understand. The benefits are often too small–after providing lengthy technical assistance to one person,she found that she only qualified for a few dollars.

The presentations of Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America, a national hunger organization based in New York, have been described as a combination of watching CNN, Comedy Central, while listening to stories from the Old Testament.

Berg also emphasized that it is too difficult for people to gain access to SNAP. Arkansas has one of the lowest rates of participation in SNAP, with 41% of people in the state eligible for SNAP not receiving them.

On a more positive note, Arkansas recently adopted universal school meals and Gov. Sarah Sanders and the legislature deserve credit for that action. But again, one third of the kids who get school lunch don’t get the even more important school breakfast.

Berg pointed out that the Trump administration cut $186 billion out of food assistance, and $930 million of those cuts came in Arkansas, which has the second worst food insecurity levels in the country.

Berg said that it was hypocritical the way Arkansas and other states micromanage what people can buy with their SNAP benefits. While higher income people often buy soft drinks and other foods with high sugar content and low nutritional value, they hypocritically criticize lower income people for buying the same kinds of food with their SNAP benefits.

Berg said that Hunger Free America constantly encourages people to eat a healthy diet, but there shouldn’t be a double standard applied to people of different income levels.

The Hunger Free America CEO said that 7% of Arkansas’ population get SNAP, while about 40% of Arkansas people are obese.

The Make America Healthy Again report praises WIC as an exemplary program, but then recent legislation backed by the administration and its allies in Congress cut the fruit and vegetable allotments in WIC.

Berg said “No superpower in the history of the world has remained a superpower if it failed to feed its own people. No economy has remained strong if tens of millions of its people–1 in 5 or 1 in 6 kids–can’t afford enough food.”

He said that if the current government shutdown lasts into November, the lack of SNAP benefits will likely be cataclysmic. The Delta Caucus again encourages the 8 state Delta’s Congressional delegations to end the shutdown ASAP.

Wilson Golden, is a Clinton administration Presidential appointee. He described his work as one of the team of four managers of the Clinton administration’s Delta Regional Initiative, amiably referred to as the “Gang of Four” (Wilson Golden, Lee Powell, Harold Gist, and Al Eisenberg). Sadly, Harold Gist and Al Eisenberg are no longer living, but their work lives in on many of the community and economic development initiatives they worked to create, including the Delta Regional Authority signed into law in December of 2000.

Wilson Golden said the food aid cuts will have an especially dire impact on his native state of Mississippi, which has the worst food insecurity rate in the country at 15.3%.

Golden and all the speakers at the conference emphasized that the food aid cuts and termination of USDA hunger reports will inflict severe harm on vulnerable populations in Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana (currently with the three highest food insecurity) and the other Delta states. They are being severely damaged by the government shutdown.

Caucus Director Lee Powell joined the other Delta Caucus partners to call for the restoration of food stamps (SNAP) benefits that were sharply cut this summer, as well as continuation of the USDA’s traditional annual hunger reports that inform the public about the state of food security in America.

Almost 240,000 Arkansans are enrolled in SNAP (food stamps), which is a vital bulwark against hunger.

Powell said USDA’s annual Household Food Security Report has informed the country for many years about the state of food security, unfortunately often listing Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama (see table on food insecurity below) at or near the bottom regarding hunger in America. We may not always like the information in it, but we need to know the facts.

The USDA report is compiled by dedicated, nonpartisan food security professionals and the national administration’s claim that it was “overly politicized” and “rife with inaccuracies” is erroneous.

Food stamps not only fight hunger but also promote economic progress: every dollar of food stamp benefits that are spent generate about $1.50 in economic activity.

–Feedback from Delta Caucus partners:

Delta Caucus director Lee Powell, former USDA official in the 1990s, said, “The budget cuts the administration and its Congressional allies pushed through Congress in July will mean 3 million people will not qualify for SNAP or “food stamp” benefits. The ending of the respected report will make it much harder for people to know the facts about food insecurity.”

Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America and former USDA official, who has devoted great attention to hunger in the Delta for many years, said, “A North Korean-style attempted cover-up of reality won’t hide the reality of soaring hunger nationwide – and in the Delta – due to a number of problems that are entirely or partially the fault of President Trump: slashed food aid, job losses, and still-high inflation.”

Mike Marshall, long-time Delta regional leader and former Alternate Federal Co-Chair of the Delta Regional Authority from Sikeston, Missouri, said ” “These cuts are hurting the Southeast Missouri Food Bank efforts to feed the hungry in a lot of places in southern Missouri.”

Wilson Golden, Mississippi native and Clinton administration appointee who served on the team that worked to create the Delta Regional Authority in 2000, whose childhood years were spent on a north Mississippi cotton farm. Wilson Golden knows firsthand the profound negative impact of the current federal funding cutbacks, saying:—

“After decades spent developing and funding a sturdy infrastructure of national, state and local agricultural programs and agencies, along comes the current administration’s wrecking ball,” said Golden. Now is simply an “all hands on deck” moment.

Nonprofit professionals such as Bobby Kogan of the Center for American Progress opposed the administration’s actions. Kogan said, “Trump is cancelling an annual government survey that measures hunger in America, rather than allow it to show hunger increasing under his tenure.”

Feedback to Congressional delegation:

The Caucus calls on Sen. John Boozman, Rep. Rick Crawford, Rep. French Hill and other Members of the Arkansas and other Delta states’ Congressional delegations to restore the cuts and reverse the decision to end the highly respected, informative hunger report.

We have greatly appreciated Sen. Boozman’s longstanding support for food security initiatives over the years, and Rep. Hill and Rep. Crawford have also been supportive of USDA programs.

“Gov. Sarah Sanders has had a reputation for concern and action on food insecurity issues, and we ask for her to step up and ask the administration to stop these attacks that undermine the fight against hunger in Arkansas,” Powell said.

The administration claims that the economy is basically in great shape, when in reality current reports on jobs and other economic indicators are trending in a negative direction.

President Trump is also trying to take credit for progress that happened under the Biden administration: The Census Bureau report earlier in September indicated a decline in the national poverty rate from 11% in 2023 to 10.6% the next year—but that improvement took place before Trump took office.

The cuts to food stamps are causing hunger to increase in the Delta and across the country.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON FOOD INSECURITY

Food Insecurity Rates in 2025 as documented by the nonprofit, nonpartisan World Population Review had Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana with the three worst food insecurity rates, and six of the bottom ten states were in the Greater Delta, with Alabama 7th, Kentucky 9th and Missouri 10th.

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Memorandum on USDA Reorganization Issues

Posted on August 06, 2025 at 11:34 AM

Delta Grassroots Caucus

August 6, 2025

Memorandum to Delta Region Members of Congress and concerned citizens about USDA Reorganization

From:

The Delta Grassroots Caucus (Lee Powell, executive director) and Caroline Thorpe, a USDA official for 35 years who retired recently.

Lee Powell is director of the Delta Caucus, a nonprofit grassroots advocacy organization for the 8-state Greater Delta; former Presidential appointee at USDA in the Clinton administration; earlier a senior aide to a Congressman representing the heavily agricultural First District in Arkansas; originally from Little Rock. Caroline is Lee Powell’s wife and they live in Waldorf, Maryland in the Washington, DC area.

5030 Purslane Place Waldorf, Maryland 20603 Phone: 240-994-4207 Email: carothorpe78@gmail.com and Leepowell@delta.comcastbiz.net

Re: Comments on the Senate Hearing: Agriculture and Nutrition Service Review of USDA Reorganization Proposal – July 30, 2025

We are writing to provide formal comments on the proposed USDA reorganization and to raise serious concerns regarding statements made by USDA Deputy Secretary Judge Stephen Vaden during the July 30, 2025, Senate hearing.

USDA nutrition, rural development and agriculture programs are absolutely vital for the Greater Delta Region from southern Illinois down through Arkansas and Mississippi to New Orleans, with our largely small town and rural areas, unfortunately high food insecurity in many areas, and heavily agricultural productivity.

Importance of having a sufficient number of senior personnel based in the Washington, DC offices: This is constructive and efficient, and the 4,600 employees currently based there are still much less than 10 percent of the workforce of USDA. It is highly beneficial to have senior personnel, the administrators of key agencies, Under Secretaries, and other key offices located in the Washington, DC headquarters, where they can gather in one conference room and resolve inter-agency and department-wide issues, as well as consult with Members of Congress and other major institutions. As a senior official at USDA in the 1990s to 2001, Lee Powell found it efficient to have all the top personnel at the Washington, DC headquarters where they can easily convene and consult in person.

Executive Summary below, followed by a detailed memorandum further on.

Executive summary:

Comments and Recommendation Based on the Senate Hearing: Agriculture and Nutrition Service Review of USDA Reorganization Proposal – July 30, 2025

First of all, we would emphasize that the reorganization was presented as a fait accompli with very little prior consultation with stakeholders. The Greater Delta Region is a vast, largely rural and agricultural region across eight states, yet none of the five regional hubs is close to this huge area for which USDA is so vital. Kansas City Missouri is at the opposite end of the large state of Missouri from the southeast Missouri Delta and very distant from the rest of the region. The other four hubs are not even remotely close to the Delta—Indianapolis, Indiana; Raleigh, North Carolina; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Memphis would be a logical and great choice for one of the regional hubs: We know all regions can’t be included, but Memphis is a large city with an existing, extensive USDA facility (the Memphis Cotton Classing Office) in the heart of the 8-state Greater Delta. Adding a regional hub in Memphis would be a great choice, although it appears that they have already made their decision. Again, this points out that they erred seriously in not engaging in real consultation with the stakeholders.

We are writing to provide several recommendations and formal comments on the proposed USDA reorganization. The hearing raises serious concerns regarding statements made by USDA Deputy Secretary Judge Stephen Vaden at the Senate hearing. We offer the following points for consideration:

1) Cost and Disruption of Relocation: Ninety percent of USDA’s approximately 98, 000 employees currently work in rural areas working on agriculture, nutrition and rural development issues directly with the people they serve. The great majority of USDA employees already work on the ground across the country. Therefore, relocating another 2,600 employees from the National Capital Region (NCR) to the Midwest and the West (Utah) makes no sense. Thus, the USDA reorganization is a solution in search of a problem that does not exist.

2) George Washington Carver Center(GWCC): Judge Vaden implied that most of the USDA buildings in the National Capital Region are decrepit. GWCC is a state-of-the-art facility in Beltsville, Maryland. It was renovated in 2022 and should continue to be a USDA worksite, which would reduce relocation costs.

3)Most of USDA South Building has been recently renovated: Contrary to claims, over 70% of the South Building has been recently renovated. Discarding this historic property without cost-benefit analysis would waste taxpayer dollars. The 30 percent of the renovation not yet done should be completed.

4) Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC): This center is critical for agricultural research and national security. Relocation risks extensive loss of expertise and disruption of vital long-term research and leaves the U.S. vulnerable to security issues like bioterrorism.

5) Housing Costs and Relocation in Salt Lake City, Utah: The proposed relocation hub of Salt Lake City has housing costs higher than much of the DC region. Moving employees there does not solve cost problems and only disrupts work.

Primary Recommendations:

1) Retain USDA employees in the George Washington Carver Center, a state-of-the-art building renovated in 2022. This would minimize cost and disruption to USDA’s mission-critical work and preserve institutional expertise, while maintaining operational resilience.

OR

2) Make the South Building a Multi-use Agency building for USDA, Homeland Security and any other Defense/security Department or Agency. House all National Capital Region (NCR) staff here, and USDA would have no other external building other than the BARC. This simplifies matters.

DETAILED MEMORANDUM

Re: Comments on the Senate Hearing: Agriculture and Nutrition Service Review of USDA Reorganization Proposal – July 30, 2025

We are writing to provide formal comments on the proposed USDA reorganization and to raise serious concerns regarding statements made by USDA Deputy Secretary Judge Stephen Vaden during the July 30, 2025, Senate hearing.

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Supporters of Sen. Fulbright Oppose Effort to Re-Name Kennedy Center for President Trump

Posted on July 31, 2025 at 04:23 PM

“Long-Time Supporters of Sen. Fulbright including Biographer Lee Powell Oppose Effort to Re-name the Kennedy Center after President Trump”

A long-time associate and biographer of Sen. J. William Fulbright and many other supporters of Fulbright’s legacy oppose Rep. Bob Onder’s (R-MO) bill to re-name the Kennedy Center after President Donald Trump.

Fulbright is the main founder of the Kennedy Center, advocating for its creation and passing appropriations to build the Kennedy Center.

“Fulbright’s cerebral, thoughtful approach to public policy issues and his founding role in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts are diametrically opposed to President Trump’s anti-intellectual, chaotic strategy of sowing confusion and chaos,” said Lee Powell, who knew Fulbright for 20 years and wrote two books about him—one with a foreword by Fulbright and another with afterword by the senator.

The Delta Caucus and other civic-minded Delta organizations call on the region’s Congressional delegations, especially the Arkansas Congressional delegation, to block this improper effort to tamper with the legacy of both the Kennedy Center and Senator Fulbright.

Fulbright sought to make the Kennedy a renowned opera, ballet and cultural center of which all Americans could be proud. The senator would have been mortified by Trump’s effort to politicize such an iconic educational institution.

The Kennedy Center is not just a building; it is a symbol of American commitment to the arts, education, and international understanding. To erase that symbolism in favor of political theater would be a grave insult to the very ideals that Fulbright, Kennedy, and countless public servants have upheld.

Fulbright introduced legislation on Nov. 26, 1963 to name the institution after President Kennedy and appropriate the last $5 million for its construction. Mrs. John F. Kennedy expressed her appreciation to him for his efforts, and the senator replied: “Dear Jackie: Nothing I could do could ever begin to express my appreciation and gratitude that this country was privileged to have had such a President, even for so short a time.”

Kennedy’s niece Maria Shriver said Onder’s bill made her “blood boil.” Our sentiments exactly.

Rep. Onder made the ludicrous and sycophantic comment that “I cannot think of a more ubiquitous symbol of American exceptionalism in the arts, entertainment and popular culture than President Trump.”

Onder gives us quite a news flash that Trump is an expert in the arts, when he has revealed he knows little or nothing about the work of the Kennedy Center. In earlier comments Trump called for the Kennedy Center to bring in Broadway productions, when Broadway shows have been a regular feature at the center for a long time.

Trump fired the former Kennedy board members who were appointed for their involvement in the arts and replaced them with political supporters. He also called for recognizing Luciano Pavarotti with the Kennedy Honors, when Pavarotti was given that award 24 years ago.

Jeffrey Seller, producer of the Pulitzer-Prize winning “Hamilton,” gave the last word on this issue in cancelling upcoming performances at the center because his show was not consistent with “a new spirit of partisanship in the national treasure that is the Kennedy Center.”

Wilson Golden, a veteran Delta regional advocate from Mississippi, said “We should be respectful of President Kennedy and honor his memory through the Center—and this is not partisan in any form, shape or manner.”

(Note: Lee Powell is author of J. William Fulbright and His Time, foreword by President Bill Clinton and afterword by Sen. J. William Fulbright (1995); and J. William Fulbright and America’s Lost Crusade, foreword by J. William Fulbright (1084). Powell was a Presidential appointee in the Clinton administration and is executive director of the Delta Caucus. Most of the Delta Caucus partners agree with this statement, although we have some Trump supporters in our group and want to respect their wishes. This is based on Lee Powell’s knowledge of and connection with the Fulbright legacy.)

Supporters of Sen. Fulbright Oppose Effort to Re-Name Kennedy Center for President Trump

Posted on July 31, 2025 at 04:23 PM

“Long-Time Supporters of Sen. Fulbright including Biographer Lee Powell Oppose Effort to Re-name the Kennedy Center after President Trump”

A long-time associate and biographer of Sen. J. William Fulbright and many other supporters of Fulbright’s legacy oppose Rep. Bob Onder’s (R-MO) bill to re-name the Kennedy Center after President Donald Trump.

Fulbright is the main founder of the Kennedy Center, advocating for its creation and passing appropriations to build the Kennedy Center.

“Fulbright’s cerebral, thoughtful approach to public policy issues and his founding role in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts are diametrically opposed to President Trump’s anti-intellectual, chaotic strategy of sowing confusion and chaos,” said Lee Powell, who knew Fulbright for 20 years and wrote two books about him—one with a foreword by Fulbright and another with afterword by the senator.

The Delta Caucus and other civic-minded Delta organizations call on the region’s Congressional delegations, especially the Arkansas Congressional delegation, to block this improper effort to tamper with the legacy of both the Kennedy Center and Senator Fulbright.

Fulbright sought to make the Kennedy a renowned opera, ballet and cultural center of which all Americans could be proud. The senator would have been mortified by Trump’s effort to politicize such an iconic educational institution.

The Kennedy Center is not just a building; it is a symbol of American commitment to the arts, education, and international understanding. To erase that symbolism in favor of political theater would be a grave insult to the very ideals that Fulbright, Kennedy, and countless public servants have upheld.

Fulbright introduced legislation on Nov. 26, 1963 to name the institution after President Kennedy and appropriate the last $5 million for its construction. Mrs. John F. Kennedy expressed her appreciation to him for his efforts, and the senator replied: “Dear Jackie: Nothing I could do could ever begin to express my appreciation and gratitude that this country was privileged to have had such a President, even for so short a time.”

Kennedy’s niece Maria Shriver said Onder’s bill made her “blood boil.” Our sentiments exactly.

Rep. Onder made the ludicrous and sycophantic comment that “I cannot think of a more ubiquitous symbol of American exceptionalism in the arts, entertainment and popular culture than President Trump.”

Onder gives us quite a news flash that Trump is an expert in the arts, when he has revealed he knows little or nothing about the work of the Kennedy Center. In earlier comments Trump called for the Kennedy Center to bring in Broadway productions, when Broadway shows have been a regular feature at the center for a long time.

Trump fired the former Kennedy board members who were appointed for their involvement in the arts and replaced them with political supporters. He also called for recognizing Luciana Pavarotti with the Kennedy Honors, when Pavarotti was given that award 24 years ago.

Jeffrey Seller, producer of the Pulitzer-Prize winning “Hamilton,” gave the last word on this issue in cancelling upcoming performances at the center because his show was not consistent with “a new spirit of partisanship in the national treasure that is the Kennedy Center.”

Wilson Golden, a veteran Delta regional advocate from Mississippi, said “We should be respectful of President Kennedy and honor his memory through the Center—and this is not partisan in any form, shape or manner.”

(Note: Lee Powell is author of J. William Fulbright and His Time, foreword by President Bill Clinton and afterword by Sen. J. William Fulbright (1995); and J. William Fulbright and America’s Lost Crusade, foreword by J. William Fulbright (1084). Powell was a Presidential appointee in the Clinton administration and is executive director of the Delta Caucus. Most of the Delta Caucus partners agree with this statement, although we have some Trump supporters in our group and want to respect their wishes. This is based on Lee Powell’s knowledge of and connection with the Fulbright legacy.)