TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS COME – GREETINGS:

WHEREAS:  James Guy Tucker Jr., born June 13, 1943, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was a former Arkansas governor, lieutenant governor, U.S. congressman, state attorney general, and prosecuting attorney. He was a public servant who passed away February 13th, 2025;

WHEREAS:  Before serving in public office, Tucker graduated from Harvard University and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was discharged for health reasons despite his appeals, and willingly returned to Vietnam as a civilian war correspondent, an experience that formed the basis of his book, Arkansas Men at War;

WHEREAS:  Tucker received a law degree from the University of Arkansas and not long after, won his first race for public office as a prosecuting attorney for the Sixth Judicial District. His career climbed onward as he was elected to state attorney general and U.S. congressman from Arkansas’ Second Congressional District;

WHEREAS:  Tucker left public office for more than a decade but ran successfully in 1990 for lieutenant governor. When then-Governor Bill Clinton ascended to the presidency, Tucker became governor and won reelection in 1994, focusing his administration on public safety and state spending;

WHEREAS:  After resigning from the governorship in 1996, Tucker returned to his private business practices. He was a loving father and grandfather who spent his later years in Little Rock; and

WHEREAS:  Jim Guy Tucker was part of a generation of Arkansas leaders who left a deep impression on the state and whose legacy lives on.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, Governor of the State of Arkansas, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the laws of the State of Arkansas, in tribute to the memory of Jim Guy Tucker and as an expression of public sorrow, do hereby direct that the United States flag and the state flag of Arkansas be flown at half-staff from sunrise February 19, 2025 to sunset February 24, 2025, the day of interment.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Arkansas to be affixed this 18th day of February, in the year of our Lord 2025.