11 Facts About Tom Terral

Thomas Jefferson Terral was an American attorney and the 27th governor of Arkansas, serving one term from 1925 to 1927.

Tom Terral attended the University of Kentucky at Lexington, Kentucky and transferred to the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville from which he graduated in 1910.

Tom Terral was admitted to the bar in 1910 and established a private law practice in Little Rock.

From 1911 to 1915, Tom Terral worked as an assistant secretary of the Arkansas Senate where he learned the mechanics of state politics.

In 1916, Tom Terral was elected Arkansas Secretary of State and served two two-year terms from 1917 to 1921.

Tom Terral ran unsuccessfully for governor in the 1920 Democratic primary, having lost to Thomas Chipman McRae.

Tom Terral had been rejected for Klan membership by various chapters in Arkansas but wanted to show his commitment to the organization as he mounted his gubernatorial race.

Tom Terral defeated John Ellis Martineau, who came back in 1926 to unseat Tom Terral in the primary.

Tom Terral received 99,598 votes to Grabiel's 25,152.

Tom Terral would become the first of three Arkansas governors denied second terms.

Tom Terral is interred at Roselawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Little Rock.