Rex Nelson, popular columnist with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and writer of Rex Nelson's Southern Fried blog, will present “The Arkansas Paradox” at 6 p.m. Thursday, October 19, at the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.
Nelson has reported on and been involved with Arkansas business and politics and the Republican party for nearly forty years. In this talk he will give perspectives on the current political climate in Arkansas and discuss the opportunities and challenges that may lie ahead and how they could affect Arkansas's economy and culture.
Nelson is one of the most high-profile writers and speakers in the state. As senior editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, he writes three columns a week and essays for the cover of the newspaper's Sunday Perspective section. He's the author of three books: the first full-length biography of Hillary Rodham Clinton, a biography of Arkansas educator Ben Elrod, and a collection of essays on Arkansas. Nelson is the author of a popular blog known as Rex Nelson's Southern Fried, hosts the Southern Fried podcast, and makes regular television and radio appearances.
Nelson served for almost a decade as the policy and communications director for Gov. Mike Huckabee and then served for four years in the administration of President George W. Bush as one of the president's two appointees to the Delta Regional Authority. Nelson has been inducted into the Arkansas Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. In 2016, Gov. Asa Hutchinson and the Arkansas Rural Development Commission named Nelson as its Rural Advocate of the Year for the state of Arkansas.
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
