Jay Bradford was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on April 30, 1940. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Henderson State University in 1963, Bradford embarked on a successful career in the insurance business. In 1982, he was elected to the Arkansas Senate, representing Pine Bluff as a Democrat. As a state senator, he worked closely with Governor Clinton and was a key supporter of his legislative agenda throughout Clinton’s time in office. After he retired from the Arkansas Senate in 2000, Bradford continued his public service, appointed by Governor Mike Beebe in 2007 as director of the Division of Behavioral Health Services at the Arkansas Department of Human Services, and in 2009 as head of the Arkansas Insurance Department, where he served until 2015.
#1: Still frame from Pryor Center video interview with Jay Bradford; Little Rock, Arkansas, 2012
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#2: Jay Bradford (center) with his wife, Robbie Thomas-Knight, and Bill Clinton, December 2006
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#3: Still frame from Pryor Center video interview with Jay Bradford; Little Rock, Arkansas, 2012
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#4: Still frame from Pryor Center video interview with Jay Bradford; Little Rock, Arkansas, 2012
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
