James William Trimble

Who was James William Trimble?

James William Trimble was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Arkansas, having served from 1945 to 1967. He was the first Democrat in Arkansas since Reconstruction to lose a congressional race to a Republican. Trimble was unseated in the 1966 general election by John Paul Hammerschmidt of Harrison in Boone County, who won election on the GOP ticket headed by gubernatorial nominee Winthrop Rockefeller.

Born in tiny Osage in Carroll County in northwestern Arkansas, Trimble attended public schools. He was graduated in 1917 from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He was admitted to the bar in 1925 and commenced practice in Berryville in Carroll County.

During World War I, he served in the United States Army as a private and was assigned to the Adjutant General's Office in Little Rock. From 1920 to 1928, he was a county official of Carroll County. He served as prosecuting attorney of the 4th Judicial Circuit of Arkansas from 1930-1938. He served as judge of the 4th Judicial Circuit of Arkansas from 1938 to 1944, when he was elected to the U.S. House.

Trimble was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-ninth and to the ten succeeding Congresses.