Maurice L. “Footsie” Britt served two terms in office as Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller’s lieutenant governor. They were remarkable for being Republican leaders in a state that was still by and large aligned with the Democratic Party.
After Britt’s two terms, he left politics for 15 years before returning to challenge incumbent Gov. Bill Clinton in 1986, according to the Jan. 15, 1986, Arkansas Gazette. To run, Britt left his job as state administrator of the Small Business Administration, which was under fire from President Ronald Reagan, the Gazette reported. Clinton would win re-election, and Britt would fail even to secure the Republican nomination, but his status as a military hero was not forgotten.
He was the first American in history to earn by fighting in one war all of the U.S. Army’s elite awards for valor, including the Medal of Honor.
Well-known as Britt was, the name “Maurice” did not appear on his birth certificate, according to the Central Arkansas Library System Encyclopedia of Arkansas. The story goes that Britt was named Morris after his father, but a grade-school teacher changed his name to the “proper” spelling of Maurice, which is another name altogether.
From then on, Morris was Maurice but more often Footsie. Britt was an adult before he saw that his birth certificate read “Morris.” As for Footsie, the encyclopedia notes that most sources credit the moniker to his size-13 shoes. But the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s obituary of him quotes an interview in which Britt told the Arkansas Democrat he was given the name for being the fastest runner on the track team.
Britt died of heart failure the night of Sunday, Nov. 27, 1995, according to the Democrat-Gazette’s obituary. Then-Gov. Jim Guy Tucker was quoted as saying Britt “was a giver and not a taker.” Then-Lt. Gov. Mike Huckabee said: “If Arkansas ever had an honest-to-God hero, Footsie Britt was that person.”
— Morgan Acuff
