Jim Caldwell (Arkansas politician)

James Ray "Jim" Caldwell
Member of the Arkansas Senate
from the 9th (then Benton and Carroll counties) district
In office
January 1, 1969 – December 31, 1978
Preceded byRussell Elrod
Succeeded byKim Hendren
Chair of the Arkansas Republican Party
In office
March 1973 – December 1974
Preceded byCharles T. Bernard
Succeeded byLynn Lowe
Personal details
Born1936
Dardanelle, Yell County
Arkansas, U.S.
SpouseLaferne Muller Caldwell
ChildrenFour daughters
Residence(s)Tulsa, Oklahoma
Alma materCentral High School (Tulsa)

Harding University
Southern Methodist University

University of Tulsa
OccupationMinister; After-dinner speaker
Military service
Branch/serviceUnited States Air Force

James Ray Caldwell, known as Jim R. Caldwell (born 1936), is a retired Church of Christ minister in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who was a Republican member of the Arkansas State Senate from 1969 to 1978, the first member of his party to sit in the legislative upper chamber in the 20th century. His first two years as a senator corresponded with the second two-year term of Winthrop Rockefeller, the first Republican governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction. Caldwell was closely allied with Rockefeller during the 1969-1970 legislative sessions.