LEGACY AWARD
The first Republican elected to Congress from Arkansas since Reconstruction, Hammerschmidt served 26 years in office. In one of his 12 campaigns, which he typically won handily, Hammerschmidt defeated a law student named Bill Clinton. Among Hammerschmidt's lasting legislative achievements was his work to designate the Buffalo River as the country's first "national river." Hammerschmidt-sponsored legislation that prevented the federal government from building dams on the Buffalo, thus preserving it as a free-flowing stream and leading to its development as a national park.