Described by one study as “a great supporter of the
New Deal,” Bailey was elected in 1936 to the first of his two terms as governor. In the general election, Bailey handily defeated the
Republican Osro Cobb, who had represented
Montgomery County in the
Arkansas House of Representatives from 1927 to 1930. Cobb waged an active campaign, having stressed that he was born in Arkansas, whereas the Missouri-born Bailey was a "northern man". Cobb had proposed the creation of a second national park in the state in the
Ouachita National Forest between
Little Rock and
Shreveport,
Louisiana, but the measure was
pocket vetoed by
U.S. President Calvin Coolidge. Bailey received 156,852 votes (85.4 percent) to Cobb's 26,875 ballots (14.6 percent). Cobb recalled that after the election: many persons called and visited and that they thought a substantial number of votes for me had not been counted. This probably did happen, though to what extent no one can be sure. It also hurt the presidential campaign of my friend,
Governor Alf M. Landon of
Kansas. This reinforced my conviction that it was absolutely necessary for the rights of the minority party to be protected in elections through the appointment of precinct judges and clerks. After
World War II, an
initiated act required Republican representation at all precincts and on counting boards. Without such a measure, it was speculated that Republicans could never have overcome the obstacles they faced in an attempt to establish a
two-party system in Arkansas. Bailey's
lieutenant governor was also named "Bailey" (
Robert B. Bailey). The Bailey administration developed a library and retirement system and established the state's first
agricultural experiment station at
Batesville. During his term, the Department of Public Welfare was founded and Arkansas was made eligible for federal welfare programs. Bailey supported
U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's
New Deal programs. During Bailey's term, the Arkansas State Police was created and the first
civil service laws in the
American South were enacted. After U.S. Senator
Joseph Taylor Robinson died in office in 1937, Bailey attempted to take the seat himself. He was chosen as the Democratic nominee by the state party convention, which he controlled. However, he had promised when running for governor that he would place such nominations to a vote of the people. Political opponents within the Democratic Party ran an "independent" candidate, who criticized Bailey's broken promise. Bailey lost the election by a wide margin to
John E. Miller. By a margin of 91.4 to 8.6 percent, Bailey won his second term as governor in the 1938 general election over the Republican Charles F. Cole of Batesville. In 1940, Bailey sought a third consecutive term as governor but lost to intraparty rival
Homer Martin Adkins. After leaving the governorship, he served as a
lobbyist for a railroad union and taught law at the
University of Arkansas Law School in
Fayetteville. In 1942, he founded the Carl Bailey Company, an
International Harvester franchise, which sold innovative farming machinery. Bailey stayed active in politics and continued to wield some influence. In 1944,
J. William Fulbright, a congressman from Fayetteville and former president of the University of Arkansas, who had been dismissed by Governor Adkins, opposed Adkins for a U.S. Senate seat. Bailey supported Fulbright, who defeated Adkins and two other opponents and then served until his own defeat in 1974 by fellow Democrat
Dale Bumpers. ==Death and legacy==