James Paul Clarke (August 18, 1854 – October 1, 1916) was a lawyer and politician from the Arkansas Delta during the Progressive Era. He served in public office over a period of almost 30 years, rising from the Arkansas General Assembly to Attorney General of Arkansas and later 18th Governor of Arkansas, ending his career in the United States Senate. In a period of Democratic Party hegemony known as the "Solid South", Clarke blended positions of the budding Populist movement, such as free silver and railroad regulation, with white supremacy and his gifted skills as an orator to popularity and electoral success.

Clarke was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta. His father Walter, an architect, died when Clarke was seven years old, and he was raised by his mother, Ellen (née White), daughter of a prominent planter class family.^[6] Clarke attended public schools as well as Tutwilder's Academy in Greenbrier, Alabama.^[7] After briefly editing a newspaper in Yazoo City, Clarke graduated with a law degree at the University of Virginia in 1878. Clarke was admitted to the bar in 1879, and settled briefly in the small Arkansas River Valley town of Ozark, Arkansas prior to moving to Helena, Arkansas in the Arkansas Delta.^[8]

Clarke married Sallie (née Moore) Wooten of Moon Lake, Mississippi on November 10, 1883. Wooten had a son from previous marriage, Alonzo Stuart "Lonnie" Wooten; the couple had two daughters and a son.^[9]

Clarke was elected to the United States Senate in 1903 and served until his death in 1916.^[13] He served as President pro tempore of the United States Senate during the Sixty-third and Sixty-fourth Congresses.

Clarke died in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is buried at Oakland Cemetery in Little Rock. Despite an ineffective tenure as governor, Clarke and his successor, Daniel Jones, marked a departure in the conservative Democratic Party of Arkansas toward a more populist party.^[14] They dealt with the electoral threat of a nascent Populist party by incorporating some reforms into the Democratic platform, in conflict with the positions of national Democrats. Clarke is remembered for a silver tongue, short temper, and willingness to fight.

Clarke's statue is one of two statues that was presented by the State of Arkansas to the National Statuary Hall Collection at the United States Capitol. In 2019 the decision was made to replace his statue, and that of Uriah Milton Rose, with statues of Johnny Cash and Daisy Lee Gatson Bates. In the case of Clarke, the reason given is "his racist beliefs".^[15] Clarke's own great-great-grandson, State Senator Clarke Tucker, in a 2018 column strongly supported replacing Clarke's statue: "I strongly hope one of the new statues will be Daisy Bates or a member of the Little Rock Nine."^[16][17]

• List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–49)