Michael Pleasant Huddleston (August 5, 1872 - January 3, 1938), was the son of Reverend J.M. Huddleston, a Baptist minister. Born in Tennessee, he moved to Arkansas when he was seventeen years old and lived in Paragould for almost forty years. A graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Law in Little Rock, he was a well-known attorney who at one time was a law partner of J. Marion Futrell. From 1893 to 1897 he was chief clerk in the United States Land Office in Little Rock. Elected to the Senate in 1900 and reelected in 1902, he was chosen president pro tem of the Senate in 1901. In that capacity Huddleston served on a half dozen occasions, from a few days to over a month, as acting governor during absences of Governor Jeff Davis from the state. So frequently was he called upon to fili the governor's office that one newspaper suggested that he "take up permanent residence in the city of Little Rock."

While acting governor in July, 1901, Huddleston attracted considerable publicity by a rigid enforcement of the Wilson anti-gambling law which for a time closed down all "gambling dens" in Little Rock. Defeated by Thaddeus Caraway in 1908 for the position of prosecuting attorney of the Second Judicial District, he was elected to that office four years later. In 1916 he announced as a can­didate for election as attorney general of Arkansas, but withdrew his candidacy shortly thereafter, without undertaking any active campaign for the office. There­after, he practiced law in Paragould. (Biographical note by Willard B. Gatewood, Jr., as revised by Wanda Rankin)