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“Scholarship Gets Boost from Mailer’s Speech.” Article by unidentified writer. Atkins (Arkansas) Chronicle, 6 December, 1. Visiting the hometown of his wife Norris Church, Mailer spoke at Arkansas Tech on 4 December, answering questions on various current events, including the O.J. Simpson trial, the war in Bosnia, welfare reform and the end of the Cold War. He says, “The United States used the Cold War to push the U.S.S.R. into bankruptcy, while President Reagan tripled the U.S. national debt.” Mailer donated his speaking fee to the Francis Gwaltney scholarship fund at Arkansas Tech, where Gwaltney taught before his death in 1981. Gwaltney served in the army with Mailer and was, according to Mailer, his oldest friend. Mailer met his sixth wife, Norris Church, through Gwaltney.