NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Women lawmakers fought to put a female in line to follow Maine House Speaker John L. Martin as president of the National Conference of State Legislatures, but the black man who was chosen says he won the post fair and square.

“I think the organization will never be the same again,” said Arizona Rep. Art Hamilton.

He was elected Thursday as the NCSL’s vice president, the first elected black officer in the conference’s 16-year history.

A Democrat, Hamilton becomes president-elect in December when Martin, D-Eagle Lake, takes over as president.

Hamilton will succeed Martin in December 1991.

“I started my effort for this office nine months ago,” Hamilton said Friday after the organization wrapped up its annual meeting.

“I don’t feel I was a compromise candidate at all. I was the leading candidate for some time,” he said.

Some women among the 5,000 state legislators attending the 16th annual meeting saw it differently.

“The women just decided to challenge the system, and they got half a loaf,” said Tennessee Rep. Lois DeBerry, a member of the NCSL executive committee.

A group of legislators pushed Texas Rep. Wilhelmina Delco — a black woman — for the vice presidential post, but she was ruled ineligible because she does not occupy a leadership position in her state Legislature, Ms. DeBerry said.

“There was a lot of talk about the women wanting to break in what they called the good old boy network,” Ms. DeBerry said.

“I guess it’s just like in each representative’s House where you have this all-male team,” she said.

“There have been some changes, but it’s still the good old boy network.”

Mrs. Delco said she was disappointed at her loss, but said she’s satisfied with the gains blacks have made in the organization.

“We’ve been putting pressure on for a long time,” she said. “I think we have raised the sensitivity here.”

Hamilton, 42, said the organization of state lawmakers began changing five years ago.

He admitted the NCSL needs to consider the views of all its members, not just the traditional male white leaders.

“I think that people haven’t felt historically in this organization that they needed to reach out,” he said.