John McKeithen
Encyclopedia
John Julian McKeithen was the 49th Governor of Louisiana, serving from 1964 to 1972. A Democrat
from the town of Columbia
, he was the first governor of his state in the twentieth century to serve two consecutive terms. As governor, he pushed for the construction of the Louisiana Superdome
in New Orleans.
just south of Columbia
in Caldwell Parish
, the son of contractor and farmer, Jesse J. McKeithen and the former DeEtte Eglin. He graduated from high school there and first attended college in High Point
, North Carolina. In 1942, he earned his law degree from Louisiana State University Law Center in Baton Rouge.
From 1942 – 1946, during World War II, McKeithen served as a first lieutenant
in the 77th Infantry Division, United States Army
in the Pacific Theater of Operations
. He fought in the battles of Guam
, Gulf of Leyte
, Ie Shima
, and Okinawa
. He was awarded two Bronze Stars.
After the war, McKeithen started practicing law in Columbia. On June 14, 1942, he married a young teacher in Columbia, the former Marjorie "Margie" Howell Funderburk (September 30, 1919 – March 24, 2004), a twin sister of Margaret Funderburk. Marjorie, who was reared in Winnsboro
in Franklin Parish
, graduated from Louisiana Tech University
in Ruston
. She taught mathematics and chemistry at Jena High School in Jena
in LaSalle Parish and, thereafter, at the Ward 5 School in Caldwell Parish. The McKeithens had six children, including the future State Representative and Louisiana Secretary of State Fox McKeithen (1946–2005). Their oldest son was Jesse Jay McKeithen (1943–1998). Their daughters are Rebecca Ann, Melissa Sue, Pamela Clare, and Jenneva Maude. Marjorie McKeithern was the homemaker at their Hogan Plantation and reserved the spotlight for her popular husband, whom she affectionately called "J.J."
in 1948; he was a prominent floor leader for Governor Earl Kemp Long. As a legislator, McKeithen consistently voted for tax increases. In the 1948 session, he supported the implementation of the 2 percent state sales tax
, a 2-cent-per-gallon increase in gasoline taxes, higher tobacco and alcohol levies, taxes on chain store
s, greater severance tax
es, and higher rates on electricity.
In 1952, as a 33-year-old state legislator, he was an unsuccessful Democratic primary candidate for lieutenant governor on a slate headed by gubernatorial candidate Carlos Spaht
and ostensibly supported by the Longs. The "anti-Longs," led that year by Judge Robert F. Kennon
of Minden
, won the governorship and other top positions. In a runoff election, McKeithen lost the lieutenant governor's race to C. E. "Cap" Barham of Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish, who had originally run on the gubernatorial intraparty ticket with U.S. Representative Thomas Hale Boggs, Sr.
, of New Orleans. Barham then switched to the Kennon ticket in the runoff against McKeithen. Once in office, however, Kennon and Barham were often at odds.
McKeithen then served on the Louisiana Public Service Commission
from 1955 to 1964. He emerged successful in the 1954 Democratic primary for the PSC by defeating incumbent Harvey Broyles and a second opponent, Louis S. "Buck" Hooper (1902–1984). He was then unopposed in the general election. In that 1954 campaign, McKeithen argued for an investigation regarding the disparity in charges between in-state and out-of-state long-distance telephone calls, having noted that it was cheaper to call from Shreveport
to Jackson
, Mississippi, than from Shreveport to Monroe
.
McKeithen represented Huey Long
’s old north Louisiana district, and emulated Long with his populist
attacks on the Southern Bell Telephone Company. He was credited with preserving the traditional nickel telephone call, when most states had long gone to a dime or higher at pay phone outlets, a service now rare in the age of cellular phones . In the 1960 Democratic primary, McKeithen defeated Hooper once again.
When McKeithen left the PSC to become governor, he appointed John S. Hunt, III
(1928–2001), of Monroe, a nephew of Governors Huey and Earl Long, to finish McKeithen's term. Hunt then won a six-year term on the PSC in the 1966 Democratic runoff primary by defeating State Representative John Sidney Garrett
of Haynesville
, thereafter McKeithen's choice as Speaker of the Louisiana House.
to Ku Klux Klan
wizard A. Roswell Thompson, a taxi
operator from New Orleans. McKeithen ran second in the primary and headed to a Democratic runoff in January 1964. He thereafter swept the general election on March 3.
Three LSU scholars described McKeithen as he launched his first gubernatorial campaign, accordingly:
"McKeithen is . . . dependent on identification with the Longs for establishing himself initially in the campaign. His organizational supporters are much less impressive than those behind [U.S. Representative] Gillis Long
. He is obviously intent on strengthening his Long identification by emphasis on his proximity to Earl Long and neutralizing Gillis Long's strength by tying him to the national party and localizing his own candidacy. . . . His potential for victory appears secondary to his capacity to split essential votes that might seriously injure Gillis Long's efforts. At the same time, the situation is fluid enough that McKeithen cannot be counted out altogether."
McKeithen, with Earl Long's widow, Blanche Long
as his campaign manager, fought to win the backing of the still-influential 'Longite' forces. Despite his Longite background, McKeithen ran on a reform platform, promising to "clean up the mess in Baton Rouge." He also ran as a defender of segregation
, having criticized the meddling of U.S. President John F. Kennedy
in Louisiana politics. McKeithen also benefited from grass-roots support generated by Aubrey W. Young
of Monroe, an organizer for Alcoholics Anonymous
who later worked to establish drug and alcohol treatment programs through the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.
McKeithen emerged in the primary in second place to the frontrunner deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, Sr., with Gillis Long third and Robert Kennon fourth. In the runoff campaign, McKeithen rallied the supporters of fifth-place finisher Shelby Jackson by warning of the dangers of a NAACP "bloc vote" for Morrison. McKeithen won the runoff, 492,905 (52.2 percent) to 451,161 (47.8 percent). Though he had maintained segregation, he indicated that he welcomed African-American support in the primary.
McKeithen ran as a populist
. The following quote from his 1963–64 campaign is preserved on his tomb:
"I wasn't born to material wealth, nor do I have claim to an aristocratic name. But if I am elected governor, it will prove that any mother's son can aspire to the highest political office of this state. I've come this far because you the people have given me your support – with all the professional politicians, power brokers and big money people fighting me every step of the way. Because I owe you so much, you can be assured when I raise my hand to take the oath of office as Governor of Louisiana, there will be a prayer in my heart that God will always guide me to do what is best for the state and all the people in it. We'll win this race, but I need your help. Won't you help me?"
McKeithen overcame the conservative Republican Party
candidate Charlton Havard Lyons, Sr.
, a Shreveport oilman, in the first seriously contested Louisiana gubernatorial general election since Reconstruction. McKeithen defeated Lyons, 469,589 (60.7 percent) to 297,753 (37.5 percent). McKeithen seemed somewhat bitter that he had to face a Republican candidate after struggling through two hard-fought Democratic primaries but nevertheless congratulated the 69-year-old Lyons for the vigorous GOP
campaign.
McKeithen signed legislation establishing a state code of ethics
for elected and appointed public officials, the investment of idle funds to bring additional interest income to the state, and disclosure of the state's previously secret unclassified payroll, three proposals sponsored in the state House by Representative Joe Henry Cooper
of Masfield
, the seat of De Soto Parish in northwestern Louisiana.
When McKeithen was elected, Louisiana governors could still serve only one term. Governors had to sit out a term if they wished to seek second or third terms thereafter. McKeithen worked to end this practice; voters overwhelmingly approved his pet "Amendment 1" in the 1966 general election. Therefore, he could seek a second term in the 1967–1968 election cycle.
McKeithen named Aubrey Young as his aide de camp and as a colonel in the Louisiana State Police. He removed Young in 1967 after reports surfaced of a bribery attempt and an involvement with mobster Carlos Marcello
. Life Magazine indicates that when McKeithen threatened to fire Young over the proposed bribery, Young resigned.
McKeithen's other close advisors included former State Senator
William R. "Billy" Boles, Sr.
, a high-powered Monroe attorney and banker. He also depended heavily on Senator Sixty Rayburn
of Bogalusa
, a favorite of organized labor and the Democrat constituency groups.
He named the Louisiana Tech University
English professor Robert C. Snyder
, who worked to establish the Lincoln Parish
Library, to the state board of library commissioners.
McKeithen recruited blacks into his administration, including Jesse N. Stone
, a Bienville Parish
native, whom he named to head the Louisiana Commission on Human Relations, Rights and Responsibilities. Stone was later the president of the Southern University System
from 1974–1985.
, Kentucky, in September 1966 that he would run again if Amendment 1 were approved.
Opponents of Amendment 1 included former Governor Jimmie Davis
and two of his past political associates, legislative floor leader State Representative Risley C. Triche
of Napoleonville
and Fred Huenefeld, Jr., Davis' welfare director from Monroe. McKeithen's rival from 1963, Gillis Long, also worked against the amendment. The supporters of Amendment 1 included Victor Bussie
of the AFL-CIO
, U.S. Senators Allen J. Ellender
and Russell Long, the Republican physician Alton Ochsner
of New Orleans, and most of the state newspapers, including the New Orleans Times-Picayune
, the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, Alexandria Daily Town Talk
, Shreveport Times, and the since defunct Shreveport Journal.
In the 1967 primary, McKeithen was so popular that voters renominated him with ease. His main opponent was the conservative Indiana
-born Sixth District freshman U.S. Representative John Rarick
of St. Francisville
in West Feliciana Parish, who was backed by elements of the Ku Klux Klan
. Rarick did not warm to rural voters, and his strict constitutionalist views did not appeal to many in the statewide electorate. People responded positively to McKeithen's folksy mannerisms and trademark "Won't you 'hep me?" appeal. Republicans did not even field a candidate for governor in the general election held on February 6, 1968. McKeithen worked to defeat a state senator in northwestern Louisiana. Harold Montgomery
of Doyline
was unseated after two terms by a challenger of the same surname but no relation, Minden
attorney John Willard "Jack" Montgomery
.
In 1968, McKeithen endorsed the election of Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey for the U.S. presidency. He had been neutral in the 1964 contest between Lyndon B. Johnson
and Barry M. Goldwater. The support for Humphrey brought McKeithen into conflict with Louisiana backers of George C. Wallace, a former Democratic governor of Alabama who ran on the American Independent Party
ticket, which opposed civil rights
laws.
From 1964 until his death in 1968, E. W. Gravolet
of Pointe à la Hache
in Plaquemines Parish
was the Louisiana Senate President Pro Tempore under McKeithen. Vail M. Delony
of East Carroll Parish
was the Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives until his death in 1967, when the position passed to John Sidney Garrett
of Claiborne Parish
.
in New Orleans was one of McKeithen’s priorities. Despite initial misgivings by many, McKeithen was responsible for moving approval of the Superdome project through the Legislature, arguing that the benefits of associated economic development would be worth the high cost.
On the Superdome and other issues, McKeithen faced the legislative opposition of a group of mostly young reformers known as the "Young Turks." One of their leaders was Robert G. "Bob" Jones, a state representative from Lake Charles
and the son of former Governor Sam Houston Jones. Jones objected to state funding of the Superdome in New Orleans and many state bond projects. The Young Turks favored a "pay-as-you-go" approach, rather than too much bonded indebtedness. Jones himself would run unsuccessfully for governor in 1975.
In 1968, McKeithen launched a campaign to remove deadheads, or workers performing few productive tasks, from the state payroll. He faced a then $61 million shortfall in the upcoming budget. Thereafter, he pushed to fruition in 1970 a 2-cent sales tax increase to fund higher pay for teachers and state employees, and he worked to expand construction on many public college and university campuses. He reformed the Department of Corrections and improved conditions at Angola
state penitentiary.
In the summer of 1968, McKeithen's life was threatened after he began an investigation into labor-management racketeering. One man admitted to having received $5,000 to kill the governor. McKeithen's security was enlarged, and no further threats were reported.
In 1969 and 1970, McKeithen’s administration received criticism in the national press. Life
magazine, through its writer David Chandler, claimed that the Mafia
had influence in Louisiana’s state government. Thirty-nine state and local officials were eventually indicted, but no ties were ever linked to McKeithen himself.
In 1970 McKeithen signaled his belief that national unrest had become especially harmful to the nation. In a civic address to the American Legion
in Minden
, he said:
"Our country has gone too far to protect individual rights of citizens. We are now protecting the very persons who are trying to destroy our country from within. Russia
, with all its might, would not dare to try to destroy the United States by force, but we are allowing the radicals, the scum of the country, to begin to destroy us from within."
In 1971, McKeithen appointed Lake Charles
attorney Henry L. Yelverton
to a 14th Judicial District judgeship. Later, Yelverton served on the Third Circuit Court of Appeal.
, and tried to appoint segregationist Shelby Jackson to head the state’s management of federal War on Poverty
funds. As late as 1965, McKeithen publicly stated his support for segregation as the best system for Louisiana, but he later moderated his views on race relations. He personally intervened to stem racial violence in Bogalusa
in 1965 and created a Biracial Commission on Human Rights, Relations, and Responsibilities designed to ease tensions. He appointed Israel Augustine and Ernest "Dutch" Morial as Louisiana’s first African-American judges since Reconstruction. But during 1967 disturbances, McKeithen took a hard line, threatening to have authorities shoot looters and rioters. McKeithen also later became a national spokesperson for the movement to oppose integration by busing school children.
John Martzell, a New Orleans lawyer who was executive secretary of the State Human Relations Commission from 1966 to 1972, said (in a New York Times obituary, June 5, 1999) that McKeithen's efforts to promote racial harmony remain little known.
"The most important thing he did came in a speech he delivered to the AFL-CIO
convention in Baton Rouge in the summer of 1966," Martzell said.
"He pointed to some blacks in the audience and said, 'I know I'm not leaving this state, and I don't think you're leaving either. So we've got to solve our problem.' It was giving the imprimatur of the state Governor to solving racial differences. Previous governors had always proclaimed massive resistance to integration. He had a huge impact."
In 1969, McKeithen sent 250 Louisiana National Guard
troops into Baton Rouge, where the Mayor-President, W.W. Dumas, had declared a curfew
after rioting broke out following the fatal police shooting of a fleeing 17-year-old black suspect. Though the officer was temporarily suspended from the force, Dumas also took a hardline approach regarding such disturbances and said he would fully support police in such instances.."
Institute of Politics who followed Mr. McKeithen's career, credited him with four major accomplishments: the beginning of the end of segregation in Louisiana, the decision to build the Superdome, leadership in the passage of a state constitutional amendment that permits state governors to run for two four-year terms, and the emergence of consensus politics.
. The filing deadline had closed for the Democratic primary; so he ran as an independent in the general election. He lost to the Democratic nominee, former Louisiana state Senator J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., as Richard M. Nixon and Spiro T. Agnew were easily carrying Louisiana for the Republicans. The Republican Senate nominee in the contest was Ben C. Toledano, a lawyer and journalist who had sought the office of mayor of New Orleans early in 1970.
Governor David C. Treen
, a Republican, appointed the Democrat McKeithen to the LSU Board of Supervisors, a position that he held until his death. In his later years, McKeithen practiced law in Columbia and in Baton Rouge with his granddaughter, also named Marjorie. In 1991, McKeithen made headlines by resigning from his local country club
after it barred a black high school golfer from playing in a tournament there.
McKeithen became a close friend of the journalist Sam Hanna, Sr.
, publisher of the Franklin Sun in Winnsboro
, the Concordia Sentinel in Ferriday
, and later the Ouachita Citizen in West Monroe
. The McKeithens' younger son, W. Fox McKeithen
(1946–2005), was a member of the Louisiana legislature (1984–1988) and secretary of state (1988–2005). Fox McKeithen switched his party allegiance from Democratic to Republican after his first election as secretary of state in 1987, much to the consternation of his staunchly Democratic father and daughter, who ran for the congressional seat in Baton Rouge in 1998. On the premature death of Fox McKeithen in 2005, Hanna wrote a moving column about his relationship to the McKeithen family.
In 1993, McKeithen was among the first thirteen inductees into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame
in Winnfield
. Fox McKeithen was inducted posthumously in 2006.
and nearly defeats President Richard Nixon in the general election. McKeithen's candidacy results in the U.S. Presidential Election, 1972 being forced into the U.S. House of Representatives with unintended results that include the elevation of Spiro Agnew
to the Presidency.
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
from the town of Columbia
Columbia, Louisiana
Columbia is a town in and the parish seat of Caldwell Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 477 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Columbia is located at ....
, he was the first governor of his state in the twentieth century to serve two consecutive terms. As governor, he pushed for the construction of the Louisiana Superdome
Louisiana Superdome
The Mercedes-Benz Superdome, previously known as the Louisiana Superdome and colloquially known as the Superdome, is a sports and exhibition arena located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA...
in New Orleans.
Early life
McKeithen was born in the village of GraysonGrayson, Louisiana
Grayson is a village in Caldwell Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 531 at the 2000 census.Grayson has an elementary school, but high school students attend the nearby Caldwell Parish High School in the parish seat of Columbia. Across from the elementary school and the Grayson...
just south of Columbia
Columbia, Louisiana
Columbia is a town in and the parish seat of Caldwell Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 477 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Columbia is located at ....
in Caldwell Parish
Caldwell Parish, Louisiana
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 10,560 people, 3,941 households, and 2,817 families residing in the parish. The population density was 20 people per square mile . There were 5,035 housing units at an average density of 10 per square mile...
, the son of contractor and farmer, Jesse J. McKeithen and the former DeEtte Eglin. He graduated from high school there and first attended college in High Point
High Point, North Carolina
High Point is a city located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina. As of 2010 the city had a total population of 104,371, according to the US Census Bureau. High Point is currently the eighth-largest municipality in North Carolina....
, North Carolina. In 1942, he earned his law degree from Louisiana State University Law Center in Baton Rouge.
From 1942 – 1946, during World War II, McKeithen served as a first lieutenant
First Lieutenant
First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...
in the 77th Infantry Division, United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
in the Pacific Theater of Operations
Pacific Theater of Operations
The Pacific Theater of Operations was the World War II area of military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, a geographic scope that reflected the operational and administrative command structures of the American forces during that period...
. He fought in the battles of Guam
Battle of Guam
The Second Battle of Guam was the American capture of the Japanese held island of Guam, a United States territory during the Pacific campaign of World War II.-Background:...
, Gulf of Leyte
Battle of Leyte
The Battle of Leyte in the Pacific campaign of World War II was the invasion and conquest of the island of Leyte in the Philippines by American and Filipino guerrilla forces under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, who fought against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Philippines led by...
, Ie Shima
Ie Shima Airfield
is a gunnery and training facility, managed by the United States Marine Corps and a former World War II airfield complex on Ie Shima, an island located off the northwest coast of Okinawa Island in the East China Sea...
, and Okinawa
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945...
. He was awarded two Bronze Stars.
After the war, McKeithen started practicing law in Columbia. On June 14, 1942, he married a young teacher in Columbia, the former Marjorie "Margie" Howell Funderburk (September 30, 1919 – March 24, 2004), a twin sister of Margaret Funderburk. Marjorie, who was reared in Winnsboro
Winnsboro, Louisiana
Winnsboro is a city in and the parish seat of Franklin Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of July 2009, the estimated city population was 4,377...
in Franklin Parish
Franklin Parish, Louisiana
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 21,263 people, 7,754 households, and 5,706 families residing in the parish. The population density was 34 people per square mile . There were 8,623 housing units at an average density of 14 per square mile...
, graduated from Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University, often referred to as Louisiana Tech, LA Tech, or Tech, is a coeducational public research university located in Ruston, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech is designated as a Tier 1 school in the national universities category by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report college rankings...
in Ruston
Ruston, Louisiana
Ruston is a city in and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 20,546 at the 2000 census. Ruston is near the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex and is the home of Louisiana Tech University. Its economy caters to its college population...
. She taught mathematics and chemistry at Jena High School in Jena
Jena, Louisiana
Jena is a town in and the parish seat of La Salle Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,971 at the 2000 census.In September 2006, Jena became the focus of national news stories in the United States for a racial controversy involving its school system and a group of students known...
in LaSalle Parish and, thereafter, at the Ward 5 School in Caldwell Parish. The McKeithens had six children, including the future State Representative and Louisiana Secretary of State Fox McKeithen (1946–2005). Their oldest son was Jesse Jay McKeithen (1943–1998). Their daughters are Rebecca Ann, Melissa Sue, Pamela Clare, and Jenneva Maude. Marjorie McKeithern was the homemaker at their Hogan Plantation and reserved the spotlight for her popular husband, whom she affectionately called "J.J."
State legislator and public service commissioner
McKeithen was elected as a Louisiana state representativeLouisiana House of Representatives
The Louisiana House of Representatives is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Louisiana. The House is composed of 105 Representatives, each of whom represents approximately 42,500 people . Members serve four-year terms with a term limit of...
in 1948; he was a prominent floor leader for Governor Earl Kemp Long. As a legislator, McKeithen consistently voted for tax increases. In the 1948 session, he supported the implementation of the 2 percent state sales tax
Sales tax
A sales tax is a tax, usually paid by the consumer at the point of purchase, itemized separately from the base price, for certain goods and services. The tax amount is usually calculated by applying a percentage rate to the taxable price of a sale....
, a 2-cent-per-gallon increase in gasoline taxes, higher tobacco and alcohol levies, taxes on chain store
Chain store
Chain stores are retail outlets that share a brand and central management, and usually have standardized business methods and practices. These characteristics also apply to chain restaurants and some service-oriented chain businesses. In retail, dining and many service categories, chain businesses...
s, greater severance tax
Severance tax
Severance taxes are incurred when non-renewable natural resources are separated from a taxing jurisdiction. Industries that typically incur such taxes are oil and gas, coal, mining, and timber industries....
es, and higher rates on electricity.
In 1952, as a 33-year-old state legislator, he was an unsuccessful Democratic primary candidate for lieutenant governor on a slate headed by gubernatorial candidate Carlos Spaht
Carlos Spaht
Carlos Gustave Spaht, I , was a Louisiana judge best remembered for having lost the Democratic gubernatorial runoff election in January 1952 to fellow Judge Robert F. Kennon of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana. Spaht's unsuccessful running mate for lieutenant governor...
and ostensibly supported by the Longs. The "anti-Longs," led that year by Judge Robert F. Kennon
Robert F. Kennon
Robert Floyd Kennon, Sr., known as Bob Kennon , was the 48th Governor of Louisiana, serving from 1952-1956. He failed to win a second non-consecutive term in the 1963 Democratic primary....
of Minden
Minden, Louisiana
Minden is a city in the American state of Louisiana. It serves as the parish seat of Webster Parish and is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The population, which has been stable since 1960, was 13,027 at the 2000 census...
, won the governorship and other top positions. In a runoff election, McKeithen lost the lieutenant governor's race to C. E. "Cap" Barham of Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish, who had originally run on the gubernatorial intraparty ticket with U.S. Representative Thomas Hale Boggs, Sr.
Hale Boggs
Thomas Hale Boggs Sr. , was an American Democratic politician and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Orleans, Louisiana...
, of New Orleans. Barham then switched to the Kennon ticket in the runoff against McKeithen. Once in office, however, Kennon and Barham were often at odds.
McKeithen then served on the Louisiana Public Service Commission
Louisiana Public Service Commission
Louisiana Public Service Commission is an independent regulatory agency which manages public utilities and motor carriers in Louisiana. The commission has five elected members chosen in single-member districts for staggered six-year terms...
from 1955 to 1964. He emerged successful in the 1954 Democratic primary for the PSC by defeating incumbent Harvey Broyles and a second opponent, Louis S. "Buck" Hooper (1902–1984). He was then unopposed in the general election. In that 1954 campaign, McKeithen argued for an investigation regarding the disparity in charges between in-state and out-of-state long-distance telephone calls, having noted that it was cheaper to call from Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
to Jackson
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
, Mississippi, than from Shreveport to Monroe
Monroe, Louisiana
Monroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...
.
McKeithen represented Huey Long
Huey Long
Huey Pierce Long, Jr. , nicknamed The Kingfish, served as the 40th Governor of Louisiana from 1928–1932 and as a U.S. Senator from 1932 to 1935. A Democrat, he was noted for his radical populist policies. Though a backer of Franklin D...
’s old north Louisiana district, and emulated Long with his populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
attacks on the Southern Bell Telephone Company. He was credited with preserving the traditional nickel telephone call, when most states had long gone to a dime or higher at pay phone outlets, a service now rare in the age of cellular phones . In the 1960 Democratic primary, McKeithen defeated Hooper once again.
When McKeithen left the PSC to become governor, he appointed John S. Hunt, III
John S. Hunt, III
John Smoker Hunt, III , was a nephew of Louisiana Governors Huey Pierce Long, Jr., and Earl Kemp Long who served on the elected Louisiana Public Service Commission from May 1964, to December 31, 1972. He was unseated in the September 30, 1972, Democratic runoff by Francis Edward Kennon, Jr...
(1928–2001), of Monroe, a nephew of Governors Huey and Earl Long, to finish McKeithen's term. Hunt then won a six-year term on the PSC in the 1966 Democratic runoff primary by defeating State Representative John Sidney Garrett
John Sidney Garrett
John Sidney Garrett was a conservative Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives who served from 1948 to 1972 under four gubernatorial administrations. Garrett was a successful businessman in the small town of Haynesville in Claiborne Parish south of the Arkansas state line...
of Haynesville
Haynesville, Louisiana
Haynesville is a town in northern Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, United States, located just south of the Arkansas border. The population was 2,679 at the 2000 census....
, thereafter McKeithen's choice as Speaker of the Louisiana House.
Election as governor, 1963–64
In the first primary in December 1963, a wide array of candidates entered from former Governor Robert Kennon to segregationist Education Superintendent Shelby M. JacksonShelby M. Jackson
Shelby M. Jackson was a Democratic superintendent of public education in Louisiana who served from 1948-1964. In the early 1960s, he tried in vain to block federally-authorized school desegregation. Jackson was posthumously honored in 1994, by the naming of the "Shelby M...
to Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
wizard A. Roswell Thompson, a taxi
Taxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
operator from New Orleans. McKeithen ran second in the primary and headed to a Democratic runoff in January 1964. He thereafter swept the general election on March 3.
Three LSU scholars described McKeithen as he launched his first gubernatorial campaign, accordingly:
"McKeithen is . . . dependent on identification with the Longs for establishing himself initially in the campaign. His organizational supporters are much less impressive than those behind [U.S. Representative] Gillis Long
Gillis William Long
Gillis William Long was a Democratic U.S. Representative from Louisiana and member of the Long family. Long served seven non-consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives but placed third in two campaigns for the Democratic gubernatorial nominations in 1963 and 1971...
. He is obviously intent on strengthening his Long identification by emphasis on his proximity to Earl Long and neutralizing Gillis Long's strength by tying him to the national party and localizing his own candidacy. . . . His potential for victory appears secondary to his capacity to split essential votes that might seriously injure Gillis Long's efforts. At the same time, the situation is fluid enough that McKeithen cannot be counted out altogether."
McKeithen, with Earl Long's widow, Blanche Long
Blanche Long
Blanche Beulah Revere Long was the first lady of Louisiana from 1939–1940, 1948–1952, and 1956-1960. She was also a "partner in power" to her husband, Governor Earl Kemp Long. From 1956-1963, she was the Democratic national committeewoman from Louisiana...
as his campaign manager, fought to win the backing of the still-influential 'Longite' forces. Despite his Longite background, McKeithen ran on a reform platform, promising to "clean up the mess in Baton Rouge." He also ran as a defender of segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
, having criticized the meddling of U.S. President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
in Louisiana politics. McKeithen also benefited from grass-roots support generated by Aubrey W. Young
Aubrey W. Young
Aubrey Walsworth Young was a public official in the U.S. state of Louisiana, who between 1965 and 1999 established multiple drug and alcohol treatment programs through the Department of Health and Hospitals. A political activist, Young organized his contacts from Alcoholics Anonymous to support...
of Monroe, an organizer for Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
who later worked to establish drug and alcohol treatment programs through the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.
McKeithen emerged in the primary in second place to the frontrunner deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, Sr., with Gillis Long third and Robert Kennon fourth. In the runoff campaign, McKeithen rallied the supporters of fifth-place finisher Shelby Jackson by warning of the dangers of a NAACP "bloc vote" for Morrison. McKeithen won the runoff, 492,905 (52.2 percent) to 451,161 (47.8 percent). Though he had maintained segregation, he indicated that he welcomed African-American support in the primary.
McKeithen ran as a populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
. The following quote from his 1963–64 campaign is preserved on his tomb:
"I wasn't born to material wealth, nor do I have claim to an aristocratic name. But if I am elected governor, it will prove that any mother's son can aspire to the highest political office of this state. I've come this far because you the people have given me your support – with all the professional politicians, power brokers and big money people fighting me every step of the way. Because I owe you so much, you can be assured when I raise my hand to take the oath of office as Governor of Louisiana, there will be a prayer in my heart that God will always guide me to do what is best for the state and all the people in it. We'll win this race, but I need your help. Won't you help me?"
McKeithen overcame the conservative Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
candidate Charlton Havard Lyons, Sr.
Charlton Lyons
Charlton Havard Lyons, Sr., also known as Big Papa Lyons , was a Shreveport oilman who in 1964 waged the first determined Republican bid for the Louisiana governorship since Reconstruction. Lyons also made a strong but losing bid for the United States House of Representatives in a special election...
, a Shreveport oilman, in the first seriously contested Louisiana gubernatorial general election since Reconstruction. McKeithen defeated Lyons, 469,589 (60.7 percent) to 297,753 (37.5 percent). McKeithen seemed somewhat bitter that he had to face a Republican candidate after struggling through two hard-fought Democratic primaries but nevertheless congratulated the 69-year-old Lyons for the vigorous GOP
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
campaign.
First term
McKeithen's two terms as governor were characterized by economic expansion and job creation. He pushed for expansion of the state’s industrial sector, and called a special session to create a Labor Management Commission of Inquiry to resolve a strike in Baton Rouge early in his first term. He offered tax concessions to bring new industry to the state, particularly along the Mississippi River corridor between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, and conducted a "right to profit" campaign in 1966–1967. After making a name for himself as an opponent of labor, threats were made on McKeithen’s life, and a bomb exploded in the State Capitol’s Senate chamber.McKeithen signed legislation establishing a state code of ethics
Ethical code
An ethical code is adopted by an organization in an attempt to assist those in the organization called upon to make a decision understand the difference between 'right' and 'wrong' and to apply this understanding to their decision...
for elected and appointed public officials, the investment of idle funds to bring additional interest income to the state, and disclosure of the state's previously secret unclassified payroll, three proposals sponsored in the state House by Representative Joe Henry Cooper
Joe Henry Cooper
Joe Henry Cooper was a businessman in Mansfield, the seat of DeSoto Parish in northwestwen Louisiana, who served five consecutive terms in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1960 to 1980, having at various times represented DeSoto, Red River, Sabine, and Caddo parishes...
of Masfield
Mansfield, Louisiana
Mansfield is a city in and the parish seat of DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,001 at the 2010 census. Mansfield is part of the Shreveport–Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
, the seat of De Soto Parish in northwestern Louisiana.
When McKeithen was elected, Louisiana governors could still serve only one term. Governors had to sit out a term if they wished to seek second or third terms thereafter. McKeithen worked to end this practice; voters overwhelmingly approved his pet "Amendment 1" in the 1966 general election. Therefore, he could seek a second term in the 1967–1968 election cycle.
McKeithen named Aubrey Young as his aide de camp and as a colonel in the Louisiana State Police. He removed Young in 1967 after reports surfaced of a bribery attempt and an involvement with mobster Carlos Marcello
Carlos Marcello
Carlos "The Little Man" Marcello was a Sicilian-American mafioso who became the boss of the New Orleans crime family during the 1940s and held this position for the next 30 years.-Early life:...
. Life Magazine indicates that when McKeithen threatened to fire Young over the proposed bribery, Young resigned.
McKeithen's other close advisors included former State Senator
Louisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
William R. "Billy" Boles, Sr.
Billy Boles
William Russell Boles, Sr., known as Billy Boles , was a Monroe attorney and banker who, at twenty-four, served a single term in the Louisiana State Senate. He represented his native Richland as well as neighboring Franklin and Catahoula parishes in northeastern Louisiana from 1952 to 1956, during...
, a high-powered Monroe attorney and banker. He also depended heavily on Senator Sixty Rayburn
Sixty Rayburn
Benjamin Burras Rayburn, Sr., known as B. B. "Sixty" Rayburn , was a veteran politician from Bogalusa, an incorporated city in Washington Parish in southeastern Louisiana in the United States...
of Bogalusa
Bogalusa, Louisiana
Bogalusa is a city in Washington Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 13,365 at the 2000 census. It is the principal city of the Bogalusa Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Washington Parish and is also part of the larger New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa...
, a favorite of organized labor and the Democrat constituency groups.
He named the Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University, often referred to as Louisiana Tech, LA Tech, or Tech, is a coeducational public research university located in Ruston, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech is designated as a Tier 1 school in the national universities category by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report college rankings...
English professor Robert C. Snyder
Robert C. Snyder
Robert Craven Snyder, Sr. , was a professor and professor emeritus of English at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish in north Louisiana...
, who worked to establish the Lincoln Parish
Lincoln Parish, Louisiana
Lincoln Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Ruston. In 2004, its population was estimated to be 42,382...
Library, to the state board of library commissioners.
McKeithen recruited blacks into his administration, including Jesse N. Stone
Jesse N. Stone
Jesse Nealand Stone, Jr. , was an African American attorney and educator from Shreveport, Louisiana, who broke past color barriers in state government....
, a Bienville Parish
Bienville Parish, Louisiana
Bienville Parish is a parish located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Arcadia and as of the 2000 census, the population is 15,752....
native, whom he named to head the Louisiana Commission on Human Relations, Rights and Responsibilities. Stone was later the president of the Southern University System
Southern University System
The Southern University System is a system of universities in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its headquarters are at the Joseph Samuel Clark Administration Building on the property of the Southern University campus in Baton Rouge...
from 1974–1985.
Re-election campaign, 1967
McKeithen's reelection campaign of 1967 was, for all practical purposes, held on November 8, 1966, when voters approved his "pet" Amendment 1, which for the first time allowed Louisiana governors to succeed themselves—for one additional four-year term. They could also sit out a term and return for a third or fourth term thereafter, as Edwin Washington Edwards did in 1983 and 1991. McKeithen announced out-of-state at the Southern Governors Conference in GilbertsvilleGilbertsville, Kentucky
Gilbertsville is an unincorporated community in Marshall County, Kentucky, United States. Its elevation is 351 feet , and it is located at . It is known as the closest village to Kentucky Dam...
, Kentucky, in September 1966 that he would run again if Amendment 1 were approved.
Opponents of Amendment 1 included former Governor Jimmie Davis
Jimmie Davis
James Houston Davis , better known as Jimmie Davis, was a noted singer of both sacred and popular songs who served two nonconsecutive terms as the 47th Governor of Louisiana...
and two of his past political associates, legislative floor leader State Representative Risley C. Triche
Risley C. Triche
Risley Claiborne Triche, also known as Pappy Triche , is an attorney in Napoleonville, Louisiana, who served as a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1955-1976...
of Napoleonville
Napoleonville, Louisiana
Napoleonville is a village in and the parish seat of Assumption Parish, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The population was 686 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Pierre Part Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
and Fred Huenefeld, Jr., Davis' welfare director from Monroe. McKeithen's rival from 1963, Gillis Long, also worked against the amendment. The supporters of Amendment 1 included Victor Bussie
Victor Bussie
Victor V. Bussie was until his retirement in 1997 the 41-year unopposed president of the Louisiana AFL-CIO, having first assumed the mantle of union leadership in 1956. Journalists often described him as the most significant non-elected "official" in his state's politics...
of the AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
, U.S. Senators Allen J. Ellender
Allen J. Ellender
Allen Joseph Ellender was a popular U.S. senator from Houma, Louisiana , who served from 1937 until his death. He was a Democrat who was originally allied with the legendary Huey Pierce Long, Jr.. As Senator he compiled a generally conservative record, voting 77% of the time with the Conservative...
and Russell Long, the Republican physician Alton Ochsner
Alton Ochsner
Alton Ochsner was a surgeon and medical researcher who worked at Tulane University and other New Orleans hospitals before he established his own world-renowned The Ochsner Clinic, now known as Ochsner Foundation Hospital...
of New Orleans, and most of the state newspapers, including the New Orleans Times-Picayune
New Orleans Times-Picayune
The Times-Picayune is a daily newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.-History:Established as The Picayune in 1837 by Francis Lumsden and George Wilkins Kendall, the paper's initial price was one picayune—a Spanish coin equivalent to 6¼¢ .Under Eliza Jane Nicholson, who inherited the...
, the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, Alexandria Daily Town Talk
The Town Talk (Alexandria)
The Town Talk, started as The Daily Town Talk in 1883 and later named the Alexandria Daily Town Talk, is the major newspaper of Central Louisiana. It is published by Gannett in Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish and the economic center of Central Louisiana.The daily newspaper has a circulation...
, Shreveport Times, and the since defunct Shreveport Journal.
In the 1967 primary, McKeithen was so popular that voters renominated him with ease. His main opponent was the conservative Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
-born Sixth District freshman U.S. Representative John Rarick
John Rarick
John Richard Rarick was a lawyer who served as a Louisiana state district court judge from 1961 to 1966 in St. Francisville, Louisiana, the seat of West Feliciana Parish, and as a Democratic U.S. representative from the Sixth Congressional District from 1967 to 1975...
of St. Francisville
St. Francisville, Louisiana
St. Francisville is a town in and the parish seat of West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,712 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:St...
in West Feliciana Parish, who was backed by elements of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
. Rarick did not warm to rural voters, and his strict constitutionalist views did not appeal to many in the statewide electorate. People responded positively to McKeithen's folksy mannerisms and trademark "Won't you 'hep me?" appeal. Republicans did not even field a candidate for governor in the general election held on February 6, 1968. McKeithen worked to defeat a state senator in northwestern Louisiana. Harold Montgomery
Harold Montgomery
A. Harold Montgomery, Sr. , was an agricultural businessman and a Louisiana state senator, who is remembered as an outspoken conservative within his state's dominant Democratic Party...
of Doyline
Doyline, Louisiana
Doyline is a village in southwestern Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 841 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area....
was unseated after two terms by a challenger of the same surname but no relation, Minden
Minden, Louisiana
Minden is a city in the American state of Louisiana. It serves as the parish seat of Webster Parish and is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The population, which has been stable since 1960, was 13,027 at the 2000 census...
attorney John Willard "Jack" Montgomery
Jack Montgomery (Louisiana politician)
John Willard Montgomery, Sr., known as Jack Montgomery , is an attorney in private practice in the small city of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, who served in the 26th District of the Louisiana State Senate for a single four-year term from 1968—1972...
.
In 1968, McKeithen endorsed the election of Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey for the U.S. presidency. He had been neutral in the 1964 contest between Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
and Barry M. Goldwater. The support for Humphrey brought McKeithen into conflict with Louisiana backers of George C. Wallace, a former Democratic governor of Alabama who ran on the American Independent Party
American Independent Party
The American Independent Party is a right-wing political party of the United States that was established in 1967 by Bill and Eileen Shearer. In 1968, the American Independent Party nominated George C. Wallace as its presidential candidate and retired Air Force General Curtis E. LeMay as the vice...
ticket, which opposed civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
laws.
From 1964 until his death in 1968, E. W. Gravolet
E. W. Gravolet
Ezekiel Winnfield Kelly Gravolet, Jr., usually known as E. W. Gravolet or E. W. "Kelly" Gravolet , was a businessman from Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana, who served in both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature from 1948 until his death at the age of forty-nine.Gravolet was the son of E. W...
of Pointe à la Hache
Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana
Pointe à la Hache is an unincorporated village and place in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, United States.Located on the east bank of the Mississippi River, the village has been the seat for Plaquemines Parish since the formation of the parish....
in Plaquemines Parish
Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana
Plaquemines Parish is the parish with the most combined land and water area in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Pointe à la Hache...
was the Louisiana Senate President Pro Tempore under McKeithen. Vail M. Delony
Vail M. Delony
Vail Montgomery Delony was a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Lake Providence in East Carroll Parish, Louisiana, having served from 1940 until his death in office...
of East Carroll Parish
East Carroll Parish, Louisiana
East Carroll Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Lake Providence and as of 2010, the population was 7,759.-Law and government:In the 2004 presidential race, East Carroll gave the George W. Bush - Richard B...
was the Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives until his death in 1967, when the position passed to John Sidney Garrett
John Sidney Garrett
John Sidney Garrett was a conservative Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives who served from 1948 to 1972 under four gubernatorial administrations. Garrett was a successful businessman in the small town of Haynesville in Claiborne Parish south of the Arkansas state line...
of Claiborne Parish
Claiborne Parish, Louisiana
Claiborne Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Homer and as of 2000, the population is 16,851.-History:The parish is named for the first Louisiana governor, William C. C. Claiborne....
.
Second term as governor
During his second term, pushing for the construction of the Louisiana SuperdomeLouisiana Superdome
The Mercedes-Benz Superdome, previously known as the Louisiana Superdome and colloquially known as the Superdome, is a sports and exhibition arena located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA...
in New Orleans was one of McKeithen’s priorities. Despite initial misgivings by many, McKeithen was responsible for moving approval of the Superdome project through the Legislature, arguing that the benefits of associated economic development would be worth the high cost.
On the Superdome and other issues, McKeithen faced the legislative opposition of a group of mostly young reformers known as the "Young Turks." One of their leaders was Robert G. "Bob" Jones, a state representative from Lake Charles
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Located in Calcasieu Parish, a major cultural, industrial, and educational center in the southwest region of the state, and one of the most important in...
and the son of former Governor Sam Houston Jones. Jones objected to state funding of the Superdome in New Orleans and many state bond projects. The Young Turks favored a "pay-as-you-go" approach, rather than too much bonded indebtedness. Jones himself would run unsuccessfully for governor in 1975.
In 1968, McKeithen launched a campaign to remove deadheads, or workers performing few productive tasks, from the state payroll. He faced a then $61 million shortfall in the upcoming budget. Thereafter, he pushed to fruition in 1970 a 2-cent sales tax increase to fund higher pay for teachers and state employees, and he worked to expand construction on many public college and university campuses. He reformed the Department of Corrections and improved conditions at Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
state penitentiary.
In the summer of 1968, McKeithen's life was threatened after he began an investigation into labor-management racketeering. One man admitted to having received $5,000 to kill the governor. McKeithen's security was enlarged, and no further threats were reported.
In 1969 and 1970, McKeithen’s administration received criticism in the national press. Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
magazine, through its writer David Chandler, claimed that the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
had influence in Louisiana’s state government. Thirty-nine state and local officials were eventually indicted, but no ties were ever linked to McKeithen himself.
In 1970 McKeithen signaled his belief that national unrest had become especially harmful to the nation. In a civic address to the American Legion
American Legion
The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...
in Minden
Minden, Louisiana
Minden is a city in the American state of Louisiana. It serves as the parish seat of Webster Parish and is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The population, which has been stable since 1960, was 13,027 at the 2000 census...
, he said:
"Our country has gone too far to protect individual rights of citizens. We are now protecting the very persons who are trying to destroy our country from within. Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, with all its might, would not dare to try to destroy the United States by force, but we are allowing the radicals, the scum of the country, to begin to destroy us from within."
In 1971, McKeithen appointed Lake Charles
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Located in Calcasieu Parish, a major cultural, industrial, and educational center in the southwest region of the state, and one of the most important in...
attorney Henry L. Yelverton
Henry L. Yelverton
Henry Lee Yelverton, Jr. , was a judge for thirty-two years of the state district and appellate courts, based in Lake Charles, the seat of Calcasieu Parish in southwestern Louisiana.-Early years and education:...
to a 14th Judicial District judgeship. Later, Yelverton served on the Third Circuit Court of Appeal.
McKeithen and race
McKeithen, presiding over Louisiana during the turbulent civil rights era, had an ambiguous record on race relations. He had first been elected in 1964 as a segregationist, and race-baiting rhetoric was a major part of his campaign. He fought publicly with President Lyndon Johnson’s Office of Economic OpportunityOffice of Economic Opportunity
The Office of Economic Opportunity was the agency responsible for administering most of the War on Poverty programs created as part of United States President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society legislative agenda.- History :...
, and tried to appoint segregationist Shelby Jackson to head the state’s management of federal War on Poverty
War on Poverty
The War on Poverty is the unofficial name for legislation first introduced by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964. This legislation was proposed by Johnson in response to a national poverty rate of around nineteen percent...
funds. As late as 1965, McKeithen publicly stated his support for segregation as the best system for Louisiana, but he later moderated his views on race relations. He personally intervened to stem racial violence in Bogalusa
Bogalusa, Louisiana
Bogalusa is a city in Washington Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 13,365 at the 2000 census. It is the principal city of the Bogalusa Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Washington Parish and is also part of the larger New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa...
in 1965 and created a Biracial Commission on Human Rights, Relations, and Responsibilities designed to ease tensions. He appointed Israel Augustine and Ernest "Dutch" Morial as Louisiana’s first African-American judges since Reconstruction. But during 1967 disturbances, McKeithen took a hard line, threatening to have authorities shoot looters and rioters. McKeithen also later became a national spokesperson for the movement to oppose integration by busing school children.
John Martzell, a New Orleans lawyer who was executive secretary of the State Human Relations Commission from 1966 to 1972, said (in a New York Times obituary, June 5, 1999) that McKeithen's efforts to promote racial harmony remain little known.
"The most important thing he did came in a speech he delivered to the AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
convention in Baton Rouge in the summer of 1966," Martzell said.
"He pointed to some blacks in the audience and said, 'I know I'm not leaving this state, and I don't think you're leaving either. So we've got to solve our problem.' It was giving the imprimatur of the state Governor to solving racial differences. Previous governors had always proclaimed massive resistance to integration. He had a huge impact."
In 1969, McKeithen sent 250 Louisiana National Guard
Louisiana National Guard
The Louisiana National Guard consists of the:*Louisiana Army National Guard** includes the U.S. 256th Infantry Brigade*Louisiana Air National Guard-External links:*** compiled by the United States Army Center of Military History...
troops into Baton Rouge, where the Mayor-President, W.W. Dumas, had declared a curfew
Curfew
A curfew is an order specifying a time after which certain regulations apply. Examples:# An order by a government for certain persons to return home daily before a certain time...
after rioting broke out following the fatal police shooting of a fleeing 17-year-old black suspect. Though the officer was temporarily suspended from the force, Dumas also took a hardline approach regarding such disturbances and said he would fully support police in such instances.."
Achievements
Edward F. Renwick, director of the Loyola University New OrleansLoyola University New Orleans
Loyola University New Orleans is a private, co-educational and Jesuit university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Originally established as Loyola College in 1904, the institution was chartered as a university in 1912. It bears the name of the Jesuit patron, Saint Ignatius of Loyola...
Institute of Politics who followed Mr. McKeithen's career, credited him with four major accomplishments: the beginning of the end of segregation in Louisiana, the decision to build the Superdome, leadership in the passage of a state constitutional amendment that permits state governors to run for two four-year terms, and the emergence of consensus politics.
After governorship
After he left office in the spring of 1972, McKeithen soon sought the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the death of long-term Democratic incumbent Allen J. EllenderAllen J. Ellender
Allen Joseph Ellender was a popular U.S. senator from Houma, Louisiana , who served from 1937 until his death. He was a Democrat who was originally allied with the legendary Huey Pierce Long, Jr.. As Senator he compiled a generally conservative record, voting 77% of the time with the Conservative...
. The filing deadline had closed for the Democratic primary; so he ran as an independent in the general election. He lost to the Democratic nominee, former Louisiana state Senator J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., as Richard M. Nixon and Spiro T. Agnew were easily carrying Louisiana for the Republicans. The Republican Senate nominee in the contest was Ben C. Toledano, a lawyer and journalist who had sought the office of mayor of New Orleans early in 1970.
Governor David C. Treen
David C. Treen
David Conner "Dave" Treen, Sr. , was an American attorney and politician from Mandeville, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana – the first Republican Governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana since Reconstruction. He was the first Republican in modern times to have served in the U.S...
, a Republican, appointed the Democrat McKeithen to the LSU Board of Supervisors, a position that he held until his death. In his later years, McKeithen practiced law in Columbia and in Baton Rouge with his granddaughter, also named Marjorie. In 1991, McKeithen made headlines by resigning from his local country club
Country club
A country club is a private club, often with a closed membership, that typically offers a variety of recreational sports facilities and is located in city outskirts or rural areas. Activities may include, for example, any of golf, tennis, swimming or polo...
after it barred a black high school golfer from playing in a tournament there.
McKeithen became a close friend of the journalist Sam Hanna, Sr.
Sam Hanna
Samuel Andrew Hanna, Sr., known as Sam Hanna , was a Louisiana journalist who owned and published three newspapers: The Concordia Sentinel in Ferriday, the Franklin Sun in Winnsboro, and The Ouachita Citizen in West Monroe.-Early years and education:Hanna was born in Winnsboro, the seat of Franklin...
, publisher of the Franklin Sun in Winnsboro
Winnsboro, Louisiana
Winnsboro is a city in and the parish seat of Franklin Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of July 2009, the estimated city population was 4,377...
, the Concordia Sentinel in Ferriday
Ferriday, Louisiana
Ferriday is a town in Concordia Parish in northeastern Louisiana, United States. The population, which is three-fourths African American, was 3,723 at the 2000 census....
, and later the Ouachita Citizen in West Monroe
West Monroe, Louisiana
West Monroe is a city in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 13,250 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Monroe Metropolitan Statistical Area....
. The McKeithens' younger son, W. Fox McKeithen
W. Fox McKeithen
Walter Fox McKeithen served five terms as Secretary of State of Louisiana between 1988 and 2005. He is best remembered for merging the state's election divisions into one department and for the promotion of historical preservation.-Son of a governor:He was born Walter Fox McKeithen in Columbia in...
(1946–2005), was a member of the Louisiana legislature (1984–1988) and secretary of state (1988–2005). Fox McKeithen switched his party allegiance from Democratic to Republican after his first election as secretary of state in 1987, much to the consternation of his staunchly Democratic father and daughter, who ran for the congressional seat in Baton Rouge in 1998. On the premature death of Fox McKeithen in 2005, Hanna wrote a moving column about his relationship to the McKeithen family.
In 1993, McKeithen was among the first thirteen inductees into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame
Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame
The Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield, Louisiana, highlights the careers of more than a hundred of the state’s leading politicians and political journalists. Because three governors, Huey P. Long, Jr., Oscar K...
in Winnfield
Winnfield, Louisiana
Winnfield is a city in and the parish seat of Winn Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,749 at the 2000 census. It has long been associated with the Long faction of the Louisiana Democratic Party and was home to three governors of Louisiana.-Geography:Winnfield is located at ...
. Fox McKeithen was inducted posthumously in 2006.
Hogan Cemetery
McKeithen is interred in the private Hogan Cemetery, which bears the same name as their estate. Three of the other four graves at the site off Louisiana Route 559 are Mrs. McKeithen and the couple's two sons, Jesse Jay McKeithen and Walter Fox McKeithen. Behind the graves is a wooded area alongside scenic Long Lake.Popular Culture
In the alternate history on-line story Fear, Loathing and Gumbo on the Campaign Trail '72 McKeithen is presented as a 1972 Democratic Presidential candidate who wins the Democratic Nomination away from Senator George McGovernGeorge McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
and nearly defeats President Richard Nixon in the general election. McKeithen's candidacy results in the U.S. Presidential Election, 1972 being forced into the U.S. House of Representatives with unintended results that include the elevation of Spiro Agnew
Spiro Agnew
Spiro Theodore Agnew was the 39th Vice President of the United States , serving under President Richard Nixon, and the 55th Governor of Maryland...
to the Presidency.
External links
- Cemetery Memorial by La-Cemeteries