John Sidney Garrett
Encyclopedia
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. In his last term, he was defeated for reelection even though he was the Speaker
of the House. In 1966, Garrett made a strong but losing primary race for the Louisiana Public Service Commission
to fill the seat vacated by the election of John Julian McKeithen
as governor. At the time, there were only three PSC districts; the number was increased to five under the Louisiana Constitution of 1974.
of Claiborne Parish, to John Hick Garrett (1890–1957) and the former Nobie Hunt (1899–1961). The five Garrett brothers years later placed a plaque in Room 109 of the Haynesville Hospital (built 1925) in their parents' memory.
Garrett graduated from Haynesville High School, attended Louisiana State University
in Baton Rouge, and graduated from Louisiana Tech University
(then Louisiana Polytechnic Institute) in Ruston
in Lincoln Parish. In 1994, Garrett was honored as one of 100 "Outstanding Alumni" of Tech during the institution's centennial celebration.
During World War II
, Garrett served in the U.S. Army
in the Europe
an theater of operations. He was a member of the 102nd and 45th infantry divisions. He was a captain and battery commander with the field artillery
.
Garrett's business ventures included Garrett's Department Store
, Garrett Land and Timber Corporation, and Garrett Oil Field Service. He was the chairman of the board of directors of Planter's Bank
and Trust Company.
, who went on to serve in the Louisiana State Senate
and was a 1959 Democratic gubernatorial contender. Garrett was originally a segregationist as well who like Rainach had chaired the Joint Legislative Committee on Segregation. In support of the segregationist White Citizen's Council, begun by Rainach, Garrett told an audience in Minden
that the "segregation problem is the most serious you will face in your lifetime. The Black Monday (Brown v. Board of Education
) ruling of the Supreme Court was a political, not a legal decision." Garrett said the Citizen's Council must operate not as "the Ku Klux Klan
... but within the laws of the state and the nation."
Otherwise, Garrett was a low-key business-oriented legislator who specialized in constituent services and maintained a wide networking of friends and supporters to retain his seat for six consecutive four-year terms. At times, his district included a portion of neighboring Webster, including the parish seat of Minden
, and Bienville parishes.
In his last term, Garrett was in a two-member district with conservative Democratic Representative Parey Pershing Branton, Sr.
, of Shongaloo
. In the 1967 primaries, Garrett and Branton defeated three other Democrats, former Springhill
Mayor
Charles E. McConnell and Henry G. Hobbs of Minden, both attorneys
, and James William "Tinker" Volentine (1915–1982), a Minden businessman. McConnell tried again in 1971 and lost to R. Harmon Drew, Sr.
of Minden. In 1995, Volentine's granddaughter, Helaine George (later Helaine Barrington of Merryville
in Beauregard Parish), was one of two Republican women who failed in an attempt to win the same House seat held at that time by the retired Minden educator, Democrat Everett Gail Doerge
, who had first been elected in 1991.
Garrett was recommended to the House as Speaker by Governor McKeithen to fill the vacancy created by the death on November 18, 1967, of Vail M. Delony
of Lake Providence
, the seat of East Carroll Parish.
Speaker Garrett served on the Louisiana Superdome
Commission during the construction of the giant sports stadium in New Orleans. He was an author of the first statewide uniform teacher pay plan and supported legislation pertaining to elementary, secondary, and higher education. He authored the bill which created Lake Claiborne
and worked for the appropriations to make the complex a reality.
, (1928–2001) of Monroe
to the PSC seat that McKeithen vacated to become governor. Hunt's appointed term lasted a year and a half. In the summer of 1966, Garrett challenged Hunt for Democratic renomination to a full six-year term on the commission. Hunt was the son of Stewart Smoker Hunt and Lucille Long Hunt of Ruston, a sister of Huey Pierce Long, Jr., and Earl Kemp Long. Both candidates had the same first name and the common middle initial, and Garrett's mother's maiden name was Hunt, but they were not related. Hunt led by plurality in the primary over a multi-candidate field that also included Garrett's legislative colleague, Parey Branton
of Shongaloo
and former lawmaker Wellborn Jack of Shreveport. After the primary, Garrett claimed that Hunt had received 42,000 African American
votes, a margin of 93.1 percent in nine selected precincts across the district. In the Democratic runoff, Hunt defeated Garrett 91,971 (52.5 percent) to 83,075 (47.5) percent. The two evenly split the then twenty-eight parishes in the district. Garrett had garnered the support of three of four primary rivals eliminated in the first round of voting. He carried all of the parishes bordering Arkansas except Caddo in the northwest and East Carroll in the northeast. In north central and northeastern Louisiana, he won La Salle, Cathoula, Grant, Franklin, Richland, and Winn, the latter the ancestral home of the Longs. He also polled majorities in Red River and Bienville parishes in northwestern Louisiana.
Garrett tried to depict Hunt, who had supported Barry Goldwater
for U.S. President in 1964
, as a captive of the "black bloc vote", but he failed to convince a majority of voters accordingly. Records did, however, reveal that Hunt's 9,896-vote margin was dependent on African-American
voters newly enfranchised under the Voting Rights Act
of 1965.
Hunt served a total of eight years on the commission. He was unseated in 1972 by Francis Edward Kennon
(born 1938), a Minden/Shreveport businessman and himself a nephew of former Governor Robert F. Kennon
.
agent named Louise Brazzel Johnson
(1924–2002) of Bernice
in Union Parish. Garrett, placed in new District 11 (Union and Claiborne parishes) was the most high-profile of numerous legislative veterans defeated in an anti-incumbent year. Previously, it had been thought an impossible task for an inexperienced candidate to oust a senior lawmaker, particularly one who wore the title of "Speaker."
Mrs. Johnson was best known for her opposition to the proposed Equal Rights Amendment
. She did not consolidate a hold on the Claiborne-Union district because she ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate in 1975, having lost to the more liberal Democrat, former Senator Charles C. Barham
of Ruston. Johnson was then defeated for a second House term in the 1979 nonpartisan blanket primary by fellow Democrat Loy F. Weaver
, a banker and former agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
and the Drug Enforcement Administration
from Homer
, the man who had succeeded her in 1976.
of Doyline
in Webster Parish. Garrett stressed his past support for education, including the four-year status of Louisiana State University at Shreveport and Southern University at Shreveport
as well as the establishment of Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport
. He also urged the implementation of a statewide community college
system.
Garrett outspent his opponents in the race, having raised $25,248 in the primary, including three $1,000 contributions from Minden contractors James Madden and James M. Winford and from Garrett's aunt, Mrs. A.C. Smith of Minden.
The since defunct Shreveport Journal endorsed Garrett's principal opponent, Democrat Foster L. Campbell, Jr.
, at the time a business teacher at Haughton High School in Bossier Parish. The Journal editorially charged that Garrett as a representative "voted for millions of dollars in new taxes and pork barrel political bond issues ... for the prevailing wage law of 1968 [which] set the gears of inflation ... and has resulted in all state projects costing an estimated additional 20 percent ..."
Garrett, in a newspaper advertisement, accused the Campbell family of seeking to create a political dynasty
, with various Campbells having been the Webster Parish school superintendent or a district judge or an appeals court judge.
Garrett stressed his co-sponsorship in the House of the code of ethics for public employees, a centralized purchasing bill to stop duplications, and a listing of all state employees with their salaries. "Many persons whose employment was questionable resigned," Garrett said.Garrett also had co-sponsored the establishment of Louisiana State University in Shreveport
and the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport
, which was created from the former Confederate Memorial Medical Center.
In the showdown on December 13, 1975, Campbell defeated Garrett by a large margin, 15,739 to 6,417. The third-place primary candidate, Minden businessman Houston R. Morris, who had run unsuccessfully for state representative in 1971, endorsed Garrett in the general election, as did other rivals Patrick H. "Pat" Jones and Wade Baker. Garrett's former legislative colleague, Parey Branton, and the Minden educator, Ralph Lamar Rentz, Sr. (1930–1995), also ran for the state senate, but both trailed in the primary results.
In 2002, Campbell, after twenty-six years in the Senate, was elected to the PSC, a race that Garrett had lost in the 1966 Democratic primary runoff. Campbell was thereafter an unsuccessful Democratic gubernatorial candidate in the 2007 jungle primary, having placed a weak third.
One of Garrett's grassroots supporters was Buster L. Benefield, who knew Garrett since they were boys growing up in Claiborne Parish. He described his friend as "wealthy, honest, and he and his wife were just good people. It was my privilege to campaign for him."
s, cattle
, and bantam
chicken
s. He was a judge for poultry
shows nationwide, a member of the American Bantam Association, and a past president of the American Poultry Association. He was a member of the Millerton Masonic Lodge
#245, a 32 degree K.C.C.H. Scottish Rite Mason, and an El Karubah Shriner.
Garrett died in the Homer Memorial Hospital in Claiborne Parish. He was survived by his wife of fifty-eight years, the former Meredith McEachern (born 1926); three sons, Richie Garrett and his wife Susan of Monroe
, Mark Garrett and his wife Patty of New Orleans
, and Tommy Garrett and his wife Kelley of Haynesville; six grandchildren, and two brothers.
Services were held in the Haynesville United Methodist Church, with the Reverend Henry Stone officiating. Garrett was the chairman of the church's administrative board, the leader of the church finance committee, the teacher of the men's Sunday school class, and a singer in the choir. Burial was in a large family plot at the Old Town Cemetery south of Haynesville.
American conservatism
Conservatism in the United States has played an important role in American politics since the 1950s. Historian Gregory Schneider identifies several constants in American conservatism: respect for tradition, support of republicanism, preservation of "the rule of law and the Christian religion", and...
Democratic
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...
member of the Louisiana House of Representatives
Louisiana 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...
who served from 1948 to 1972 under four gubernatorial administrations. Garrett was a successful businessman in the small town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
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....
in Claiborne Parish south of the Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
state line. In his last term, he was defeated for reelection even though he was the Speaker
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...
of the House. In 1966, Garrett made a strong but losing primary race for 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...
to fill the seat vacated by the election of John Julian McKeithen
John McKeithen
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. At the time, there were only three PSC districts; the number was increased to five under the Louisiana Constitution of 1974.
Early years, education, military
Garrett was among five sons born in Millerton, an unincorporated areaUnincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
of Claiborne Parish, to John Hick Garrett (1890–1957) and the former Nobie Hunt (1899–1961). The five Garrett brothers years later placed a plaque in Room 109 of the Haynesville Hospital (built 1925) in their parents' memory.
Garrett graduated from Haynesville High School, attended Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
in Baton Rouge, and 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...
(then Louisiana Polytechnic Institute) 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...
in Lincoln Parish. In 1994, Garrett was honored as one of 100 "Outstanding Alumni" of Tech during the institution's centennial celebration.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Garrett served in the U.S. 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 Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an theater of operations. He was a member of the 102nd and 45th infantry divisions. He was a captain and battery commander with the field artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
.
Garrett's business ventures included Garrett's Department Store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
, Garrett Land and Timber Corporation, and Garrett Oil Field Service. He was the chairman of the board of directors of Planter's Bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
and Trust Company.
Garrett in the legislature
Garrett succeeded the segregationist Representative William M. RainachWilliam M. Rainach
William Monroe Rainach, Sr., known as Willie Rainach , was a state legislator from rural Summerfield in Claiborne Parish who led Louisiana's "Massive Resistance" to desegregation during the last half of the 1950s...
, who went on to serve in the Louisiana State Senate
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...
and was a 1959 Democratic gubernatorial contender. Garrett was originally a segregationist as well who like Rainach had chaired the Joint Legislative Committee on Segregation. In support of the segregationist White Citizen's Council, begun by Rainach, Garrett told an audience 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...
that the "segregation problem is the most serious you will face in your lifetime. The Black Monday (Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
) ruling of the Supreme Court was a political, not a legal decision." Garrett said the Citizen's Council must operate not as "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...
... but within the laws of the state and the nation."
Otherwise, Garrett was a low-key business-oriented legislator who specialized in constituent services and maintained a wide networking of friends and supporters to retain his seat for six consecutive four-year terms. At times, his district included a portion of neighboring Webster, including the parish seat 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...
, and Bienville parishes.
In his last term, Garrett was in a two-member district with conservative Democratic Representative Parey Pershing Branton, Sr.
Parey Branton
Parey Pershing Branton, Sr. , was a businessman from Shongaloo, Louisiana, who was from 1960 to 1972 a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from what is now District 10 in Webster Parish...
, of Shongaloo
Shongaloo, Louisiana
Shongaloo is a village in Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States.West of Shongaloo on Louisiana Highway 2 is Munn Hill, a homestead of Daniel and Rebecca Munn, established on July 26, 1900....
. In the 1967 primaries, Garrett and Branton defeated three other Democrats, former Springhill
Springhill, Louisiana
Springhill is a city in northern Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,439 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
Charles E. McConnell and Henry G. Hobbs of Minden, both attorneys
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, and James William "Tinker" Volentine (1915–1982), a Minden businessman. McConnell tried again in 1971 and lost to R. Harmon Drew, Sr.
R. Harmon Drew, Sr.
Richard Harmon Drew, Sr. was a fourth generation judge and a former Democratic state representative who was descended from pioneer families of Webster Parish in north Louisiana...
of Minden. In 1995, Volentine's granddaughter, Helaine George (later Helaine Barrington of Merryville
Merryville, Louisiana
Merryville is a town in Beauregard Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,126 at the 2000 census. It is part of the DeRidder Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Merryville is located at ....
in Beauregard Parish), was one of two Republican women who failed in an attempt to win the same House seat held at that time by the retired Minden educator, Democrat Everett Gail Doerge
Everett Doerge
Everett Gail Doerge was an American state legislator who served as a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 10 from January 1992 until his death in office....
, who had first been elected in 1991.
Garrett was recommended to the House as Speaker by Governor McKeithen to fill the vacancy created by the death on November 18, 1967, of 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 Lake Providence
Lake Providence, Louisiana
Lake Providence is a town in and the parish seat of East Carroll Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,104 at the 2000 census.-Civil War:...
, the seat of East Carroll Parish.
Speaker Garrett served on 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...
Commission during the construction of the giant sports stadium in New Orleans. He was an author of the first statewide uniform teacher pay plan and supported legislation pertaining to elementary, secondary, and higher education. He authored the bill which created Lake Claiborne
Lake Claiborne
Lake Claiborne is a reservoir located near the town of Homer, Louisiana. Isolated in a rural area, it is a popular man-made fishing area that has a combined estimated area of . Lake Claiborne State Park, a Louisiana state maintained camping and recreation area, lies on southern shore of the lake....
and worked for the appropriations to make the complex a reality.
Running for the Public Service Commission, 1966
John McKeithen appointed John S. Hunt, IIIJohn 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
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...
to the PSC seat that McKeithen vacated to become governor. Hunt's appointed term lasted a year and a half. In the summer of 1966, Garrett challenged Hunt for Democratic renomination to a full six-year term on the commission. Hunt was the son of Stewart Smoker Hunt and Lucille Long Hunt of Ruston, a sister of Huey Pierce Long, Jr., and Earl Kemp Long. Both candidates had the same first name and the common middle initial, and Garrett's mother's maiden name was Hunt, but they were not related. Hunt led by plurality in the primary over a multi-candidate field that also included Garrett's legislative colleague, Parey Branton
Parey Branton
Parey Pershing Branton, Sr. , was a businessman from Shongaloo, Louisiana, who was from 1960 to 1972 a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from what is now District 10 in Webster Parish...
of Shongaloo
Shongaloo, Louisiana
Shongaloo is a village in Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States.West of Shongaloo on Louisiana Highway 2 is Munn Hill, a homestead of Daniel and Rebecca Munn, established on July 26, 1900....
and former lawmaker Wellborn Jack of Shreveport. After the primary, Garrett claimed that Hunt had received 42,000 African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
votes, a margin of 93.1 percent in nine selected precincts across the district. In the Democratic runoff, Hunt defeated Garrett 91,971 (52.5 percent) to 83,075 (47.5) percent. The two evenly split the then twenty-eight parishes in the district. Garrett had garnered the support of three of four primary rivals eliminated in the first round of voting. He carried all of the parishes bordering Arkansas except Caddo in the northwest and East Carroll in the northeast. In north central and northeastern Louisiana, he won La Salle, Cathoula, Grant, Franklin, Richland, and Winn, the latter the ancestral home of the Longs. He also polled majorities in Red River and Bienville parishes in northwestern Louisiana.
Garrett tried to depict Hunt, who had supported Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
for U.S. President in 1964
United States presidential election, 1964
The United States presidential election of 1964 was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had come to office less than a year earlier following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. Johnson, who had successfully associated himself with Kennedy's...
, as a captive of the "black bloc vote", but he failed to convince a majority of voters accordingly. Records did, however, reveal that Hunt's 9,896-vote margin was dependent on African-American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
voters newly enfranchised under the Voting Rights Act
Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of national legislation in the United States that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S....
of 1965.
Hunt served a total of eight years on the commission. He was unseated in 1972 by Francis Edward Kennon
Edward Kennon
Francis Edward Kennon, Jr. , usually known as Ed Kennon is a multi-millionaire Shreveport real-estate developer and a former Democratic member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, the regulatory body for oil, natural gas, and utilities. He represented north Louisiana on the commission for...
(born 1938), a Minden/Shreveport businessman and himself a nephew of former Governor 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....
.
The defeat of Speaker Garrett
In the 1971 closed primary (the last for legislative races in state history), Garrett was surprisingly defeated in his bid for a seventh term by a largely unknown insuranceInsurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
agent named Louise Brazzel Johnson
Louise B. Johnson
Louise Brazzel Johnson was a little-known insurance agent in Bernice in Union Parish who rocketed to state prominence when she upset the Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives in the 1971 Democratic primary...
(1924–2002) of Bernice
Bernice, Louisiana
Bernice is a town in Union Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,809 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Monroe Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
in Union Parish. Garrett, placed in new District 11 (Union and Claiborne parishes) was the most high-profile of numerous legislative veterans defeated in an anti-incumbent year. Previously, it had been thought an impossible task for an inexperienced candidate to oust a senior lawmaker, particularly one who wore the title of "Speaker."
Mrs. Johnson was best known for her opposition to the proposed Equal Rights Amendment
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time...
. She did not consolidate a hold on the Claiborne-Union district because she ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate in 1975, having lost to the more liberal Democrat, former Senator Charles C. Barham
Charles C. Barham
Charles Clem "Charlie" Barham was an attorney in private practice for thirty-nine years in Ruston, Louisiana, and a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate from District 35, nonconsecutively, from 1964 to 1972 and 1976 to 1988.He was the older son of Lieutenant Governor C.E...
of Ruston. Johnson was then defeated for a second House term in the 1979 nonpartisan blanket primary by fellow Democrat Loy F. Weaver
Loy F. Weaver
Loy Frank Weaver is a retired banker from Homer, the seat of Claiborne Parish in north Louisiana, who served as a Democrat in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1976-1984...
, a banker and former agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
and the Drug Enforcement Administration
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
from Homer
Homer, Louisiana
Homer is present day parish seat of Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, United States. The town was named after the Greek poet Homer and was laid out around the Courthouse Square in 1850 by Frank Vaughn. The present day brick courthouse, built in the Greek Revival style of architecture, is one of only...
, the man who had succeeded her in 1976.
The 1975 state senate campaign
In 1975, former Representative Garrett entered an eight-candidate, all-Democratic field in a bid to succeed the retiring conservative State Senator Harold MontgomeryHarold 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....
in Webster Parish. Garrett stressed his past support for education, including the four-year status of Louisiana State University at Shreveport and Southern University at Shreveport
Southern University at Shreveport
Southern University at Shreveport, Louisiana or Southern University at Shreveport is a two-year campus of the historically black Southern University System. SUS, pushed to fruition by the administration of Governor John J. McKeithen, opened for instruction on September 19, 1967...
as well as the establishment of Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport is the academic center for medicine and medical research in North Louisiana. It is located in Shreveport and is part of the Louisiana State University System. The medical school opened in 1969. One of its founders was Dr. Joe E...
. He also urged the implementation of a statewide community college
Community college
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries.-Australia:Community colleges carry on the tradition of adult education, which was established in Australia around mid 19th century when evening classes were held to help adults...
system.
Garrett outspent his opponents in the race, having raised $25,248 in the primary, including three $1,000 contributions from Minden contractors James Madden and James M. Winford and from Garrett's aunt, Mrs. A.C. Smith of Minden.
The since defunct Shreveport Journal endorsed Garrett's principal opponent, Democrat Foster L. Campbell, Jr.
Foster Campbell
Foster L. Campbell, Jr. , is a Democratic member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, a former 26-year member of the Louisiana State Senate, and an unsuccessful candidate for governor in the October 20, 2007, jungle primary. Campbell polled 161,425 votes and won two parishes: Red River and...
, at the time a business teacher at Haughton High School in Bossier Parish. The Journal editorially charged that Garrett as a representative "voted for millions of dollars in new taxes and pork barrel political bond issues ... for the prevailing wage law of 1968 [which] set the gears of inflation ... and has resulted in all state projects costing an estimated additional 20 percent ..."
Garrett, in a newspaper advertisement, accused the Campbell family of seeking to create a political dynasty
Dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...
, with various Campbells having been the Webster Parish school superintendent or a district judge or an appeals court judge.
Garrett stressed his co-sponsorship in the House of the code of ethics for public employees, a centralized purchasing bill to stop duplications, and a listing of all state employees with their salaries. "Many persons whose employment was questionable resigned," Garrett said.Garrett also had co-sponsored the establishment of Louisiana State University in Shreveport
Louisiana State University in Shreveport
Louisiana State University in Shreveport is a branch of the Louisiana State University System in Shreveport, Louisiana. Opened in 1967, LSUS is the only public four-year university in the Shreveport-Bossier metro area....
and the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport is the academic center for medicine and medical research in North Louisiana. It is located in Shreveport and is part of the Louisiana State University System. The medical school opened in 1969. One of its founders was Dr. Joe E...
, which was created from the former Confederate Memorial Medical Center.
In the showdown on December 13, 1975, Campbell defeated Garrett by a large margin, 15,739 to 6,417. The third-place primary candidate, Minden businessman Houston R. Morris, who had run unsuccessfully for state representative in 1971, endorsed Garrett in the general election, as did other rivals Patrick H. "Pat" Jones and Wade Baker. Garrett's former legislative colleague, Parey Branton, and the Minden educator, Ralph Lamar Rentz, Sr. (1930–1995), also ran for the state senate, but both trailed in the primary results.
In 2002, Campbell, after twenty-six years in the Senate, was elected to the PSC, a race that Garrett had lost in the 1966 Democratic primary runoff. Campbell was thereafter an unsuccessful Democratic gubernatorial candidate in the 2007 jungle primary, having placed a weak third.
One of Garrett's grassroots supporters was Buster L. Benefield, who knew Garrett since they were boys growing up in Claiborne Parish. He described his friend as "wealthy, honest, and he and his wife were just good people. It was my privilege to campaign for him."
Garrett's obituary
Garrett's hobbies included the raising of horseHorse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
s, cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
, and bantam
Bantam (chicken)
A bantam is a small variety of poultry, especially chickens. Etymologically, the name bantam is derived from the city of Bantam - currently known as "Banten Province" or previously "Banten Residency" - once a major seaport, in Indonesia...
chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
s. He was a judge for poultry
Poultry
Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of producing eggs, meat, and/or feathers. These most typically are members of the superorder Galloanserae , especially the order Galliformes and the family Anatidae , commonly known as "waterfowl"...
shows nationwide, a member of the American Bantam Association, and a past president of the American Poultry Association. He was a member of the Millerton Masonic Lodge
Masonic Lodge
This article is about the Masonic term for a membership group. For buildings named Masonic Lodge, see Masonic Lodge A Masonic Lodge, often termed a Private Lodge or Constituent Lodge, is the basic organisation of Freemasonry...
#245, a 32 degree K.C.C.H. Scottish Rite Mason, and an El Karubah Shriner.
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...
, Mark Garrett and his wife Patty of New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, and Tommy Garrett and his wife Kelley of Haynesville; six grandchildren, and two brothers.
Services were held in the Haynesville United Methodist Church, with the Reverend Henry Stone officiating. Garrett was the chairman of the church's administrative board, the leader of the church finance committee, the teacher of the men's Sunday school class, and a singer in the choir. Burial was in a large family plot at the Old Town Cemetery south of Haynesville.