John McKeithen

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John McKeithen

In office
1964–1972
Lieutenant Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock
Preceded by James Houston "Jimmie" Davis
Succeeded by Edwin Washington Edwards
Louisiana Public Service Commissioner from District 3 (North Louisiana)
In office
January 1, 1955 – May 1964
Preceded by Harvey Broyles
Succeeded by John S. Hunt, III
In office
1948–1952
Preceded by V.E. Claunch
Succeeded by Johnnie W. Calton
Born May 28, 1918(1918-05-28)
Grayson in Caldwell Parish, Louisiana
Died June 4, 1999 (aged 81)
Columbia, Louisiana
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Marjorie Howell Funderburk "Margie" McKeithen (1919-2004)
Children Six children, including W. Fox McKeithen (1946-2005)
Profession Attorney
Religion Methodist

John Julian McKeithen (May 28, 1918–June 4, 1999) 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 to serve two consecutive terms. As governor, he pushed for the construction of the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.

Contents

[edit] Early life

McKeithen was born in the village of Grayson 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 in Baton Rouge.

From 1942 - 1946 he served in the 77th Infantry Division, United States Army in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II, and fought in the Battle of Okinawa. He was awarded two bronze stars.

After the war, McKeithen started practicing law in Columbia. He married a young teacher in Columbia, the former Marjorie "Margie" Howell Funderburk (September 30, 1919– March 24, 2004). She graduated from Louisiana Tech University, then called "Louisiana Polytechnic Institute." They had six children, including the future State Representative and Louisiana Secretary of State Fox McKeithen (1946-2005). She was the homemaker of their Hogan Plantation and reserved the spotlight for her popular husband, whom she affectionately called "J.J."

[edit] State legislator and public service commissioner

McKeithen was elected as a Louisiana state representative in 1948; he was a prominent leader for Governor Earl Kemp Long on the floor of the House. In 1952, as a 33-year-old state legislator, he was an unsuccessful Democratic primary candidate for lieutenant governor on a slate supported by the Longs. The "anti-Longs," led that year by Judge Robert F. Kennon of Minden, won the governorship and other top positions. McKeithen lost the lieutenant governor's runoff to C. E. "Cap" Barham of Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish, who had originally run on the ticket with U.S. Representative Thomas Hale Boggs, Sr., of New Orleans. Barham then switched to the Kennon ticket in the runoff against McKeithen.

McKeithen then served on the elected Louisiana Public Service Commission from 1955 to 1964. He emerged successful in the 1954 Democratic primary for the PSC by defeating Harvey Broyles and L.S. Hooper. He 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 phone call, when most states had long gone to a dime or higher in pay phone outlets. 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.

[edit] Election as governor, 1963-64

Main article: Louisiana gubernatorial election, 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. Jackson 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 enought that McKeithen cannot be count out altogether."[1]

McKeithen, with Ear 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 emerged 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.

[edit] McKeithen as governor

[edit] First term

McKeithen's two terms 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 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.

Among his advisors was the 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.

[edit] Re-election campaign, 1967

He was so popular in office that voters renominated him with ease in the 1967 Democratic primary, in which he was opposed by the very conservative Indiana-born Sixth District freshman Congressman John Rarick of St. Francisville in West Feliciana Parish, who was backed by the Ku Klux Klan. Rarick did not warm to rural voters the way McKeithen could and his strict constitutionalist views did not appeal to many in the Louisiana statewide electorate. People responded positively to McKeithen's folksy mannerisms and trademark "Won't you 'hep me?" appeal. Republicans did not field a candidate to challenge McKeithen for a second term in the general election held on February 6, 1968. McKeithen even 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.

[edit] Second term as governor

During his second term, pushing for the construction of the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans was one of McKeithen’s priorities. Despite initial misgivings by many, McKeithen was responsible for moving approval of the Supedome 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.

He also pushed through a 2-cent sales tax increase in 1970 to fund higher pay for teachers and state employees, and worked to expand construction on many public college and university campuses. He reformed the Department of Corrections, and improved conditions in the Angola state penitentiary.

In 1969 and 1970, McKeithen’s administration received criticism in the national press. Life magazine 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 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.[2]

[edit] 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 Opportunity, 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 Governor McKeithen's efforts to promote racial harmony are little known even today.

"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," Mr. 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.."[3]

[edit] Achievements

Edward F. Renwick, director of the Loyola University New Orleans 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.

[edit] After governorship

After he left office in 1972, McKeithen sought the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the death of long-term Democratic incumbent Allen J. Ellender. 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 former candidate for mayor of New Orleans.

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, Marjorie. In 1991, McKeithen made headlines by resigning from the 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. McKeithen's 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.[4]

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.

[edit] References

  1. ^ William C. Havard, Rudolf Heberle, and Perry H. Howard, The Louisiana Elections of 1960, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Studies, 1963, p. 101
  2. ^ >"”Judge Henry Yelverton”". Baton Rouge Morning Advocate. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theadvocate/obituary.aspx?n=henry-yelverton&pid=130787075. Retrieved August 28, 2009. 
  3. ^ "Adam Fairclough, Race and Democracy: The Civil Rights Struggle in Louisiana, 1915-1972publisher=Google Books". http://books.google.com/books?id=QnQbw5EyPREC&pg=PA423&lpg=PA423&dq=W.W.+Dumas&source=bl&ots=feCuRbzRvr&sig=FYALNNVVV694_HVoWNGWLJm69tI&hl=en&ei=OAkQS-ezKoWWtgebyo3rCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=W.W.%20Dumas&f=false. Retrieved November 27, 2009. 
  4. ^ "Press Association honors the late Sam Hanna, Sr., May 18, 2006". ouachitacitizen.com. http://www.ouachitacitizen.com/news.php?id=73. Retrieved December 29, 2009. 

[edit] External links

Political offices
Preceded by
V.E. Claunch		 Louisiana State Representative from District 20 (Caldwell Parish)

John Julian McKeithen
1948–1952

 Succeeded by
Johnnie W. Calton
Preceded by
Harvey Broyles		 Louisiana Public Service Commissioner from District 3 (north Louisiana)

John Julian McKeithen
1955–1964

 Succeeded by
John S. Hunt, III
Preceded by
James Houston "Jimmie" Davis		 Governor of Louisiana

John McKeithen
1964–1972

 Succeeded by
Edwin Washington Edwards
v • d • e
Governors and Lieutenant Governors of Louisiana
State Seal of Louisiana
 
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