Governorships
Long became governor in 1939, after the resignation of Governor Richard Leche, but he failed to win a term of his own in 1940. During his brief term, Long appointed a cousin, Floyd Harrison Long, Sr., as the custodian of the Central State (Mental) Hospital in Pineville. Floyd Long was the father of future U.S. Representative Gillis William Long and U.S. Army Colonel Floyd H. Long, Jr. Long's brief first tenure corresponded with the "Louisiana Hayride" scandals that engulfed the president of Louisiana State University, James Monroe Smith.
Long was defeated in the Democratic primary by the conservative attorney Sam Houston Jones of Lake Charles.
In 1944, Long did not run for governor though he wished to have done so. Instead he ran for lieutenant governor on an intraparty ticket with former U.S. Representative Lewis Lovering Morgan of Covington, the seat of St. Tammany Parish north of New Orleans. Long led the party balloting for the second position in state government, but he lost the runoff to Verret, whose only previous elected experience had been as a member and president of the Iberia Parish School Board. Had Morgan not entered the second primary against James Houston "Jimmie" Davis, Long would have become lieutenant governor without a runoff. At the time, Louisiana law provided that there would be no statewide constitutional runoff elections unless there was also a contest for governor. That rule did not apply to state legislative races, however.
Long blamed his failure to become lieutenant governor on Secretary of State Wade O. Martin, Jr., a former ally with whom he quarreled for many years thereafter. In 1957, Martin lost jurisdiction over both insurance and voting machines as a result of a law pushed through the legislature by Long. Rufus D. Hayes of Baton Rouge became the first insurance commissioner, and Drayton Boucher of Webster Parish was named over voting machines until he was replaced by Douglas Fowler of Red River Parish, when Boucher decided not to run for the office in the 1959–1960 election cycle.
In 1948, Long was elected governor to succeed Jimmie Davis, who had defeated Morgan in the 1944 runoff. To win the first of his two full terms from 1948 to 1952, Long defeated his old rival Sam Jones by a wide margin. Eliminated in the first primary was U.S. Representative James Hobson "Jimmy" Morrison of Hammond, who made his third and final gubernatorial bid.
Term limited for the 1951–1952 elections, Long essentially sat out the statewide elections won by Judge Robert F. Kennon of Minden though most loyal Longites lined up with Judge Carlos Spaht of Baton Rouge. According to the book, The Big Lie, by Garry Boulard (2001), Long proved instrumental in charges levied against gubernatorial candidate Hale Boggs of New Orleans in the 1951–1952 campaign that Boggs was a communist. The charges were made by rival candidate Lucille May Grace and engineered by St. Bernard Parish boss Leander Perez. At a stormy session of the state Democratic committee, Long attacked Perez and Grace for making the charge against Boggs, but prevented Boggs from publicly defending himself, a ploy that some thought greatly contributed to Boggs' defeat.
Long surfaced again in 1955–1956, when he scored an easy victory over a field that included New Orleans Mayor deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, Sr. (no relation to James H. Morrison but a law partner of Hale Boggs), state highway director Fred Preaus of Farmerville, the choice of outgoing Governor Robert Kennon, former state police superintendent Francis Grevemberg, and businessman James M. McLemore of Alexandria, making his second race for governor on a strictly segregationist platform.
Earl Williamson, a local politician in Caddo Parish became personally close to both Huey and Earl Long. Williamson's son, later State Senator Don W. Williamson recalls Earl Long coming into Vivian and picking up his father, Earl Williamson, as the Earl Long entourage headed on a buttermilk-drinking and horse racing trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas. Long demanded absolutely loyalty among his inner circle, often saying that he did not need them to back him when he is right but when he is wrong.
Governor Long became close to Margaret Dixon, the first woman managing editor of the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate. She often advised him on political strategy. He appointed her to the LSU Board of Supervisors in 1951.
From 1948 to 1950, Long's executive secretary was former college president and state Senator A.A. Fredericks of Natchitoches. Long later recalled Fredericks as his secretary for the last two years of Long's last term as governor. Another Long confidante, former legislator Drayton Boucher of Springhill and later Baton Rouge, was named as interim "custodian of voting machines" from 1958 to 1959, only to be replaced by still another ally, Douglas Fowler of Coushatta, who won the position when it became an elective office in 1960.
On three occasions, Long tapped Lorris M. Wimberly of Bienville Parish as Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives. He also named Wimberly director of public works in Long's last term. In Louisiana, the powerful governor chooses the House Speaker despite the separation of powers.
In his last gubernatorial term, Long relied heavily on his legislative floor leader, state Representative Willard L. Rambo (1917–1984) of Georgetown in Grant Parish. Rambo was a Long by marriage, having wed the former Mary Alice Long.
In 1959, Long actually considered resigning as governor, a move which would have made his loyal lieutenant governor, Lether Edward Frazar of Lake Charles, the Louisiana chief executive for some seven months. Under the scenario, Long would then run for governor himself in the December 1959 Democratic primary and thereby avoid Louisiana's ban (at the time) on governors succeeding themselves. The plan never developed. Instead, the term-limited Long unsuccessfully sought the lieutenant governorship on a "ticket" headed by fellow Democrat and wealthy former Governor James Albert Noe, Sr. Jimmie Davis succeeded Long as governor in 1960. It was said that in 1948 Long followed Davis, and in 1960, Davis followed Long. Long was nevertheless a testament to the persistence and power of the Long brand of populism in southern politics.
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