John Julian McKeithen (May 28, 1918 – June 4, 1999) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 49th governor of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

from 1964 to 1972.

Early life

McKeithen was born in Grayson, Louisiana on May 28, 1918. His father was a farmer. He studied at

High Point College High Point University is a private university in High Point, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The university was founded as High Point College in 1924, and it became High Point University in October 1991. HPU of ...

, and later received a law degree from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

in 1942. He served in the

77th Infantry Division 77th Division or 75th Infantry Division may refer to: * 77th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht), Germany * 77th Infantry Division of Khurasan, Iran * 77th Division (Imperial Japanese Army) * 77th Division (People's Republic of China) * 77th Division ( ...

in the Pacific Theater during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. After the war, he settled in

Columbia, Louisiana Columbia is a town in, and the parish seat of, Caldwell Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 390 as of the 2010 census, down from 477 in 2000. History The land that became Columbia was first cleared by Daniel Humphries in 1827. A ...

and set up a law practice.

Political career

1948–1963

McKeithen was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1948. Governor Earl K. Long appointed him as floor leader despite his lack of experience and low profile. He lost the race for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in 1952, and in 1954 was elected to the

Louisiana Public Service Commission The Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) 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 te ...

First term as governor

McKeithen entered the 1963 Democratic primary for Governor of Louisiana. He ran as a populist, running direct-to-camera commercials with a signature catchphrase of "Won't you he'p me?" As was typical for Southern Democrats, he ran as a

segregationist Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Interna ...

, insinuating that his chief rival (

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

mayor

deLesseps Story Morrison deLesseps Story Morrison Sr., also known as Chep Morrison (January 18, 1912 – May 22, 1964), was an American attorney and politician who was the 54th mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1946 to 1961. He then served as an appointee of U.S. ...

) was an integrationist supported by the NAACP. McKeithen won the Democratic nomination, which in the Deep South at the time was

tantamount to election A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body (e.g. Congress, Parliament, City Council) which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combinati ...

, and defeated the Republican candidate Charlton Lyons in the 1964 general election. McKeithen's first term saw the construction of the

Louisiana Superdome The Caesars Superdome, commonly known as the Superdome (formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Superdome), is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Saints ...

, reforms to the state code of ethics, and the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

. Shortly after McKeithen's election, he began sending secret payments through the

Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission The Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission was a government agency of the Louisiana state government established to combat desegregation, which operated from June 1960 to 1967 in the capitol city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The group warned of "cre ...

to the Ku Klux Klan leadership, in an attempt to "buy peace" and suppress Klan violence. In one incident, a confident of McKeithen's was sent to

Bogalusa Bogalusa is a city in Washington Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 12,232 at the 2010 census. In th2020 censusthe city, town, place equivalent reported a population of 10,659. It is the principal city of the Bogalusa Micropolit ...

with $10,000 in cash to be split equally between local Klan leaders and the local chapter of

Deacons for Defense and Justice The Deacons for Defense and Justice was an armed African-American self-defense group founded in November 1964, during the civil rights era in the United States, in the mill town of Jonesboro, Louisiana. On February 21, 1965—the day of Malcolm X' ...

. These payments by McKeithen were discovered through declassified

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

records in 2016, through FOIA. Despite his running as a segregationist in 1963, he oversaw the beginning of school integration in Louisiana, and called out the

Louisiana National Guard The Louisiana National Guard is the armed force through which the Louisiana Military Department executes the U.S. state of Louisiana's security policy. Consisting of the Louisiana Army National Guard, a reserve component of the United States Army ...

to protect civil rights activists marching from

to Baton Rouge. In a speech to a Black audience in 1966, he said regarding integration: "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." McKeithen was popular in his first term, and successfully engineered the passage of a constitutional referendum that allowed governors to run for re-election, the first time this had been allowed in Louisiana in the 20th century.

Second term as governor

McKeithen defeated Congressman

John Rarick John Richard Rarick (January 29, 1924 - September 14, 2009) was an American lawyer, jurist, and World War II veteran who served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving Louisiana's 6th congressional district from 1967 to 1975. ...

by a wide margin in the 1967 Democratic primary for Governor, and was elected unopposed in the 1968 general election. During his second term, a series of articles in Life magazine alleged that he was connected to the New Orleans mafia, though definitive proof did not emerge.

Later life and death

After the completion of his second term, McKeithen retired to his farm in

and continued to practice law. He managed an oil and gas company and was appointed to the Board of Supervisors of

in 1983. McKeithen underwent heart surgery in 1997, after which his health declined. On June 4, 1999, McKeithen died at the age of 81 in Columbia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKeithen, John 1918 births 1999 deaths Democratic Party members of the Louisiana House of Representatives Democratic Party governors of Louisiana People from Caldwell Parish, Louisiana Louisiana State University alumni Louisiana lawyers Members of the Louisiana Public Service Commission Military personnel from Louisiana Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United States) United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army officers American Methodists 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American politicians People from Columbia, Louisiana