Earl K. Long

Earl Kemp Long (August 26, 1895 – September 5, 1960) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Louisiana on three occasions (1939–1940, 1948–1952, and 1956–1960). A member of the Democratic Party, he held the same position that his brother, Huey Long, held years earlier (1928–1932).

Long served as lieutenant governor of Louisiana from 1936 to 1939. Trying to keep a close hand in state government, he failed in three other bids to be elected lieutenant governor, in 1932, 1944, and 1959. Long was nominated in the summer of 1960 to the United States House of Representatives for Louisiana's 8th congressional district, and was running unopposed in the general election, but he died before he could take office.

During his career, Long promoted a progressive agenda by expanding school-lunch programs, teacher pay, public-works projects, and minority voting rights. Known as "Uncle Earl", Long connected with voters through his folksy demeanor and colorful oratory. His sometimes erratic behavior – including a liaison with New Orleans stripper Blaze Starr – did not affect his electoral success.

First races for governor

Long first ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1932 without the support of his brother, Governor and U.S. Senator-elect Huey Long, who was committed in that election to the successful candidates, Oscar K. Allen of Winnfield for governor and John B. Fournet of St. Martinville for lieutenant governor. In his autobiography, '' Every Man a King'', Huey Long said that Earl Long's first candidacy for lieutenant governor brought forth charges of a family dynasty in the making.

Not long after Huey Long's assassination, however, Earl Long handily defeated fellow Democrat Clement Murphy Mos (much later a judge in Lake Charles) in the primary held for lieutenant governor in January 1936. Richard W. Leche of New Orleans was elected governor in 1936, but he resigned in scandal in 1939, and Long succeeded for 11 months to the governorship.

Governorships

1939–1940

Long failed to win a gubernatorial term of his own in the election of 1940. During his abbreviated term, Long appointed a cousin, Floyd Harrison Long Sr., as the custodian of the Central State (Mental) Hospital in Pineville. Earl Long's brief first tenure corresponded with the "Louisiana Hayride" scandals that engulfed both Governor Leche and the president of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, James Monroe Smith.

Long was defeated in the Democratic primary by the conservative lawyer Sam H. Jones of Lake Charles. After the abbreviated governorship, with Coleman Lindsey of Minden as lieutenant governor, Long was indicted in New Orleans on charges of embezzlement and extortion. The charges involved placing a "deadhead" (an unneeded state worker who performs few or no duties) on the payroll of a special state board.

The 1944 election

In 1944, Long did not run for governor as many had expected, but instead for his earlier position as lieutenant governor on an intraparty ticket with former U.S. Representative Lewis L. Morgan of Covington in St. Tammany Parish across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans. Long led the party balloting for the second position in state government, but he lost the runoff to J. Emile Verret of New Iberia, the choice of incoming Governor Jimmie Davis. His previous elected position was as a member and president of the Iberia Parish School Board.

Had Lewis Morgan not entered the second primary against 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 second contest for governor. That rule did not apply to state legislative races, however. In the same campaign, the Long-endorsed candidate for attorney general, state Senator Joe T. Cawthorn of Mansfield, lost to the Davis-backed Fred S. LeBlanc.

Long blamed his failure to become lieutenant governor in 1944 on Louisiana Secretary of State Wade O. Martin Jr., a former ally with whom he quarreled for many years thereafter. Years later, he repaid Martin politically. In 1957, Long pushed through a new law, taking jurisdiction of insurance and voting machines from the secretary of state's office and setting up two new patronage positions. Long appointed Rufus D. Hayes of Baton Rouge as the first insurance commissioner and Drayton Boucher of Webster Parish as the commissioner of voting machines. After Boucher decided not to run for office in the 1959–1960 election cycle, Long appointed Douglas Fowler of Red River Parish, who held the job for more than 20 years.

1948–1957

In 1948, Long was elected governor to succeed Jimmie Davis. At the time, the salary was $12,000 annually. 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. Long appointed A.A. Fredericks as his executive secretary. Harvey Locke Carey of Shreveport was the campaign manager for northwest Louisiana and later the short-term U. S. Attorney for the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

The ''Memphis Commercial Appeal'' criticized Long's election as governor in 1948. Long "promised everything but the moon"—old-age pensions, veterans bonuses, and a new highway system. "The voters took him at his word, for they elected him by the largest majority ever given a Louisiana candidate n a gubernatorial runoff contest That may be something in the nature of poetic justice, for the majority of voters will be getting exactly what was promised them, and for which they asked, whether they knew it or not." During the second half of his four-year term, 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. In 1951, he appointed her to the LSU Board of Supervisors. Long suffered a major heart attack in 1950, but recovered.

In 1950, Long struck a deal with his intraparty rival, Mayor deLesseps Story Morrison, to return home rule to the Crescent City, which at the time was being virtually governed out of Baton Rouge. Morrison agreed not to work against Long's nephew, Russell B. Long, who was successfully seeking a full term in the United States Senate. Instead, Morrison formally endorsed one of Long's rivals, Malcolm Lafargue, the former U. S. attorney for the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, based in Shreveport. Though Morrison "endorsed" Lafargue, he privately urged his followers to support Russell Long, whom he fully expected to win the race, anyway.

1952–1956 interim period

Term-limited and unable to run in the 1951–1952 elections, Long essentially sat out the statewide elections. According to Garry Boulard's book, ''The Big Lie'' (2001), Long proved instrumental during the 1951–1952 campaign in charges of communism made against gubernatorial candidate Hale Boggs of New Orleans. Rival candidate Lucille May Grace attacked him publicly, but Boulard believes this was rigged by Plaquemines Parish boss Leander Perez. At a stormy session of the state Democratic committee, Long attacked Perez and Grace for attacking Boggs, but prevented Boggs from publicly defending himself. Some analysts thought this strategy greatly contributed to Boggs' defeat in the primary. Judge Robert F. Kennon of Minden won as governor, although most loyal Longites had lined up with Judge Carlos Spaht of Baton Rouge.

1956–1960

Long surfaced at the top of the state again in 1955–1956, when he scored an easy victory for governor over a field that included Mayor of New Orleans deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison Sr., 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. As Louisiana governors rarely won in the first primary, Long's first response on his victory was, "Huey never done that, did he?" In his second race for the office, McLemore ran on a primarily racial segregationist platform, following the ruling by the US Supreme Court in ''Brown v. Board of Education'' (1954) that segregated public schools were unconstitutional.

In 1956, Long vetoed funding for the work undertaken by the LSU historian Edwin Adams Davis

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