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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.
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.
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 Indictment 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. Minden Herald, July 26, 1940, p. 1
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.
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 in. 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." Minden Herald, reprinted from the Memphis Commercial Appeal, May 28, 1948, p. 1 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 New Orleans, 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.
In 1956, Long vetoed funding for the work undertaken by the LSU historian Edwin Adams Davis to establish the state archives. Davis appealed to the State Board of Liquidation for temporary relief until funding could be restored in the next legislative session. The archives became a permanent institution in Baton Rouge.
Long eased the governmental indignities placed on African Americans and allowed a considerable number to vote. He convinced the legislature to equalize teacher pay between the races. In 1959, in response to legislative attempts to restrict the suffrage, he called for full participation by blacks in Louisiana elections. He knew that he would attract most of the limited black vote, as most were still restricted by barriers to voter registration. In the 1950s, he quarreled with the state's leading segregationist, then state Senator William M. Rainach of Claiborne Parish.
Long reappointed A.A. Fredericks as his executive secretary from 1959 to 1960, his last two years of his last term as governor. He appointed another confidante, former legislator Drayton Boucher of Springhill and later Baton Rouge, as interim "Custodian of voting machines" from 1958 to 1959, as he took the responsibility from the Secretary of State. Long supported another ally, Douglas Fowler of Coushatta, who won the position in 1960 after it was established as an elective office.
On three occasions, Long tapped Lorris M. Wimberly of Bienville Parish as Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives. In Louisiana, the powerful governor (although limited at the time by nonconsecutive terms) chooses the House Speaker despite the separation of powers. In his last term, Long named Wimberly as director of the state department of public works. In his last gubernatorial term from 1959 to 1960, Long relied heavily on his legislative floor leader, state Representative W.L. Rambo of Georgetown in Grant Parish, in getting bills through the legislature. Rambo was a Long "by marriage", having wed the former Mary Alice Long.
In 1959, Long considered resigning as governor. "1959 Year In Review: Governor Earl Long Goes Crazy", upi.com; accessed July 8, 2020. His loyal lieutenant governor, Lether Frazar of Lake Charles, would have succeeded him as the Louisiana chief executive for some seven months. Under this scenario, Long planned to run again for governor in the December 1959 Democratic primary, but by leaving office early could avoid Louisiana's ban (at the time) on governors' succeeding themselves. He never proceeded with this. Instead, the term-limited Long unsuccessfully sought the lieutenant governorship on a ticket headed by fellow Democrat and wealthy former Governor James A. Noe. Instead, Jimmie Davis was elected to a second non-consecutive term as governor in 1960, having first served from 1944 to 1948. It was said that in 1948 Long followed Davis and in 1960 Davis followed Long.
Long was defeated for lieutenant governor in the 1959 primary by the conservative Taddy Aycock of Franklin in St. Mary Parish in south Louisiana. Aycock also won the January 1960 runoff election over Alexandria Mayor W. George Bowdon Jr. In the 1959 primary, Long lost a race to Sheridan Garrett, 2,563 to 2,068, for a Winn Parish seat on the Louisiana Democratic State Central Committee. The Shreveport Times, December 7, 1959, p. 2-A
Both Earl Long and his brother Huey Long had grown close to Earl Williamson, a local politician in Caddo Parish. Williamson's son, Don W. Williamson, later recalled Earl Long coming into their town of Vivian and picking up his father to join the Long entourage for a trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas, where they enjoyed drinking buttermilk and horse racing, as well as illicit attractions in the resort city. Long demanded absolute loyalty among his inner circle, often saying that he did not need them to back him when he was right, but when he was wrong. Long's erratic political behavior led the aspiring singer Jay Chevalier to compose in 1959 the song, "The Ballad of Earl K. Long".
Long's first lieutenant governor, Bill Dodd, in his memoir entitled Peapatch Politics: The Earl Long Era in Louisiana Politics (named for Earl Long's "Peapatch Farm" in Winn Parish), writes that Earl Long developed a "hatred" for Pearce. The governor encouraged state entomologist Sidney McCrory of Ascension Parish to run against Pearce in the 1956 primary election. Dodd did not explain why the relationship between Long and Pearce had declined. McCrory defeated Pearce, but beginning with the 1959 primary, Pearce was nominated by the Democrats for the first of what became four consecutive terms as agriculture commissioner. That year, Earl Long ran for lieutenant governor, but lost to Taddy Aycock. Dodd noted with humor that Long had become irritated with McCrory after inviting him on Long's intraparty ticket in 1956:
Due to a third candidate, former State Representative Ben F. Holt of Rapides Parish, Long finished in second place in the primary election and was compelled into a runoff contest for the Democratic nomination with the short-term incumbent, Alexandria attorney Harold B. McSween, which Long won. Because no Republican filed for the seat, Long was poised to run unopposed in the general election set for November 8, 1960. However, in September he suffered a fatal heart attack while in the Baptist Hospital (later Rapides General Hospital) in Alexandria.
After Earl Long's death, the Democratic State Central Committee gave the nomination to McSween, who had earlier succeeded Earl Long's late brother George Long in the 8th district seat. McSween was thus unopposed in the 1960 general election and won a second consecutive term in the U.S. House. In 1962, McSween was defeated in the primary election by his fellow liberal Democrat, Gillis William Long, who claimed to be the rightful heir to the Long dynasty. His funeral in Baton Rouge attracted numerous attendees. Long was interred at the Earl K. Long Memorial Park in Winnfield. His nephew, U.S. Senator Russell Long, was among the pallbearers.
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