Allen J. Ellender

From Free net encyclopedia

Allen Joseph Ellender (September 24, 1890 - July 27, 1972) was a U.S. senator from Houma, Louisiana (Terrebonne Parish), who served from 1937 until his death in 1972. He was a Democrat who was originally allied with the legendary Huey P. Long, Jr. He was also president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate between 1971 and 1972. He also served as the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee from 1951 to 1953 and 1955 to 1971, and as Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee from 1971 until 1972. Ellender, along with liberal Republican Ralph Flanders of Vermont, was a vociferous opponent of McCarthyism and attacked the methods of investigating communism used by Senator Joseph McCarthy.

1 Ellender sticks with Truman, 1948
2 A rare Republican challenge, 1960
3 Ellender's last campaign
4 References

[edit]

Ellender sticks with Truman, 1948

Ellender rarely had serious opposition for his Senate seat. In his initial election in 1936, Ellender defeated John N. Sandlin in the Democratic primary, 364,931 (68 percent) to 167,471 (31.2 percent). There was no Republican candidate. Ellender was steadfastly loyal to all Democratic presidential nominees and refused to support then Governor Strom Thurmond of South Carolina for president in 1948, when Thurmond, the States Rights Party nominee was also the official Democratic nominee in Louisiana and three other southern states. Ellender supported Harry Truman, whose name was placed on the ballot only after Governor Earl Kemp Long called a special session of the legislature to place the president's name on the Louisiana ballot.

[edit]

A rare Republican challenge, 1960

In 1960, Ellender was challenged by the then Republican National Committeeman George W. Reese, Jr., (born 1924) of New Orleans. Reese accused Ellender, known for his hostility to Senator McCarthy, of being "soft on communism." Ellender retorted that Reese's allegation came with "ill grace for the spokesman for the member of a party which has permitted the establishment of a Red-dominated beach head only ninety miles from our shores to attack my record against the spread of communism." Ellender crushed Reese's hopes of making a respectable showing: he polled 432,228 (79.8 percent) to Reese's 109,698 (20.2 percent). Reese's best performance was in two parishes which voted for Richard M. Nixon, La Salle Parish (Jena) and Ouachita Parish (Monroe), where he drew 31.3 percent in each. In Caddo Parish (Shreveport), Reese finished with 30 percent. Ellender ran 24,889 votes ahead of the John F. Kennedy-Lyndon Johnson ticket, but 265,965 votes cast in the presidential race ignored the Senate contest, a phenomenon that would later be called an "undervote."

In 1966, Ellender disposed of two minor primary opponents, including the liberal State Senator J.D. DeBlieux (pronounced "W") of Baton Rouge (1913-2005), but the Republicans did not field a candidate against him that year.

[edit]

Ellender's last campaign

In 1972, the Democratic gubernatorial runner-up from December 1971, former state senator J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., of Shreveport challenged Ellender for renomination. Ellender was expected to defeat Johnston, but the veteran senator died during the primary campaign and left Johnston the de facto Democratic nominee. Neary 10 percent of Democratic voters, however, voted for the deceased Ellender. Johnston, as the Democratic nominee, then easily defeated the Republican candidate, Ben C. Toledano, an attorney from New Orleans, and former Governor John McKeithen, a Democrat running as an independent in the general election. Ellender's immediate successor was Elaine Schwartzburg Edwards, first wife of Governor Edwards, who filled his seat from July to November 1972.

In the Senate, Ellender was known by his colleagues for Cajun cooking from roast duck to shrimp jambalaya. Even today, The Senate Dining Room serves "Ellender Gumbo."

Ellender Memorial High School in Houma is named in his honor. In 1994, Ellender was inducted posthumously into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.

[edit]