http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_gubernatorial_election,_1940
Louisiana gubernatorial election, 1940
The Louisiana gubernatorial election of 1940 was held in two rounds on January 16 and February 20, 1940. Like most Southern states between Reconstruction and the civil rights era, Louisiana’s Republican Party was virtually nonexistent in terms of electoral support. This meant that the two Democratic Party primaries held on these dates were the real contest over who would be governor. The election resulted in the defeat of Earl K. Long and the election of Sam H. Jones as governor of Louisiana on a reform platform.
Candidates
* Incumbent governor Earl K. Long had succeeded to the office in 1939 after the resignation of governor Richard W. Leche and was running for a full term. He was endorsed by the Louisiana Democratic Organization, which consisted of the machine created by his brother Huey Long as well as the powerful New Orleans Regular Democratic Organization.
* Lake Charles attorney Sam H. Jones was recruited as a candidate by the anti-Long forces, who were gaining in strength in the aftermath of the ‘Louisiana Scandals’ associated with Leche. He was endorsed by ‘good government’ groups, conservatives, and others opposed to the policies and actions of the Longs. He campaigned on a platform of good government, opening of state books to public inspection, a merit-based state civil service, and the abolition of Long’s ‘deduct’ system and patronage appointments.
* State Senator James A. Noe ran as the “genuine Huey Long candidate” charging that Leche and Earl Long has betrayed the Long legacy with their corruption. His campaign was particularly popular among North Louisiana farmers and former supporters of Huey Long disillusioned with the corruption of his successors.
* Hammond attorney James H. Morrison had little support outside the Florida Parishes. He ran a humorous anti-Long campaign, with campaign stops featuring a ‘convict parade’ of men in prison stripes representing Long, Leche, and Robert Maestri. Morrison was thereafter a law partner of the pro-Long Joseph A. Sims of Hammond.
* New Orleans attorney Vincent Moseley had no organized political backing and was not generally seen as a serious candidate.
[edit] Campaign
The focus of the campaign was the ongoing ‘Louisiana Scandals’ which implicated former governor Richard W. Leche - and by extension Earl K. Long - in widespread corruption. Jones’s main campaign focus was a moralistic crusade against corruption, and the state’s newspapers featured him in overwhelmingly positive coverage. Behind the scenes, though, Jones enlisted the aid of veteran politicos who were themselves implicated in questionable dealings. He refused to criticize Huey Long, saying that “I am not running against a dead man. I am running against a gang of rascals as live as any gang that ever lived, and I’m running to clean out every one of them.” Jones also promised to expand some of the Long programs, including teacher salary increases and a new old-age pension.
Earl Long made use of the Louisiana Progress newspaper he had inherited from his brother, as well as state publications like the Louisiana Conservation Review. He also made extensive speaking tours throughout the state’s rural areas, making colorful attacks on the big-city newspapers and calling Jones a tool of corporate interests.
Jones got most of his funding from wealthy ‘good-government’ supporters, while Long’s funding came from state employee deductions, oil and gas companies, and contributions from organized crime.
After the first round of voting, Noe endorsed Jones after the two struck a deal in which the ‘good-government’ Jones promised Noe half of the state’s patronage appointments in exchange for his support. Long called a special session of the legislature to pass several spending increases for social programs and some reform bills in an effort to influence runoff voters. But Long refused to include a pay raise for teachers, alienating a large voting bloc in the process.
Despite Long’s promises of increased social programs, voters were still outraged over the recent corruption scandals and were unwilling to believe Earl Long’s claims that he had had nothing to do with the scandals. Jones’s victory ended twelve years of Longite governors in Louisiana.
A man who became a very good friend of mine built one the first and still one of the best political websites here in Louisiana.
I really miss him and his work.
John Copes, deductbox.com founder, dies
October 20, 2006
By John Hill
jhillbr@gannett.com
BATON ROUGE “” John Copes, the founder of Louisiana’s first political Web site with widespread influence in Louisiana politics and journalism, died Thursday morning in Destin, Fla. He was 49.
Copes in 1999 founded deductbox.com, which quickly grew in popularity with thousands of daily hits from Louisiana, Washington and round the world from displaced Louisianans. Copes assembled and critiqued coverage of Louisiana politics, sparing neither politician nor pundit from his acerbic brand of humor. The nicknames “” Edwin Edwards as “geezer” and editorial writers as “navel gazers” “” stuck.
A graduate of Louisiana Tech University’s journalism school and a veteran of the defunct Shreveport Journal, Copes provided links to Web sites of all the state’s major newspapers, including The Times, television stations, college publications “” such as Tech Talk “” government and public interest groups, such as the Public Affairs Research Council “” and regional newspapers from Mobile to Houston.
The “deductbox” name came from the so-called deduct box that legendary Louisiana Gov. Huey Long kept. All state employees had to deduct part of their salary “” on a sliding scale of 5 percent to 10 percent “” and put it in Long’s deduct box.
Copes continued producing deductbox.com after he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2000, but gave it up a couple of years later because he decided to devote his remaining strength to fighting the disease and being a father to his young son.
That battle ended in Destin, Fla., on Thursday morning, with his wife, Diane Hollenshead Copes, an assistant U.S. Attorney in New Orleans, and son Jack, 8, by his side. Close friends Bill Windham of Shreveport and David Jones of Bossier City were also at the Florida home where the Copes family had gone to vacation for a couple of weeks.
“He was a great writer, a great journalist, a great dad and a great husband of 22 years,” Diane Hollenshead Copes said.
His survivors include his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John C. Copes III of Baton Rouge, three sisters and six nieces and nephews.
Copes was a Louisiana Tech graduate and native of Baton Rouge, but had been living in Mandeville for the past decade. After college, he and Diane went to the Shreveport Journal, covering everything from police to politics. From 1987-89, he was the defunct newspapers’ Washington correspondent. He then wrote fiction and did freelance writing before founding deductbox.com.
Copes rose every morning before dawn and began assembling the top stories from all the state’s daily newspapers and television stations, listing links to each with witty commentary on both the subject “” and sometimes the writer.
“You could look at the deductbox and see all the events that were going on all over the state in a short period of time,” said Ed Renwick, president of the Loyola Institute of Politics. “I looked at it every day.”
New Orleans magazine Editor and Publisher Errol Laborde noted that deductbox.com became extremely popular during the 2000 trial of former Gov. Edwin Edwards.
“His daily coverage of the trial was not to be missed,” Laborde said. “He had a great sense of humor that could be wicked. I remember the day after Edwards was convicted that his Web site opened with the lyrics of ‘Jailhouse Rock.’”
Deductbox.com introduced Louisiana “to the developing world of Web reporting and showed us its flexibility as well as its ability to chronicle articles from other publications and its freedom to say what it wanted. Almost a decade before “blog” and “google” became part of the language, Copes was pioneering an explosive new form of communication,” Laborde said.
Friend Jim Nickel, a lobbyist and former Democratic Party director, called Copes “a pioneer” in political Web sites. “John’s wit and political insight has been copied by hundreds of political bloggers but never matched. He was the first and still the best,” Nickel said.
“He was determined to live long enough to know, enjoy and love his new son, and he did it,” Nickel said.
Former Gov. Mike Foster was among his readers “” and targets. “I didn’t always like what he said,” Foster said. “But I saw the truth on the wall and knew what was coming. He started a trend that I had thought would happen sooner or later.”
New Orleans lawyer Tony Gelderman, former first assistant state treasurer, said the success of deductbox.com was more than just that it was the first. “He had a keen eye for the ridiculous in the theatre of politics and he knew how to point it out with maximum impact,” Gelderman said.
Conservative Web site publisher C.B. Forgotston said Cope’s combination of great intellect and keen sense of humor infused deductbox.com. “He would read a news story and find points that were hidden from those of us not blessed with his abilities. He could point out a missed point or an error with sharp wit. The deductbox.com was particularly influential on the traditional media because he came from them.”
“John left a legacy on politics and government in our state by showing us how and encouraging others to take advantage of the power of the Internet to exercise our First Amendment rights,” Forgotston said.
Former U.S. attorney Ray Lamonica, now an LSU law professor and the university’s general counsel, said Copes’ Web site provided a central location for links to news of statewide interest.
“John’s perceptive insights into and exploration of political culture and corruption in Louisiana served this state well “” for which we should all be grateful. That he could do so in a popular and entertaining manner in what was then a new media format demonstrated rare capability and creativity,” Lamonica said.
Copes also counseled with other cancer patients and their families.
“Even though he had his own problems, John graciously took the time to help others cope with this disease, whether he knew you well or barely at all. I will always remember his kindness and the time he gave me when I learned my daughter had breast cancer,” said Shelia McCant, public information officer for the Louisiana House of Representatives.
A memorial service is being planned for next week at Christ Episcopal Church in Covington.
Forgive my digression. Now back to the war.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/21.htm
February 21st, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: The cavity magnetron operates for the first time at the University of Birmingham. It soon becomes apparent that this crude device — with vacuum seals of sealing wax and penny coins — is producing several hundred watts of power on the undreamed of wavelength of ten centimetres. The microwave era has begun. (Cris Wetton).
Emergency measures to deal with a coal shortage arising from the severe winter weather includes a drastic reduction of passenger train services. (Jack McKillop)
NORTH SEA: An escort attacked U-19 with depth charges. The boat was damaged slightly. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: The preparations for an attack on Norway move forward another stage with the appointment of General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst as commander of Army Norwegen. He has been selected by the Armed Forces High Command (OKW) without consulting the Army High Command (OKH). (Jack McKillop)
GIBRALTAR: U.S. freighter SS Sahale is detained by British authorities at Gibraltar; the freighter SS Exhibitor, detained since 17 February, is allowed to proceed. (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The cruiser HMS Manchester and the destroyer HMS Kimberley capture another of the six German merchant vessels which the Royal Navy is hunting.
At 1809, SS Loch Maddy, a straggler from Convoy HX-19, was hit by one torpedo from U-57 amidships and was abandoned 92 miles SSW of Rockall. Four crewmembers were lost. The master and 34 crewmembers were picked up by destroyer HMS Diana and landed at Scapa Flow.
SS Tara sunk by U-50 at 42.45N, 10.25W. (Dave Shirlaw)
"The trend of public opinion shows a sharp decline in the number of voters in the United States who believe this country should take up arms against Germany eve if the Allied powers are losing, according to the results of a survey of the American Institute of Public Opinion made public yesterday."The report of the institute, of which Dr. George Gallup is director follows:
'Three times since hostilities began, the institute has measured sentiment on the issue. The trend shows a sharp decline in the number of voters who believe the United States should take up arms against Germany if the Allies are losing.'Whereas more than two fifths of voters advocated this action the first week of the war, only about one-fifth favor it today.
'The trend is as follows in the institute's three separate surveys:
'"If it appears that Germany is defeating England and France, should the United States declare war on Germany and send our army and navy to Europe to fight?
- Last September...... yes 44%, no 56%
- Last October......... yes 29%, no 71%
- Today.................. yes 23%, no 77%"
'The decline is not due to any decrease in American sympathy for the Allied cause, for institute surveys find the majority wants the Allies to win and wants to give them every aid short of armed intervention.
'The decline is, rather, another indication of the deep-seated desire of the people to avoid shedding American blood in Europe's battles. The majority apparently considers at the present time that keeping out of war is even more important than giving unrestricted aid to the Allies...
'...The amount of war sentiment in the country ranges, therefore, from about 3 percent -- -- the number who want to fight Germany now -- to 23 percent -- the number who would fight Germany only if the Allies appear to be losing. The rest, and overwhelming majority, are for staying out no matter what happens.' "
It will be interesting to note if, or how, these numbers change after Hitler overruns: