1960 Louisiana gubernatorial election

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (September 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

1960 Louisiana gubernatorial election

← 1956 April 19, 1960 1964 →

Candidate Jimmie Davis Francis Grevemberg Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 407,907 86,135 Percentage 81.52% 17.00%

Parish results Davis:      50–60%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%

Elections in Louisiana
Federal government Presidential elections 1812 1816 1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 Presidential primaries Democratic 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 Republican 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 U.S. Senate elections 1812 1813 1813 sp 1817 1818 1818 sp 1819 1823 1824 1824 sp 1825 1829 1831 1831 sp 1833 sp 1835 1836 sp 1837 1837 sp 1840 1843 1844 sp 1847 1847 sp 1848 1852 1853 1853 sp 1859 1868 1876 1876 sp 1879 1882 1889 1891 1894 1894 sp 1896 1900 1904 1908 1910 sp 1912 1914 1918 1918 sp 1920 1924 1926 1930 1932 1936 1936 sp 1938 1942 1944 1948 1948 sp 1950 1954 1956 1960 1962 1966 1968 1972 1974 1978 1980 1984 1986 1990 1992 1996 1998 2002 2004 2008 2010 2014 2016 2020 2022 2026 U.S. House of Representatives elections 1812 1814 1816 1818 AL sp 1820 1822 1824 1826 1828 1830 1832 1834 1st sp 3rd sp 1836 1838 1840 3rd sp 1843 1844 4th sp 1847 1849 1850 2nd sp 3rd sp 1851 1853 1855 1857 1859 1868 1870 1872 4th sp 1873 4th sp 1874 1876 1878 5th sp 1880 1882 1884 1886 2nd sp 1887 6th sp 1888 1889 3rd sp 1890 1892 1894 4th sp 1896 5th sp 1898 1899 5th sp 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1st sp 1909 2nd sp 1910 2nd sp 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 2nd sp 1926 1927 7th sp 1928 1929 3rd sp 1930 1931 8th sp 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 3rd sp 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1961 4th sp 1962 1964 4th sp 1965 7th sp 1966 1968 1970 1972 7th sp 1973 2nd sp 1974 1975 6th sp 1976 1977 1st sp 1978 1980 3rd sp 1982 1984 1985 8th sp 1986 1988 4th sp 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 1999 1st sp 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 1st sp 6th sp 2010 2012 2013 5th sp 2014 2016 2018 2020 2021 2nd sp 5th sp 2022
State government General elections 2007 2010 2011 2015 2019 2020 Gubernatorial elections 1812 1816 1820 1824 1828 1830 sp 1834 1838 1842 1846 1849 1852 1855 1859 1863 (C) 1864 (U) 1865 1868 1872 1876 1879 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 Lieutenant gubernatorial elections 2015 2019 Attorney General elections 2011 2015 2019 Treasurer elections 2017 sp Senate elections 2019
Ballot measures 2004 Amendment 1
Baton Rouge Mayoral elections 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020
New Orleans Mayoral elections 1866 1930 1934 1946 1950 1958 1962 1965 1969 1973 1977 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2017 2021 City Council elections 2006 2010
Shreveport Mayoral elections 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018
Government
v t

The 1960 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on April 19, 1960.

Primary elections were held in two rounds on December 5, 1959, and January 9, 1960. After defeating Chep Morrison in a Democratic primary which featured some of the most racially charged campaign rhetoric in Louisiana political history, Jimmie Davis was elected to his second nonconsecutive term as governor after defeating the Republican candidate, Francis Grevemberg, in the general election.

Background[]

Like most Southern states between the Reconstruction Era and the Civil Rights Movement, 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. In this election, however, a Republican ran, the first since Harrison Bagwell of Baton Rouge in 1952, who had polled 4 percent of the vote against the Democrat .^[1][2]

Democratic primary[]

Candidates[]

• Holt Allen, grocer from Jena
• Jimmie Davis, former Governor of Louisiana from 1944 to 1948
• William J. "Bill" Dodd, State Comptroller
• John Krey, Jr., New Orleans businessman
• Allen LaCombe, eccentric New Orleans gambler and perennial candidate
• Chep Morrison, Mayor of New Orleans
• James A. Noe, former Governor in 1936 and unsuccessful candidate in 1940
• William M. Rainach, State Senator from Claiborne Parish
• Mack Stewart Jr., Baptist minister from Baton Rouge
• , a New Orleans taxicab company operator and Ku Klux Klan wizard

Withdrew[]

• J. Marshall Brown, a New Orleans insurance agent^[3]
• Earl Long, incumbent Governor (running for Lieutenant Governor, barred from re-election by Supreme Court)

Campaign[]

At the beginning of the campaign, incumbent governor Earl Long announced his intention to run, despite being constitutionally barred from succeeding himself. After the Supreme Court insisted that he would have to resign several months before the election in order to legally run, Long withdrew and instead opted to run for Lieutenant-Governor on the Jimmy Noe ticket. The campaign got off to a slow start, with Davis running a bland campaign calling for "peace and harmony." Morrison campaigned on a platform of economic progress and development, while Noe and Dodd used promises of increased social programs to compete for traditional Long supporters.

Although easily winning the 1956 gubernatorial election, the ticket of Jimmy Noe and Earl Long finished a distant fourth. This is due, in part, because of the significant problems Earl Long experienced during the latter part of his last term in office such as his involuntary commitment to a state mental hospital, his affair with stripper Blaze Starr, and his ambivalence regarding civil rights issues.

Davis originally campaigned on a vague platform of peace and harmony in the first primary, before adopting a defense of segregation in the runoff. He was supported by the Regular Democratic Organization political machine in New Orleans and endorsed by The New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Morrison stressed his accomplishments as mayor for the previous fourteen years and called for industrialization of the state. He had the support of unions and favored large building programs and increased trade with Latin America.

Rainach campaigned as a staunch defender of segregation, using white supremacist rhetoric and attacking his opponents for their perceived softness on "the race question".

Results[]

Run-off[]

Campaign[]

After seeing the explosive growth in support enjoyed by the little-known Rainach, who finished in third place after employing racist rhetoric in the primary, Davis adopted a similar tactic in the runoff. After receiving the endorsement of Rainach, Davis began to criticize Morrison for having received a large proportion of African-American votes in the primary. The Davis campaign claimed Morrison was supported by the NAACP – which Davis termed as "a communist Negro organization founded in New York" – and that he would integrate the state and use increased black voter registration to dominate Louisiana politics. The Times-Picayune aided the Davis campaign by emphasizing the high level of support Morrison had received from black voters. Earl Long also endorsed Davis.

Morrison responded in kind, extolling his record of support for segregation as mayor of New Orleans and questioning Davis's own segregationist credentials. He also boasted that he had been sued by the NAACP more times than any other Louisiana official. Though he was a supporter of segregation, Morrison depended on black votes and could not afford to alienate potential supporters by using the overtly racist rhetoric of his opponent. He remained on the defensive throughout the runoff campaign. The political liabilities of being an urbanite, a Catholic, and a perceived integrationist cost Morrison any support he might have expected in conservative, Protestant, segregationist northern Louisiana.

All of the Davis ticket mates for lesser constitutional officers were nominated in the runoff election and won in the general election as well. None of the Morrison-endorsed candidates was nominated.

Results[]

Republican primary[]

Candidates[]

• Francis Grevemberg, former State Superintendent of Police and Democratic candidate for Governor in 1956

Results[]

Grevemberg was unopposed for the Republican nomination.

General election[]

Campaign[]

In 1959–1960, former State Police Superintendent Francis Grevemberg rejected cries of "It can't be done" and switched parties to run for governor as a Republican. He faced Jimmie Davis in the general election. Grevemberg called for abolition of useless positions in state government and industrial recruitment efforts. His candidacy offered the state something that it had not seen before, a contested general election for governor. "Never before have the voters in this state been given such an opportunity for self-expression", opined , "It is a rare opportunity for us to take part in an advanced course in government and politics."

Democrats were sufficiently confident of overwhelming victories to restrict their general election activities to a few party harmony speeches. Davis had stopped campaigning after he defeated Mayor Morrison and did not return to active campaign status until a few weeks prior to the general election.

Grevemberg was outraged at newspaper editorials against him. "My main purpose for entering this race was toward a two-party system ... I hope I have convinced a sizeable number of people we do need two parties." Grevemberg was particularly hostile toward the Times-Picayune (New Orleans), which called him a "turncoat" after he left the Democratic party, adding: "I risked my life and those of my family in attempts to rid this state of racketeers ... These newspapers have lived up to the reputation given them by Huey Long that they were yellow journals."

Results[]

Grevemberg scored his highest percent, 39.9 in Terrebonne Parish, and his second-best showing was the 27.2 percent in his native Lafayette Parish. In several parishes, Grevemberg polled less than 2 percent of the ballots.

Significance of the election[]

In a time of growing support for the civil rights movement, the 1959–60 election was the first since the advent of Jim Crow in which race became the central issue of a Louisiana campaign. This election also marked the definitive end of the Long era in Louisiana politics. For the first time since 1928, no candidate backed by Huey or Earl Long made the runoff; Noe finished a distant fourth.

References[]

Sources[]

• Jeansonne, Glen. "Racism and Longism in Louisiana: The 1959-60 Gubernatorial Election." Louisiana History 11, 1970.
• Liebling, A. J. The Earl of Louisiana. LSU Press, 1970.
• Louisiana Secretary of State. Primary Election Returns, 1960.
• Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana. Voters' Guide to the Elections, '59-'60.