Charles T. Beaird
Encyclopedia
Charles Thomas Beaird of Shreveport
, Louisiana
, was an industrialist, newspaper publisher, philanthropist
and civic leader. He was a self-identified "liberal
Republican"
politician
and a champion of civil rights
. Born to James Benjamin Beaird and Mattie Connell Fort Beaird, his mother died six weeks after his birth, and his father died when he was sixteen. According to his obituary, Beaird had to grow up quickly but developed a fierce intellectual independence.
in Corpus Christi
, Texas
. He married Carolyn in Shreveport the next day and reported for duty in Fort Worth
, on February, 8. He served first as a pilot instructor and then led a fighting squadron assigned to the recapture and holding of the Philippine Islands flying B-25s and the OS 2U torpedo bomber. He attained the rank of captain and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross
and the Decorated Air Medal
.
Following the sale of that company, Beaird purchased a small chainsaw company founded by Claude Poulan and his brothers and renamed it Beaird-Poulan. Beard built the company into the fourth largest maker of chainsaws in the world. When it was purchased by Emerson Electric in 1973, Beaird became chairman of the Beaird-Poulan Division of Emerson, known for its WeedEater products.
in Shreveport, which had been an all-Democratic
city since Reconstruction. Beaird became chairman of the Caddo Parish Republican Executive Committee in 1952. In 1956, he was elected to the Caddo Parish Police Jury (equivalent of county commission). He was one of the first Republicans elected to public office in Louisiana since Reconstruction. He was elected at the local level as there was no Republican gubernatorial candidate running in the 1956 general election
. Later that year, he managed the unsuccessful Fourth District congressional campaign of then Republican Littleberry Calhoun Allen, Jr.
, who challenged incumbent Overton Brooks
. After switching to Democrat, Allen later won election as Shreveport's public utilities commissioner (1962–1970) and mayor (1970–1978).
Beaird attracted national attention in 1956, when he gave a seconding speech for the renomination of President Dwight D. Eisenhower
at the Republican National Convention
at the Cow Palace
in San Francisco
, California
. In 1960, he was one of the ten elector candidates in Louisiana for the Nixon/Lodge
ticket. Though he entered politics as a conservative, his wife and children and experiences gradually changed him into a liberal. However, unlike Calhoun Allen, he did not join the Democratic Party — he remained a liberal voice in the more conservative
Louisiana GOP
.
in Shreveport and attended Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana
, where he joined the Black Horse Troop. He enrolled at the University of Michigan
and joined Alpha Tau Omega
fraternity and transferred to the University of Texas. With the outbreak of World War II
, Beaird returned to Shreveport and enrolled at Centenary College
. He met Carolyn there while waiting to enlist in the Naval Air training program.
Fascinated with philosophy, he re-enrolled at Centenary College
, where he was already a trustee, earning his B.A. in 1966. He became a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and was accepted in Columbia University
where he earned his Ph.D.
in philosophy
in 1972 at the age of 50. He returned as assistant professor of philosophy at Centenary College, where he taught for seven years and was inducted into the Centenary Alumni Hall of Fame.
of Dallas, Texas
; a director of Winthrop Rockefeller
's Winrock Enterprises in Arkansas, a member of the Young Presidents Organization; a partner in Westport Real Estate; a founder of the Centenary College Committee of 100; chair of the Citizens Committee on Desegregation for the Caddo Parish Schools; chair of the United Fund Campaign; vice president of the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce
, and co-chair of Shreveport's Biracial Commission.
(1910–1994) family. He changed it from a conservative paper, which, under former editor George W. Shannon
endorsed conservative Democrats and Republicans candidates, into a liberal one, rarely endorsing Republicans for office. Its symbol, the rose
, adorned the brief, complimentary verbal "roses" the Journal awarded on its editorial page, and a real rose was always pinned to his lapel.
Under his leadership, the Journal crusaded for the fluoridation of Shreveport's water supply, accomplished through the efforts of the Republican Utilities Commissioner Billy J. Guin ( 1977-1978). Unlike other Louisiana newspaper publishers, Beaird championed labor unions, a rare phenomenon in the South.
When the Shreveport Journal, an afternoon paper, ceased daily publication in 1991, Beaird won a unique agreement with Gannett Co., owner of the morning Shreveport Times with which the Journal had a joint operating agreement, to run "Journalpage" an editorial opinion page six days a week in The Times. "Journalpage" was a 1994 finalist for a Pulitzer Prize
in Editorial Writing for a series on decriminalization of drugs. "Journalpage" continued until Beaird's death.
Beaird's last career was in real estate
, including the downtown Shreveport Beaird Tower, with one of his symbolic roses at its top.
He and Carolyn were philanthropists], but the extent of their personal giving may never be fully known because much was done anonymously. They endowed two chairs at Centenary College and one at Union Theological Seminary
in New York. They helped to restore the historic Strand Theatre
in downtown Shreveport and supported the McAdoo Hotel, serving the homeless, and the Buckhalter Hotel, for recovering alcoholics. They endowed the educational building at Galilee Baptist
Church. They were leaders in the American Rose Center endowment trust. He served on the board of the D. L. Dykes, Jr.
, Foundation (in memory of the pastor of the First United Methodist Church, who was Beaird's friend). He fought to improve housing and living conditions in Ledbetter Heights
, one of Shreveport's most impoverished neighborhoods.
The nonprofit Charles T. Beaird Foundation, created in 1960, is guided by a board drawn from the Beaird family, has donated millions to local nonprofit organizations.
Beaird received:
While Carolyn was a devoted Presbyterian, Beaird was a "nontheist," meaning that the concept of God
was not among the ideas on which he based his beliefs.
Beaird's survivors included three children: Susan Lynn Beaird (born 1943) of Shreveport; Marjorie Beaird Seawell (born 1947) of Denver
, and John Benjamin Beaird (born 1950).
The Beairds are interred in Shreveport's Forest Park Cemetery off St. Vincent Avenue.
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, was an industrialist, newspaper publisher, philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
and civic leader. He was a self-identified "liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
Republican"
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
and a champion of civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
. Born to James Benjamin Beaird and Mattie Connell Fort Beaird, his mother died six weeks after his birth, and his father died when he was sixteen. According to his obituary, Beaird had to grow up quickly but developed a fierce intellectual independence.
Military service
On February 5, 1943, he was commissioned into the United States Marine CorpsUnited States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
in Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The MSA population in 2008 was 416,376. The population was 305,215 at the 2010 census making it the...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. He married Carolyn in Shreveport the next day and reported for duty in Fort Worth
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
, on February, 8. He served first as a pilot instructor and then led a fighting squadron assigned to the recapture and holding of the Philippine Islands flying B-25s and the OS 2U torpedo bomber. He attained the rank of captain and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)
The Distinguished Flying Cross is a medal awarded to any officer or enlisted member of the United States armed forces who distinguishes himself or herself in support of operations by "heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight, subsequent to November 11, 1918." The...
and the Decorated Air Medal
Air Medal
The Air Medal is a military decoration of the United States. The award was created in 1942, and is awarded for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.-Criteria:...
.
Early business ventures
In 1946, Beaird returned to Shreveport, where he became vice president of the J. B. Beaird Company, which his father had begun as a welding service in 1918. During the war, the company had grown to be a major manufacturer of metal products, with his older brother, J. Pat Beaird, Sr., as president. Charles Beaird worked there as a youth sweeping floors, so he knew the business, a process that he would duplicate in his future enterprises.Following the sale of that company, Beaird purchased a small chainsaw company founded by Claude Poulan and his brothers and renamed it Beaird-Poulan. Beard built the company into the fourth largest maker of chainsaws in the world. When it was purchased by Emerson Electric in 1973, Beaird became chairman of the Beaird-Poulan Division of Emerson, known for its WeedEater products.
Political career
In 1952, Beaird joined childhood friends in an effort to create a viable Republican PartyRepublican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
in Shreveport, which had been an all-Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
city since Reconstruction. Beaird became chairman of the Caddo Parish Republican Executive Committee in 1952. In 1956, he was elected to the Caddo Parish Police Jury (equivalent of county commission). He was one of the first Republicans elected to public office in Louisiana since Reconstruction. He was elected at the local level as there was no Republican gubernatorial candidate running in the 1956 general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
. Later that year, he managed the unsuccessful Fourth District congressional campaign of then Republican Littleberry Calhoun Allen, Jr.
Calhoun Allen
Littleberry Calhoun Allen, Jr. , was from 1970 to 1978 a two-term Democratic mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, the state's third largest city. From 1962-1970, he was the municipal public utilities commissioner. He also served some two months as a "District B" city council member after his election in...
, who challenged incumbent Overton Brooks
Overton Brooks
Thomas Overton Brooks was a Democratic U.S. representative from the Shreveport-based Fourth Congressional District of northwest Louisiana, having served for a quarter century beginning on January 3, 1937. Brooks was a nephew of U.S. Senator John Holmes Overton as well as a great-grandson of Walter...
. After switching to Democrat, Allen later won election as Shreveport's public utilities commissioner (1962–1970) and mayor (1970–1978).
Beaird attracted national attention in 1956, when he gave a seconding speech for the renomination of President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
at the Republican National Convention
1956 Republican National Convention
The 1956 Republican National Convention was held by the Republican Party of the United States at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California, from August 20 to August 23, 1956. U.S. Senator William F. Knowland was temporary chairman and former speaker of the House Joseph W. Martin, Jr. served as...
at the Cow Palace
Cow Palace
Cow Palace is an indoor arena, in Daly City, California, situated on the city's border with neighboring San Francisco, notable as a sporting arena.-History:...
in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. In 1960, he was one of the ten elector candidates in Louisiana for the Nixon/Lodge
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. was a Republican United States Senator from Massachusetts and a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, South Vietnam, West Germany, and the Holy See . He was the Republican nominee for Vice President in the 1960 Presidential election.-Early life:Lodge was born in Nahant,...
ticket. Though he entered politics as a conservative, his wife and children and experiences gradually changed him into a liberal. However, unlike Calhoun Allen, he did not join the Democratic Party — he remained a liberal voice in the more conservative
American conservatism
Conservatism in the United States has played an important role in American politics since the 1950s. Historian Gregory Schneider identifies several constants in American conservatism: respect for tradition, support of republicanism, preservation of "the rule of law and the Christian religion", and...
Louisiana GOP
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
.
Education
He graduated from C. E. Byrd High SchoolC. E. Byrd High School
C. E. Byrd High School is a science and mathematics magnet and a Blue Ribbon School. In continuous operation since 1925, Byrd is the largest high school in Shreveport, Louisiana and has the largest alumni association of any U.S. high school....
in Shreveport and attended Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana
Culver, Indiana
Culver is a town in Marshall County, Indiana, United States. Culver is part of Union Township that also includes the communities of Burr Oak, Hibbard, Maxinkuckee and Rutland. The population was 1,353 at the 2010 census...
, where he joined the Black Horse Troop. He enrolled at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
and joined Alpha Tau Omega
Alpha Tau Omega
Alpha Tau Omega is a secret American leadership and social fraternity.The Fraternity has more than 250 active and inactive chapters, more than 200,000 initiates, and over 7,000 active undergraduate members. The 200,000th member was initiated in early 2009...
fraternity and transferred to the University of Texas. With the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Beaird returned to Shreveport and enrolled at Centenary College
Centenary College of Louisiana
Centenary College of Louisiana is a primarily undergraduate, liberal arts and sciences college in Shreveport, Louisiana. The college is one of the founding members of the Associated Colleges of the South, a pedagogical organization consisting of sixteen Southern liberal arts colleges...
. He met Carolyn there while waiting to enlist in the Naval Air training program.
Fascinated with philosophy, he re-enrolled at Centenary College
Centenary College of Louisiana
Centenary College of Louisiana is a primarily undergraduate, liberal arts and sciences college in Shreveport, Louisiana. The college is one of the founding members of the Associated Colleges of the South, a pedagogical organization consisting of sixteen Southern liberal arts colleges...
, where he was already a trustee, earning his B.A. in 1966. He became a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and was accepted in Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
where he earned his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
in 1972 at the age of 50. He returned as assistant professor of philosophy at Centenary College, where he taught for seven years and was inducted into the Centenary Alumni Hall of Fame.
Civic leadership
Beaird was a director of the Federal Reserve BankFederal Reserve Bank
The twelve Federal Reserve Banks form a major part of the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States. The twelve federal reserve banks together divide the nation into twelve Federal Reserve Districts, the twelve banking districts created by the Federal Reserve Act of...
of Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
; a director of Winthrop Rockefeller
Winthrop Rockefeller
Winthrop Rockefeller was a politician and philanthropist who served as the first Republican Governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction. He was a third-generation member of the Rockefeller family.-Early life:...
's Winrock Enterprises in Arkansas, a member of the Young Presidents Organization; a partner in Westport Real Estate; a founder of the Centenary College Committee of 100; chair of the Citizens Committee on Desegregation for the Caddo Parish Schools; chair of the United Fund Campaign; vice president of the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce
Chamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community...
, and co-chair of Shreveport's Biracial Commission.
The Shreveport Journal
A trustee for the American Rose Foundation, his affection for the rose figured prominently in his next enterprise, the now defunct Shreveport Journal which he bought in 1976 from the Douglas F. AttawayDouglas F. Attaway
Douglas F. "Doug" Attaway, Jr., was president and publisher of the defunct Shreveport Journal , a daily newspaper in northwest Louisiana. He was chairman of the board of KSLA-TV, the Shreveport, Louisisana CBS affiliate from 1966 until the channel was sold to Viacom in 1979...
(1910–1994) family. He changed it from a conservative paper, which, under former editor George W. Shannon
George W. Shannon
George Washington Shannon was a conservative Louisiana journalist.Shannon was born in El Dorado, the seat of Union County, in southern Arkansas. He began his career as a reporter and sports editor at the El Dorado News-Times, one of the Clyde E. Palmer newspapers...
endorsed conservative Democrats and Republicans candidates, into a liberal one, rarely endorsing Republicans for office. Its symbol, the rose
Rose
A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...
, adorned the brief, complimentary verbal "roses" the Journal awarded on its editorial page, and a real rose was always pinned to his lapel.
Under his leadership, the Journal crusaded for the fluoridation of Shreveport's water supply, accomplished through the efforts of the Republican Utilities Commissioner Billy J. Guin ( 1977-1978). Unlike other Louisiana newspaper publishers, Beaird championed labor unions, a rare phenomenon in the South.
When the Shreveport Journal, an afternoon paper, ceased daily publication in 1991, Beaird won a unique agreement with Gannett Co., owner of the morning Shreveport Times with which the Journal had a joint operating agreement, to run "Journalpage" an editorial opinion page six days a week in The Times. "Journalpage" was a 1994 finalist for a Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
in Editorial Writing for a series on decriminalization of drugs. "Journalpage" continued until Beaird's death.
Philanthropy
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
, including the downtown Shreveport Beaird Tower, with one of his symbolic roses at its top.
He and Carolyn were philanthropists], but the extent of their personal giving may never be fully known because much was done anonymously. They endowed two chairs at Centenary College and one at Union Theological Seminary
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York is a preeminent independent graduate school of theology, located in Manhattan between Claremont Avenue and Broadway, 120th to 122nd Streets. The seminary was founded in 1836 under the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with nearby Columbia...
in New York. They helped to restore the historic Strand Theatre
Strand Theatre (Shreveport)
The Strand Theatre in Shreveport, Louisiana, USA, opened in 1925 as a Vaudeville venue and was nicknamed "The greatest theatre of the South" and the "Million Dollar Theatre" by its builders, Julian and Abraham Saenger of Shreveport, owners of the Saenger Amusements Company, which operated theaters...
in downtown Shreveport and supported the McAdoo Hotel, serving the homeless, and the Buckhalter Hotel, for recovering alcoholics. They endowed the educational building at Galilee Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
Church. They were leaders in the American Rose Center endowment trust. He served on the board of the D. L. Dykes, Jr.
D. L. Dykes, Jr.
David Leroy "D.L." Dykes, Jr. , was the senior pastor from 1955-1984 of the large First United Methodist Church in Shreveport, Louisiana...
, Foundation (in memory of the pastor of the First United Methodist Church, who was Beaird's friend). He fought to improve housing and living conditions in Ledbetter Heights
Ledbetter Heights
Ledbetter Heights is the debut album by American blues solo artist Kenny Wayne Shepherd. He was a mere 17 years old during its release on September 19, 1995. The album's name refers to a neighborhood in Shepherd's home town of Shreveport, Louisiana...
, one of Shreveport's most impoverished neighborhoods.
The nonprofit Charles T. Beaird Foundation, created in 1960, is guided by a board drawn from the Beaird family, has donated millions to local nonprofit organizations.
- Liberty Bell Award from the Shreveport Bar Association
- Philanthropist of the Year Award from the Association of Fund Raising Professionals
- Jacques Napier Steinau Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews
- Ralph Waldo Emerson Award given by All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church.
While Carolyn was a devoted Presbyterian, Beaird was a "nontheist," meaning that the concept of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
was not among the ideas on which he based his beliefs.
Beaird's survivors included three children: Susan Lynn Beaird (born 1943) of Shreveport; Marjorie Beaird Seawell (born 1947) of Denver
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, and John Benjamin Beaird (born 1950).
The Beairds are interred in Shreveport's Forest Park Cemetery off St. Vincent Avenue.