John Sparks Patton was a 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...

 politician and educator who was an early advocate of taxpayer-funded school textbooks and a member of the Long faction of his state's Democratic Party

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...

.

Patton was born in the village of Lisbon

Lisbon, Louisiana

Lisbon is a village in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 162 at the 2000 census. Lisbon is located east of the parish seat of Homer....

 in Claiborne Parish in northwestern Louisiana. He was his parish school superintendent from 1920-1937 and was president of the Louisiana Teachers Association (since Louisiana Association of Educators) from 1923-1924.

He sought the position of state education superintendent in 1928 on the intraparty ticket with Huey Pierce Long, Jr.

Huey Long

Huey Pierce Long, Jr. , nicknamed The Kingfish, served as the 40th Governor of Louisiana from 1928–1932 and as a U.S. Senator from 1932 to 1935. A Democrat, he was noted for his radical populist policies. Though a backer of Franklin D...

, but lost to T.H. Harris. He ran again in 1932 without affiliating himself with any gubernatorial candidate that year but was again defeated. Long implemented Patton's "free" textbooks proposal.

Patton was elected to the Third District seat on the Louisiana Public Service Commission

Louisiana Public Service Commission

Louisiana Public Service Commission is an independent regulatory agency which manages public utilities and motor carriers in Louisiana. The commission has five elected members chosen in single-member districts for staggered six-year terms...

 in 1938. He was unseated by James Houston "Jimmie" Davis

Jimmie Davis

James Houston Davis , better known as Jimmie Davis, was a noted singer of both sacred and popular songs who served two nonconsecutive terms as the 47th Governor of Louisiana...

 of Shreveport in 1942. Davis served on the PSC, a utility rate regulatory body, for only two years, for he was elected governor in 1944.

Patton returned to Homer

Homer, Louisiana

Homer is present day parish seat of Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, United States. The town was named after the Greek poet Homer and was laid out around the Courthouse Square in 1850 by Frank Vaughn. The present day brick courthouse, built in the Greek Revival style of architecture, is one of only...

, the seat of Claiborne Parish, to resume his career as a school administrator. Thereafter, Governor Earl Kemp Long

Earl Long

Earl Kemp Long was an American politician and the 45th Governor of Louisiana for three non-consecutive terms. Long termed himself the "last of the red hot poppas" of politics, referring to his stump-speaking skills...

 appointed him superintendent of the Louisiana School for the Deaf in Baton Rouge. He served in that capacity until his death.