Joseph A. Sims
Encyclopedia
Joseph Arthur Sims, Sr. was a Democratic
operative from Hammond
, Louisiana
, who was associated with his state's Long
political faction
. As the legal advisor to Governor Earl Kemp Long, he obtained Long's discharge from the Southeast Louisiana State Hospital in Mandeville
in St. Tammany Parish, where Long had been temporarily admitted for mental health problems in a sensational series of incidents in the summer of 1959. Long turned to Sims for help after he began to distrust his personal lawyer, Theo Cangelosi
of Baton Rouge
.
, the seat of Caddo Parish
in far northwestern Louisiana, to Linus A. Sims
and the former Isabel Johnson. He was a paternal grandson of Levi Copedge Sims and the former Mary Emily Bussey of Alabama
. Sims was educated in the Hammond public schools and the defunct Southeastern School of Law, location unknown. His father, as the principal of Hammond High School, worked to establish Hammond Junior College and then guided the establishment of what is now Southeastern Louisiana University
.
On June 29, 1939, Sims married the former Enid Lions (March 5, 1914 - May 6, 2005) of Madisonville
, a small town in St. Tammany Parish. She was the daughter of Alphonse Lions (correct spelling), a Madisonville pharmacist, and the former Olympia Galatas. They had two sons, Joseph Arthur Sims, Jr. (born 1946), and David Robert Sims (born 1945), both of Hammond, the largest community in Tangipahoa Parish . Sims, Jr., is a personal injury attorney. After Sims' death, his widow was married for a time to a man named Alfred Sears.
Sims was a Methodist: his father and paternal grandfather were Methodist ministers.
, of the Louisiana Sixth Congressional District, which includes the Florida Parishes
and Baton Rouge. Considered a liberal
by Louisiana standards, Morrison made three unsuccessful bids for governor in the 1940s and was later denied Democratic renomination for his House seat in 1966, by the conservative
John Richard Rarick
of St. Francisville
, the seat of West Feliciana Parish.
Sims was the Hammond-based district attorney
for the 21st Judicial District Court from 1948 to 1952, when he was an unsuccessful candidate for state attorney general on the Long-endorsed ticket of Judge
Carlos G. Spaht
of Baton Rouge. Sims lost to former Attorney General Fred S. LeBlanc
, a former mayor
of Baton Rouge. Also running on the Spaht ticket was then freshman State Representative
John J. McKeithen
of Columbia
, an unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor
, who twelve years later would catapult into the governor's mansion. In 1967, McKeithen became the first Louisiana governor eligible to seek a second consecutive four-year term. He defeated Jimmy Morrison's former rival John Rarick by a wide margin. Another unsuccessful candidate on the 1952 "Long" ticket was Mary Evelyn Dickerson
, later Mary Evelyn Parker
, who was thereafter on February 6, 1968, elected as state treasurer.
In 1972, Sims joined the staff of incoming Attorney General William J. "Billy" Guste, Jr.
, of New Orleans but died within a year. He was also the senior partner of the firm Sims and Mack. He was a member of five attorneys' associations: American Bar, Louisiana Bar, American Trial Lawyers, Louisina Trial Lawyers, and Gamma Eta Gamma legal fraternity.
Sims died in Manchac
in Tangipahoa Parish. He is interred at Greenlawn Cemetery in Hammond.
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...
operative from Hammond
Hammond, Louisiana
Hammond is the largest city in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 20,049 at the 2009 census. It is home to Southeastern Louisiana University...
, 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...
, who was associated with his state's Long
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...
political faction
Political faction
A political faction is a grouping of individuals, such as a political party, a trade union, or other group with a political purpose. A faction or political party may include fragmented sub-factions, “parties within a party," which may be referred to as power blocs, or voting blocs. The individuals...
. As the legal advisor to Governor Earl Kemp Long, he obtained Long's discharge from the Southeast Louisiana State Hospital in Mandeville
Mandeville, Louisiana
Mandeville is a city in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 12,421 in 2008. Mandeville is located on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain, south of Interstate 12. It is across the lake from the city of New Orleans and its southshore suburbs...
in St. Tammany Parish, where Long had been temporarily admitted for mental health problems in a sensational series of incidents in the summer of 1959. Long turned to Sims for help after he began to distrust his personal lawyer, Theo Cangelosi
Theo Cangelosi
Theodore F. "Theo" Cangelosi was a Baton Rouge attorney, banker, businessman, a former Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, and a confidant of Governors Earl Kemp Long and John J. McKeithen....
of Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
.
Background
Sims was born in ShreveportShreveport, 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....
, the seat of Caddo Parish
Caddo Parish, Louisiana
Caddo Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Shreveport; as of 2000, the population was 252,161...
in far northwestern Louisiana, to Linus A. Sims
Linus A. Sims
Linus Arthur Sims was an educator and administrator who was the driving force behind the establishment of Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana. In 1925, Sims created Hammond Junior College, which became the former Southeastern Louisiana College in 1928...
and the former Isabel Johnson. He was a paternal grandson of Levi Copedge Sims and the former Mary Emily Bussey of Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
. Sims was educated in the Hammond public schools and the defunct Southeastern School of Law, location unknown. His father, as the principal of Hammond High School, worked to establish Hammond Junior College and then guided the establishment of what is now Southeastern Louisiana University
Southeastern Louisiana University
Southeastern Louisiana University is a state-funded public university in Hammond, Louisiana, United States. It was founded in 1925 by Linus A. Sims, the principal of Hammond High School, as Hammond Junior College, located in a wing of the high school building. Sims succeeded in getting the campus...
.
On June 29, 1939, Sims married the former Enid Lions (March 5, 1914 - May 6, 2005) of Madisonville
Madisonville, Louisiana
Madisonville is a town in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 677 at the 2000 census. It is part of the New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
, a small town in St. Tammany Parish. She was the daughter of Alphonse Lions (correct spelling), a Madisonville pharmacist, and the former Olympia Galatas. They had two sons, Joseph Arthur Sims, Jr. (born 1946), and David Robert Sims (born 1945), both of Hammond, the largest community in Tangipahoa Parish . Sims, Jr., is a personal injury attorney. After Sims' death, his widow was married for a time to a man named Alfred Sears.
Sims was a Methodist: his father and paternal grandfather were Methodist ministers.
Legal career
Sims was a former law partner of U.S. Representative James H. MorrisonJames H. Morrison
James Hobson "Jimmy" Morrison, Sr. , was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from the Sixth Congressional District of Louisiana, who served from 1943 to 1967...
, of the Louisiana Sixth Congressional District, which includes the Florida Parishes
Florida Parishes
The Florida Parishes , also known as the North Shore region, are eight parishes in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana, which were part of West Florida in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Unlike much of Louisiana, this region was not part of the Louisiana Purchase, as it had been...
and Baton Rouge. Considered a 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,...
by Louisiana standards, Morrison made three unsuccessful bids for governor in the 1940s and was later denied Democratic renomination for his House seat in 1966, by the conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
John Richard Rarick
John Rarick
John Richard Rarick was a lawyer who served as a Louisiana state district court judge from 1961 to 1966 in St. Francisville, Louisiana, the seat of West Feliciana Parish, and as a Democratic U.S. representative from the Sixth Congressional District from 1967 to 1975...
of St. Francisville
St. Francisville, Louisiana
St. Francisville is a town in and the parish seat of West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,712 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:St...
, the seat of West Feliciana Parish.
Sims was the Hammond-based district attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
for the 21st Judicial District Court from 1948 to 1952, when he was an unsuccessful candidate for state attorney general on the Long-endorsed ticket of Judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
Carlos G. Spaht
Carlos Spaht
Carlos Gustave Spaht, I , was a Louisiana judge best remembered for having lost the Democratic gubernatorial runoff election in January 1952 to fellow Judge Robert F. Kennon of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana. Spaht's unsuccessful running mate for lieutenant governor...
of Baton Rouge. Sims lost to former Attorney General Fred S. LeBlanc
Fred S. LeBlanc
Frederick Saugrain LeBlanc, Sr., known as Fred S. LeBlanc , was a 20th century politician in the U.S. state of Louisiana who served two terms as his state's attorney general and was firmly allied with the anti-Long faction of the predominant Democratic Party.-Background:LeBlanc graduated in 1916...
, a former mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Baton Rouge. Also running on the Spaht ticket was then freshman State Representative
Louisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
John J. McKeithen
John McKeithen
John Julian McKeithen was the 49th Governor of Louisiana, serving from 1964 to 1972. A Democrat from the town of Columbia, he was the first governor of his state in the twentieth century to serve two consecutive terms...
of Columbia
Columbia, Louisiana
Columbia is a town in and the parish seat of Caldwell Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 477 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Columbia is located at ....
, an unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor
Lieutenant governor
A lieutenant governor or lieutenant-governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction, but is often the deputy or lieutenant to or ranking under a governor — a "second-in-command"...
, who twelve years later would catapult into the governor's mansion. In 1967, McKeithen became the first Louisiana governor eligible to seek a second consecutive four-year term. He defeated Jimmy Morrison's former rival John Rarick by a wide margin. Another unsuccessful candidate on the 1952 "Long" ticket was Mary Evelyn Dickerson
Mary Evelyn Parker
Mary Evelyn Dickerson Parker is a former Democratic state treasurer of Louisiana, having served from 1968-1987. She was the first woman to have held the position. Prior to her tenure as treasurer, she held several appointed positions in state government...
, later Mary Evelyn Parker
Mary Evelyn Parker
Mary Evelyn Dickerson Parker is a former Democratic state treasurer of Louisiana, having served from 1968-1987. She was the first woman to have held the position. Prior to her tenure as treasurer, she held several appointed positions in state government...
, who was thereafter on February 6, 1968, elected as state treasurer.
In 1972, Sims joined the staff of incoming Attorney General William J. "Billy" Guste, Jr.
William J. Guste
William J. "Billy" Guste, Jr., is a New Orleans attorney, businessman and popular Democratic attorney general of Louisiana from 1972 to 1992. He succeeded the scandal-plagued Jack P.F. Gremillion, a fellow Democrat who had held the position since 1956. Guste received recognition for molding the...
, of New Orleans but died within a year. He was also the senior partner of the firm Sims and Mack. He was a member of five attorneys' associations: American Bar, Louisiana Bar, American Trial Lawyers, Louisina Trial Lawyers, and Gamma Eta Gamma legal fraternity.
Sims died in Manchac
Manchac, Louisiana
Manchac is a small unincorporated community in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the Hammond Micropolitan Statistical Area....
in Tangipahoa Parish. He is interred at Greenlawn Cemetery in Hammond.