Robert F. Kennon
Encyclopedia
Robert Floyd Kennon, Sr., known as Bob Kennon (August 21, 1902 - January 11, 1988), was the 48th Governor of Louisiana, serving from 1952-1956. He failed to win a second non-consecutive term in the 1963 Democratic
primary
.
After the Brown v. Board of Education
decision of May 17, 1954, Kennon ordered the continued enforcement of laws relating to segregation
. He vowed that his state would provide a public school system "which will include segregation in fact." Desegregation, however, began under Kennon's successors, Earl Kemp Long and James Houston "Jimmie" Davis
, but it was a long process, not completed in Louisiana until August 1970.
The conservative Kennon grew disillusioned with his national party and endorsed Republican
presidential nominees Dwight D. Eisenhower
, Barry M. Goldwater, and Gerald R. Ford, Jr.
Dubberly
, south of Minden
, the seat of government of Webster Parish
seat. He was the fifth child of Floyd Kennon (1871–1966), who was born the year that Webster Parish was established, and the former Annie Laura Bopp. The Kennons operated an Independent Grocers Alliance store
in Minden. After Floyd Kennon's retirement, the store was managed by two sons, Francis Edward Kennon, Sr., and Webb Kennon. Young Bob Kennon was an avid Boy Scout
(See Scouting in Louisiana
.) who attained the rank of Eagle Scout
. He graduated in 1919 from Minden High School
, then a comparatively new institution. Thereafter, he attended Louisiana State University
in Baton Rouge, where he procured numerous honors. At the end of his freshman year, he received an award for the best academic record. He was captain of his company in Reserve Officers Training Corps and the vice president of the Interfraternity Council. He was on the debate
team and wrote for the campus newspaper, The Daily Reveille
. He earned his first letter playing center for the LSU Tigers football
team. He helped to organize the university tennis
team and was one of the first two people to letter in tennis at LSU, from which he graduated in June 1923.
Kennon graduated from the Louisiana State University Law Center in May 1925. A month later at the age of twenty-two, he passed the bar exam.
Kennon wed the former Eugenia Sentell (December 27, 1908–May 24, 2002), a graduate of Louisiana Tech University
(then Louisiana Polytechnic Institute) in Ruston
, who taught home economics
. Descended from a prominent Bossier Parish family, Mrs. Kennon was a sister of the Minden physician
Charles Sherburne Sentell (1904–1972). She was a wonderful hostess and was able to cultivate several friendships that would later play key roles in her husband's campaigns. The Kennons had three sons, Robert, Jr. (born 1938), a lawyer, and Charles Sentell "Charlie" Kennon (born 1940), a physician, both in Baton Rouge, and Kenneth Wood "Kenwood" Kennon (born 1943), also a lawyer, who resides in St. Francisville
in West Feliciana Parish. Kenneth Kennon is the father of Alex Kennon, an actress and writer who attends the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts in Natchitoches
.
Connell Fort
and became for a time the youngest mayor in the United States. In his brief time as mayor, Kennon was elected vice president of the Louisiana Municipal Association. Although his term was generally considered to have been successful, Kennon did not seek reelection in 1928. He was succeeded by a clothing merchant, Henry L. Bridges
.
Kennon's relationship with Connell Fort did not end with the 1926 municipal election. Seven years later when Kennon was district attorney
for the 26th Judicial District (Bossier
and Webster parishes), Fort's son, John L. Fort (1906-1992), subsequently the long-time operator of a news stand in Minden, shot to death Abraham Brisco Nation (1886-1933), a Minden city councilman who had quarreled politically with Mayor Fort. In 1932, Fort had returned to office for a third nonconsecutive term. Nation was the father of twelve children and a foreman for the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway
in Minden. John Fort was first incarcerated in Caddo Parish
but then held in the Bossier Parish jail for two years. The grand jury
never reported a true bill, and Kennon decided not to pursue charges against Fort despite the testimony of two eyewitnesses to the shooting, John L. Garrett and J.R. Murph, then the secretary of the city council.
, Arkansas
, who held the seat until January 13, 1942. DA Kennon attained the rank of lieutenant colonel
in the National Guard
, making him one of the highest ranked officers. Further active with the Masonic Lodge
, Kennon was named "Grand Master" of the organization in 1936.
Kennon took advantage of his growing circle of influential friends and in 1940 ran for justice of the state's Second Circuit Court of Appeal
, based in Shreveport
. With 46 percent of the ballots, he nearly won outright in the first primary. In the Democratic runoff, he faced the incumbent judge, Harmon Caldwell Drew
, a fellow resident of Minden. The Drew family, one of the first to live in Webster Parish long before its establishment, has held judicial positions in north Louisiana for five generations, including besides H. C. Drew, Richard Maxwell Drew, Richard Cleveland Drew
, R. Harmon Drew, Sr.
, and current Circuit Judge Harmon Drew, Jr.
. The Kennon-Drew race was vigorously contested with considerable mudslinging. Kennon won by a margin of nine thousand votes, but he did not carry either his home parish of Webster or neighboring Bossier Parish.
The circuit judgeship would not become vacant until 1942. At the time in Louisiana, it was customary to allow more than a year between election and the taking of judicial positions. As an active member of the National Guard, Kennon was soon called to duty in 1941 as colonel of the XIII Corps of the Ninth Army. He could not hence assume the circuit judgeship until he returned from World War II
duty in May 1945. Drew continued to serve as justice until Kennon returned to claim his seat, part of that time under appointment to the Louisiana Supreme Court
, where he served from 1945-1947, having replaced A. T. Higgins.
and anti-Long
groups then organized in state politics. The Kennon platform was dedicated to "economy, honesty, and efficiency" with a "progressive postwar program for Louisiana, its industries, farms, roads, schools, and institutions."Kennon opened his campaign on October 10 at the Webster Parish Fair. His intraparty ticket mates, all World War II veterans, included Rufus Fontenot of Crowley
for secretary of state, J. David McNeill of New Orleans
for attorney general, Jules Deshotels of Kaplan
for lieutenant governor, and Allison Kolb
of Baton Rouge
for state auditor. In that race, Kennon spoke against ad valorem property tax
es at the state level.
However, Kennon was overshadowed by two better-known former governors who secured the coveted runoff positions, Earl Kemp Long and Sam Houston Jones, who carried the endorsement of the New Orleans Times-Picayune
. Kennon had claimed that he, not Jones, could defeat Long.A fourth candidate was U.S. Representative James H. Morrison
of Hammond
. Long in turn won a convincing rematch over Jones, who had unseated Long eight years earlier. None of the Kennon-endorsed candidates was elected to a statewide office.
Kennon closed his primary campaign at the Minden High School auditorium,, but he still lost Webster Parish in the returns.
died in office, a special election was called to fill the seat for a two-year term extending through January 1951. Fresh from his race for governor, Kennon challenged Russell B. Long
, the older son of the legendary Huey Pierce Long, Jr., who not quite thirty was still a few days too young to take office at the time of the election. Kennon said state politics should be "reshuffled after the bad deal" of the Long victory in the 1948 gubernatorial race. He urged "mature representation" in the District of Columbia. The Kennon senatorial platform called for $50 per month old-age pensions, a veterans' housing program, forestry and soil conservation measures, and expansion of the Rural Electrification Administration. He also avowed that as a senator, he would work to "cut red tape" in government operations.
The outcome was close, but Long prevailed, 264,143 (51 percent) to Kennon's 253,668 (49 percent). Long's plurality was hence 10,475 votes. As with the earlier gubernatorial primary, Kennon lost his own Webster Parish in the Senate race against Long, 4,096 to 2,994. Based on the Senate returns, many in the anti-Long faction began to consider Kennon once again as a possible gubernatorial candidate in 1951
. Long held the seat without a serious challenge until he announced his retirement, effective January 1987.
In 1952, despite major opposition within the Democratic primary, Kennon won his party's nomination in a runoff with state District Judge Carlos Spaht
of Baton Rouge, who had the backing of some of the organizers of outgoing Governor Earl Long. Kennon polled 482,302 votes (61.4 percent) to Spaht's 302,743 (38.6 percent). Spaht's running-mate for lieutenant governor was a future governor, John Julian McKeithen
, then a 33-year-old state representative
from Columbia
, the seat of Caldwell Parish, in northeastern Louisiana. McKeithen was defeated for lieutenant governor by C. E. "Cap" Barham (born 1905), a state senator
and an attorney from Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish. Barham, who stood to the left of Kennon politically, had not been Kennon's first choice for lieutenant governor, and the two ran on a common intraparty ticket of convenience in 1952. Elmer D. Connor had been Kennon's unsuccessful first choice for lieutenant governor.
In the following low-turnout general election
in the spring of 1952, Kennon trounced Republican Harrison Bagwell, 118,723 (96 percent) to 4,958 (4 percent). Until 1952, Louisiana Republicans had not even offered a token name on gubernatorial general election ballots.
As a delegate to the 1952 Democratic National Convention
in Chicago, Kennon led a walkout of the Louisiana delegation, most of whose members opposed the party's civil rights
plank, a point that he used in his advertising for the failed gubernatorial comeback bid in the fall of 1963.
Governor Kennon was often said to have conducted his office as if he were instructed by a "civics textbook."In addition to his interest in state sovereignty, Kennon pushed to procure voting machines to all Louisiana precinct
s to replace paper ballots still used in some rural parishes. Such machines were designed to eliminate the periodic problem of vote-stealing. Kennon expanded Louisiana state civil service
with help from the New Orleans
attorney Charles E. Dunbar
, who had authored the original reform measure in 1940 under the Sam Houston Jones administration.
In 1955, Kennon was named chairman of the National Governors Conference.
In the 1956 gubernatorial election, Kennon, who was ineligible to succeed himself, supported Fred Preaus
, an automobile dealer from Farmerville
, the seat of Union Parish
in north Louisiana, who had been Kennon's highway director. Preaus also vowed a "strong stand on segregation." Another segregationist candidate, James M. McLemore, an Alexandria
businessman, however, claimed that Kennon had done little to stem pending desegregation. According to McLemore, the Kennon administration had been "like an ostrich with the head buried in the sand" and had provided "no leadership" to halt racial integration.
"Cap" Barham, meanwhile never politically close to Kennon, sought reelection as lieutenant governor (Only governors were then term-limited in Louisiana.) on the deLesseps Story Morrison ticket. Morrison, then the mayor of New Orleans was a former law partner of Barham's 1952 ticket mate, then U.S. Representative Hale Boggs
.
After his governorship, the Kennons resided for the remainder of his life in Baton Rouge, where he maintained a law practice. Kennon appointed his former law partner in Minden, Graydon K. Kitchens, Sr. (1903–1988), a native of Stamps
, Arkansas
, and a graduate of the LSU Law Center, to the Louisiana Tax Commission. Earl Long, however, convinced the state legislature to remove Kitchens from the panel so that Long could make his own appointment. Kennon also named a Minden supporter, Leland G. Mims
, to a vacancy on the Webster Parish Police Jury. Mims in 1965-1967 was president of the Police Jury Association of Louisiana.
In the Democratic primary, Kennon ran fourth (127,870 votes or 14.1 percent). He was therefore eliminated from a runoff between Public Service Commissioner John McKeithen of Columbia
in Caldwell Parish and the more liberal contender, former New Orleans Mayor deLesseps Story Morrison, Sr. Some observers theorized that the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy
, which occurred two weeks before the primary election, may have weakened Kennon's prospects because Kennon had in a televised address criticized policies of both President Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
. He called the Kennedys "young, misguided men." Kennon was also weakened by the presence of the fifth-place candidate, veteran Education Superintendent Shelby M. Jackson
, a native of Concordia Parish in eastern Louisiana, whose votes are believed to have come primarily at the expense of Kennon and therefore worked to deny Kennon the coveted runoff position against Morrison. Jackson was the vocal segregationist
among the five candidates, as Kennon discussed "state sovereignty", which some saw as a code word for segregation. Even if half of Jackson's votes had otherwise gone to Kennon, then Kennon, and not McKeithen, would have entered the runoff with Morrison. Jackson's supporters were also believed in many cases to have been previous backers of the 1959 segregationist gubernatorial hopeful, William M. Rainach
of Claiborne Parish
. Another candidate in the race was former State Representative Claude Kirkpatrick
from Jefferson Davis Parish, who had headed the Department of Public Works under outgoing Governor Jimmie Davis. Kirkpatrick's widow, Edith Killgore Kirkpatrick
, is a native of Claiborne Parish and a past political figure in her own right.
McKeithen won the runoff and the ensuing general election. Kennon did not endorse either runoff candidate. His nephew, Edward Kennon
(a son of F. E. Kennon, Sr.), a Shreveport developer and a later member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission
, stumped for the Roman Catholic and pro-Kennedy "Chep" Morrison, who had endorsed Kennon in the 1951-1952 election cycle after the elimination of Morrison's first choice, his former law partner, U.S. Representative Hale Boggs
of New Orleans.
, as are many of his family members, but in the Young Family Cemetery in Port Hudson
in East Baton Rouge Parish.
"As a personal friend and colleague of one whose death deserves more than a routine news story and a short obituary, I am writing this letter in the hope that its contents will be made available to the citizens of Louisiana.
"Recently, Louisiana lost one of its greatest citizens, Robert F. "Bob" Kennon. He was the kind of person most often mentioned in sermons as a role model for those seeking perfection in their daily lives. Also he was the kind of politician professors of government describe as a good public official.
"In both his personal and public life, he proved that the preachers and the political science professors were right.
"At LSU, he was an honor student, colonel of the cadet corps, and a varsity football player. As a young lawyer, he was successful in his practice of law, which led him into politics, {and} he became mayor of Minden, a district attorney, a District Court of Appeals judge, and a Supreme Court judge.
"When World War II came, though married and the father of young children, he volunteered into the U.S. Army and served with distinction, at home and overseas in Europe.
"Bob Kennon was elected governor of Louisiana in 1952. During his tenure as governor, he reenacted Civil Service for state employees, put voting machines in every voting precinct (which ended vote stealing forever) and took slot machines and gambling out of Louisiana.
{Instead of running up deficits, Governor Kennon ended each fiscal year with a surplus and was the only governor I can recall who actually reduced taxes.
"For his four years, there were not only no scandals in state government, but there were no hints of wrongdoing by the governor or his department heads.
"From 1952 until he went out of office {1956}, Governor Kennon, his lovely and gracious wife, and three fine sons lived in the Governor's Manson and made it a real home for the first family as well as a model for the whole state.
"Governor Kennon's appointments were men and women of the highest moral standards and possessed of excellent government experience. Like their governor, they regarded their public offices as public trusts.
"Governor Kennon was never tried and acquitted of wrongdoing because he didn't break the law or do anything suggesting he ever acted illegally or even unethically. He never spent any time with AA or in a CDU for he didn't drink alcohol and didn't snort cocaine. And when he took trips on boats, he went fishing or to a hunting camp with his boys and not to a hideaway like Bimini. His family was exemplary and made no waves that called for suppressing hospital or police records or anything else.
"Perhaps the fact that Kennon was honest and efficient and ran the state and his life according to the laws of God and man, he missed out on the press coverage that goes to those who have to be rehabilitated and forgiven for their unethical and illegal conduct; coverage that often praises those rascals for their courage and fortitude to face the public after disgracing themselves and their friends who elected them.
"Whatever the reason for Governor Kennon's lack of recognition for having been a model father, soldier, judge, and governor, the cold base record shows that he was exactly the kind of man the public, the preachers, and the press say they want but seldom get in the governor's office.
"Bob Kennon was, with all his success, a humble man and, if living, he would not want credit for what he did. He regarded his going a good job as his duty, and Bob was a man who always did his duty. . . .
of Webster Parish and in 1971 ran unsuccessfully for Webster Parish sheriff
against O.H. Haynes, Jr. John T. Kennon's sister was Josephine Kennon Williams (1925–2009), wife of B. David Williams. Their daughter, the former Barbara Jo Williams (born 1948), is married to retired state District Judge Jim Wiley of Winnfield
. Their daughter, Anastasia Wiley, is also a judge in Winnfield.
In 2001, Kennon was posthumously inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame
in Winnfield
.
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...
primary
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
.
After the Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
decision of May 17, 1954, Kennon ordered the continued enforcement of laws relating to segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
. He vowed that his state would provide a public school system "which will include segregation in fact." Desegregation, however, began under Kennon's successors, Earl Kemp Long and 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...
, but it was a long process, not completed in Louisiana until August 1970.
The conservative Kennon grew disillusioned with his national party and endorsed 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...
presidential nominees 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...
, Barry M. Goldwater, and Gerald R. Ford, Jr.
Early life and education
Kennon was born in ruralRural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
Dubberly
Dubberly, Louisiana
Dubberly is a village in Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 290 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area....
, south of Minden
Minden, Louisiana
Minden is a city in the American state of Louisiana. It serves as the parish seat of Webster Parish and is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The population, which has been stable since 1960, was 13,027 at the 2000 census...
, the seat of government of Webster Parish
Webster Parish, Louisiana
Webster Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The seat of the parish is Minden. In 2010, its population was 41,207....
seat. He was the fifth child of Floyd Kennon (1871–1966), who was born the year that Webster Parish was established, and the former Annie Laura Bopp. The Kennons operated an Independent Grocers Alliance store
Grocery store
A grocery store is a store that retails food. A grocer, the owner of a grocery store, stocks different kinds of foods from assorted places and cultures, and sells these "groceries" to customers. Large grocery stores that stock products other than food, such as clothing or household items, are...
in Minden. After Floyd Kennon's retirement, the store was managed by two sons, Francis Edward Kennon, Sr., and Webb Kennon. Young Bob Kennon was an avid Boy Scout
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
(See Scouting in Louisiana
Scouting in Louisiana
Scouting in Louisiana has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live.-Early history :...
.) who attained the rank of Eagle Scout
Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)
Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America . A Scout who attains this rank is called an Eagle Scout or Eagle. Since its introduction in 1911, the Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than 2 million young men...
. He graduated in 1919 from Minden High School
Minden High School (Minden, Louisiana)
Minden High School is the public secondary educational institution in Minden, a small city of 13,000 and the seat of Webster Parish located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport in northwestern Louisiana...
, then a comparatively new institution. Thereafter, he attended Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
in Baton Rouge, where he procured numerous honors. At the end of his freshman year, he received an award for the best academic record. He was captain of his company in Reserve Officers Training Corps and the vice president of the Interfraternity Council. He was on the debate
Debate
Debate or debating is a method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case or rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion...
team and wrote for the campus newspaper, The Daily Reveille
The Daily Reveille
The Daily Reveille is the student newspaper for Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and has kept student informed for more than a century. It prints Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the summer semester...
. He earned his first letter playing center for the LSU Tigers football
LSU Tigers football
The LSU Tigers football team, also known as the Fighting Tigers or Bayou Bengals, represents Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States in NCAA Division I FBS college football. Current head coach Les Miles has led the team since 2005. Since 1999 when Nick Saban took over as...
team. He helped to organize the university tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
team and was one of the first two people to letter in tennis at LSU, from which he graduated in June 1923.
Kennon graduated from the Louisiana State University Law Center in May 1925. A month later at the age of twenty-two, he passed the bar exam.
Kennon wed the former Eugenia Sentell (December 27, 1908–May 24, 2002), a graduate of Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University, often referred to as Louisiana Tech, LA Tech, or Tech, is a coeducational public research university located in Ruston, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech is designated as a Tier 1 school in the national universities category by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report college rankings...
(then Louisiana Polytechnic Institute) in Ruston
Ruston, Louisiana
Ruston is a city in and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 20,546 at the 2000 census. Ruston is near the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex and is the home of Louisiana Tech University. Its economy caters to its college population...
, who taught home economics
Home Economics
Home economics is the profession and field of study that deals with the economics and management of the home and community...
. Descended from a prominent Bossier Parish family, Mrs. Kennon was a sister of the Minden physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
Charles Sherburne Sentell (1904–1972). She was a wonderful hostess and was able to cultivate several friendships that would later play key roles in her husband's campaigns. The Kennons had three sons, Robert, Jr. (born 1938), a lawyer, and Charles Sentell "Charlie" Kennon (born 1940), a physician, both in Baton Rouge, and Kenneth Wood "Kenwood" Kennon (born 1943), also a lawyer, who resides in 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...
in West Feliciana Parish. Kenneth Kennon is the father of Alex Kennon, an actress and writer who attends the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts in Natchitoches
Natchitoches, Louisiana
Natchitoches is a city in and the parish seat of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. Established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis as part of French Louisiana, the community was named after the Natchitoches Indian tribe. The City of Natchitoches was first incorporated on February...
.
Municipal politics
By the time Kennon was twenty-three, he had successfully challenged Minden MayorMayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
Connell Fort
Connell Fort
Connell Fort was a businessman and newspaperman who served as the Democratic mayor of the small city of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in north Louisiana, from 1922 to 1926 and again from 1932 to 1934....
and became for a time the youngest mayor in the United States. In his brief time as mayor, Kennon was elected vice president of the Louisiana Municipal Association. Although his term was generally considered to have been successful, Kennon did not seek reelection in 1928. He was succeeded by a clothing merchant, Henry L. Bridges
Henry L. Bridges
Henry L. Bridges, Sr. , was a businessman who served from 1928 to 1932 and again from 1934 to 1936 as the mayor of the small city of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana....
.
Kennon's relationship with Connell Fort did not end with the 1926 municipal election. Seven years later when Kennon was 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 26th Judicial District (Bossier
Bossier Parish, Louisiana
Bossier Parish is named for Pierre Bossier, a 19th-century Louisiana state senator and U.S. representative from Natchitoches Parish.Bossier Parish was spared fighting on its soil during the American Civil War...
and Webster parishes), Fort's son, John L. Fort (1906-1992), subsequently the long-time operator of a news stand in Minden, shot to death Abraham Brisco Nation (1886-1933), a Minden city councilman who had quarreled politically with Mayor Fort. In 1932, Fort had returned to office for a third nonconsecutive term. Nation was the father of twelve children and a foreman for the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway
Louisiana and Arkansas Railway
The Louisiana and Arkansas Railway was a railroad that operated in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. The railroad's main line extended 332 miles, from Hope, Arkansas to Shreveport and New Orleans...
in Minden. John Fort was first incarcerated in 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...
but then held in the Bossier Parish jail for two years. The grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
never reported a true bill, and Kennon decided not to pursue charges against Fort despite the testimony of two eyewitnesses to the shooting, John L. Garrett and J.R. Murph, then the secretary of the city council.
District attorney and then judge
In 1930, Kennon won the election for district attorney of Bossier and Webster parishes, a position that he held for ten years and one month. His successor in the post was his law partner, Graydon K. Kitchens, Sr., a native of StampsStamps, Arkansas
Stamps is a city in Lafayette County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,131 at the 2000 census.Stamps was the shop headquarters for the former Louisiana and Arkansas Railway until the relocation in the early 1920s to Minden, Louisiana....
, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, who held the seat until January 13, 1942. DA Kennon attained the rank of lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
in the National Guard
United States National Guard
The National Guard of the United States is a reserve military force composed of state National Guard militia members or units under federally recognized active or inactive armed force service for the United States. Militia members are citizen soldiers, meaning they work part time for the National...
, making him one of the highest ranked officers. Further active with the Masonic Lodge
Masonic Lodge
This article is about the Masonic term for a membership group. For buildings named Masonic Lodge, see Masonic Lodge A Masonic Lodge, often termed a Private Lodge or Constituent Lodge, is the basic organisation of Freemasonry...
, Kennon was named "Grand Master" of the organization in 1936.
Louisiana Circuit Courts of Appeal
The Louisiana Circuit Courts of Appeal are the intermediate appellate courts for the state of Louisiana.There are five circuits, each covering a different group of parishes...
, based in Shreveport
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....
. With 46 percent of the ballots, he nearly won outright in the first primary. In the Democratic runoff, he faced the incumbent judge, Harmon Caldwell Drew
Harmon Caldwell Drew
Harmon Caldwell Drew was a lawyer from Minden, Louisiana, who served prior to 1945 as the district attorney of Bossier and Webster parishes and then as a judge of both the district and the state appeal courts. His political career ended with his defeat by future Governor Robert F. Kennon...
, a fellow resident of Minden. The Drew family, one of the first to live in Webster Parish long before its establishment, has held judicial positions in north Louisiana for five generations, including besides H. C. Drew, Richard Maxwell Drew, Richard Cleveland Drew
Richard Cleveland Drew
Richard Cleveland Drew, Sr. , also known as R. C. Drew, was a judge of the state district and circuit courts, based in Minden in northwestern Louisiana. The Drew family was among the original 19th century settlers of the future Webster Parish, of which Minden is the parish seat...
, R. Harmon Drew, Sr.
R. Harmon Drew, Sr.
Richard Harmon Drew, Sr. was a fourth generation judge and a former Democratic state representative who was descended from pioneer families of Webster Parish in north Louisiana...
, and current Circuit Judge Harmon Drew, Jr.
Harmon Drew, Jr.
Richard Harmon Drew, Jr. , is a Louisiana judge, legal lecturer, and rhythm-and-blues musician. He is serving a second 10-year term on his state's Second Circuit Court of Appeal, based in Shreveport.-Ancestry:...
. The Kennon-Drew race was vigorously contested with considerable mudslinging. Kennon won by a margin of nine thousand votes, but he did not carry either his home parish of Webster or neighboring Bossier Parish.
The circuit judgeship would not become vacant until 1942. At the time in Louisiana, it was customary to allow more than a year between election and the taking of judicial positions. As an active member of the National Guard, Kennon was soon called to duty in 1941 as colonel of the XIII Corps of the Ninth Army. He could not hence assume the circuit judgeship until he returned from 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...
duty in May 1945. Drew continued to serve as justice until Kennon returned to claim his seat, part of that time under appointment to the Louisiana Supreme Court
Louisiana Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Louisiana is the highest court and court of last resort in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The modern Supreme Court, composed of seven justices, meets in the French Quarter of New Orleans....
, where he served from 1945-1947, having replaced A. T. Higgins.
Gubernatorial race, 1948
In October 1947, Judge Kennon entered the 1948 gubernatorial primary election as a self-proclaimed candidate "independent of contending political faction," referring to LongHuey 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...
and anti-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...
groups then organized in state politics. The Kennon platform was dedicated to "economy, honesty, and efficiency" with a "progressive postwar program for Louisiana, its industries, farms, roads, schools, and institutions."Kennon opened his campaign on October 10 at the Webster Parish Fair. His intraparty ticket mates, all World War II veterans, included Rufus Fontenot of Crowley
Crowley, Louisiana
Crowley is a city in and the parish seat of Acadia Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 14,225 at the 2000 census. The city is noted for its annual International Rice Festival. Crowley has the nickname of "Rice Capital of America", because at one time it was a major center for...
for secretary of state, J. David McNeill of New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
for attorney general, Jules Deshotels of Kaplan
Kaplan, Louisiana
Kaplan is a small city in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,177 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Abbeville Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
for lieutenant governor, and Allison Kolb
Allison Kolb
Allison Ray Kolb was the Democratic auditor of Louisiana from 1952 to 1956, who angered many local officials in the pursuit of his job duties and was hence defeated by former Lieutenant Governor William J. "Bill" Dodd in the 1956 party primary...
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...
for state auditor. In that race, Kennon spoke against ad valorem property tax
Property tax
A property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...
es at the state level.
However, Kennon was overshadowed by two better-known former governors who secured the coveted runoff positions, Earl Kemp Long and Sam Houston Jones, who carried the endorsement of the New Orleans Times-Picayune
New Orleans Times-Picayune
The Times-Picayune is a daily newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.-History:Established as The Picayune in 1837 by Francis Lumsden and George Wilkins Kendall, the paper's initial price was one picayune—a Spanish coin equivalent to 6¼¢ .Under Eliza Jane Nicholson, who inherited the...
. Kennon had claimed that he, not Jones, could defeat Long.A fourth candidate was U.S. Representative James H. Morrison
James 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 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...
. Long in turn won a convincing rematch over Jones, who had unseated Long eight years earlier. None of the Kennon-endorsed candidates was elected to a statewide office.
Kennon closed his primary campaign at the Minden High School auditorium,, but he still lost Webster Parish in the returns.
A quick U.S. Senate campaign, 1948
When U.S. Senator John H. OvertonJohn H. Overton
John Holmes Overton was an attorney and Democratic United States representative and U.S. senator from Louisiana...
died in office, a special election was called to fill the seat for a two-year term extending through January 1951. Fresh from his race for governor, Kennon challenged Russell B. Long
Russell B. Long
Russell Billiu Long was an American Democratic politician and United States Senator from Louisiana from 1948 until 1987.-Early life:...
, the older son of the legendary Huey Pierce Long, Jr., who not quite thirty was still a few days too young to take office at the time of the election. Kennon said state politics should be "reshuffled after the bad deal" of the Long victory in the 1948 gubernatorial race. He urged "mature representation" in the District of Columbia. The Kennon senatorial platform called for $50 per month old-age pensions, a veterans' housing program, forestry and soil conservation measures, and expansion of the Rural Electrification Administration. He also avowed that as a senator, he would work to "cut red tape" in government operations.
The outcome was close, but Long prevailed, 264,143 (51 percent) to Kennon's 253,668 (49 percent). Long's plurality was hence 10,475 votes. As with the earlier gubernatorial primary, Kennon lost his own Webster Parish in the Senate race against Long, 4,096 to 2,994. Based on the Senate returns, many in the anti-Long faction began to consider Kennon once again as a possible gubernatorial candidate in 1951
Louisiana gubernatorial election, 1952
The Louisiana gubernatorial election of 1952 was held in two rounds on January 15 and February 19, 1952. 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...
. Long held the seat without a serious challenge until he announced his retirement, effective January 1987.
Gubernatorial matters
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, who had the backing of some of the organizers of outgoing Governor Earl Long. Kennon polled 482,302 votes (61.4 percent) to Spaht's 302,743 (38.6 percent). Spaht's running-mate for lieutenant governor was a future governor, John Julian 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...
, then a 33-year-old 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...
from 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 ....
, the seat of Caldwell Parish, in northeastern Louisiana. McKeithen was defeated for lieutenant governor by C. E. "Cap" Barham (born 1905), a state senator
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...
and an attorney from Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish. Barham, who stood to the left of Kennon politically, had not been Kennon's first choice for lieutenant governor, and the two ran on a common intraparty ticket of convenience in 1952. Elmer D. Connor had been Kennon's unsuccessful first choice for lieutenant governor.
In the following low-turnout 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...
in the spring of 1952, Kennon trounced Republican Harrison Bagwell, 118,723 (96 percent) to 4,958 (4 percent). Until 1952, Louisiana Republicans had not even offered a token name on gubernatorial general election ballots.
As a delegate to the 1952 Democratic National Convention
1952 Democratic National Convention
The 1952 Democratic National Convention was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois from July 21 to July 26, 1952, which was the same arena the Republicans had gathered in a few weeks earlier for their national convention...
in Chicago, Kennon led a walkout of the Louisiana delegation, most of whose members opposed the party's 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...
plank, a point that he used in his advertising for the failed gubernatorial comeback bid in the fall of 1963.
Governor Kennon was often said to have conducted his office as if he were instructed by a "civics textbook."In addition to his interest in state sovereignty, Kennon pushed to procure voting machines to all Louisiana precinct
Precinct
A precinct is a space enclosed by the walls or other boundaries of a particular place or building, or by an arbitrary and imaginary line drawn around it. The term has several different uses...
s to replace paper ballots still used in some rural parishes. Such machines were designed to eliminate the periodic problem of vote-stealing. Kennon expanded Louisiana state civil service
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
with help from the New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
attorney Charles E. Dunbar
Charles E. Dunbar
Charles Edward Dunbar, Jr. , was an attorney who developed the modern civil service system in the U.S. state of Louisiana. He was the first chairman of the Louisiana State Civil Service Commission, having served from 1940-1947.Dunbar was born in McComb, Mississippi, to Charles Dunbar, Sr., and the...
, who had authored the original reform measure in 1940 under the Sam Houston Jones administration.
In 1955, Kennon was named chairman of the National Governors Conference.
In the 1956 gubernatorial election, Kennon, who was ineligible to succeed himself, supported Fred Preaus
Fred Preaus
Frederick T. Preaus, known as Fred Preaus , was a businessman and politician in the U.S. state of Louisiana, a native of Farmerville, the seat of Union Parish near the Arkansas state line...
, an automobile dealer from Farmerville
Farmerville, Louisiana
Farmerville is a town in and the parish seat of Union Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,808 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Monroe Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, the seat of Union Parish
Union Parish, Louisiana
Union Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Farmerville....
in north Louisiana, who had been Kennon's highway director. Preaus also vowed a "strong stand on segregation." Another segregationist candidate, James M. McLemore, an Alexandria
Alexandria, Louisiana
Alexandria is a city in and the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes....
businessman, however, claimed that Kennon had done little to stem pending desegregation. According to McLemore, the Kennon administration had been "like an ostrich with the head buried in the sand" and had provided "no leadership" to halt racial integration.
"Cap" Barham, meanwhile never politically close to Kennon, sought reelection as lieutenant governor (Only governors were then term-limited in Louisiana.) on the deLesseps Story Morrison ticket. Morrison, then the mayor of New Orleans was a former law partner of Barham's 1952 ticket mate, then U.S. Representative Hale Boggs
Hale Boggs
Thomas Hale Boggs Sr. , was an American Democratic politician and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Orleans, Louisiana...
.
After his governorship, the Kennons resided for the remainder of his life in Baton Rouge, where he maintained a law practice. Kennon appointed his former law partner in Minden, Graydon K. Kitchens, Sr. (1903–1988), a native of Stamps
Stamps, Arkansas
Stamps is a city in Lafayette County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,131 at the 2000 census.Stamps was the shop headquarters for the former Louisiana and Arkansas Railway until the relocation in the early 1920s to Minden, Louisiana....
, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, and a graduate of the LSU Law Center, to the Louisiana Tax Commission. Earl Long, however, convinced the state legislature to remove Kitchens from the panel so that Long could make his own appointment. Kennon also named a Minden supporter, Leland G. Mims
Leland G. Mims
Leland Garland Mims was a Minden, Louisiana, businessman and civic leader who served as a member of the Webster Parish Police Jury from 1953–1976 and as president of the body from 1956-1973...
, to a vacancy on the Webster Parish Police Jury. Mims in 1965-1967 was president of the Police Jury Association of Louisiana.
A third gubernatorial campaign, 1963
Kennon's term ended in the spring of 1956, and he was succeeded by his long-time foe, Earl Long. He unsuccessfully attempted to run for governor again in 1963. Three LSU scholars described Kennon as "the traditional anti-Long type: respectable, business-oriented, an exponent of governmental quietism, and an advocate of 'good government' administrative reform."In the Democratic primary, Kennon ran fourth (127,870 votes or 14.1 percent). He was therefore eliminated from a runoff between Public Service Commissioner John McKeithen 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 ....
in Caldwell Parish and the more liberal contender, former New Orleans Mayor deLesseps Story Morrison, Sr. Some observers theorized that the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, which occurred two weeks before the primary election, may have weakened Kennon's prospects because Kennon had in a televised address criticized policies of both President Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
. He called the Kennedys "young, misguided men." Kennon was also weakened by the presence of the fifth-place candidate, veteran Education Superintendent Shelby M. Jackson
Shelby M. Jackson
Shelby M. Jackson was a Democratic superintendent of public education in Louisiana who served from 1948-1964. In the early 1960s, he tried in vain to block federally-authorized school desegregation. Jackson was posthumously honored in 1994, by the naming of the "Shelby M...
, a native of Concordia Parish in eastern Louisiana, whose votes are believed to have come primarily at the expense of Kennon and therefore worked to deny Kennon the coveted runoff position against Morrison. Jackson was the vocal segregationist
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
among the five candidates, as Kennon discussed "state sovereignty", which some saw as a code word for segregation. Even if half of Jackson's votes had otherwise gone to Kennon, then Kennon, and not McKeithen, would have entered the runoff with Morrison. Jackson's supporters were also believed in many cases to have been previous backers of the 1959 segregationist gubernatorial hopeful, William M. Rainach
William M. Rainach
William Monroe Rainach, Sr., known as Willie Rainach , was a state legislator from rural Summerfield in Claiborne Parish who led Louisiana's "Massive Resistance" to desegregation during the last half of the 1950s...
of Claiborne Parish
Claiborne Parish, Louisiana
Claiborne Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Homer and as of 2000, the population is 16,851.-History:The parish is named for the first Louisiana governor, William C. C. Claiborne....
. Another candidate in the race was former State Representative Claude Kirkpatrick
Claude Kirkpatrick
Claude Kirkpatrick was a diversified businessman who served two terms in the Louisiana House of Representatives , worked to establish Toledo Bend Reservoir through his directorship of the state Department of Public Works , and was the administrator and then president of Baton Rouge General Medical...
from Jefferson Davis Parish, who had headed the Department of Public Works under outgoing Governor Jimmie Davis. Kirkpatrick's widow, Edith Killgore Kirkpatrick
Edith Killgore Kirkpatrick
Edith Aurelia Killgore Kirkpatrick is a retired music educator from Baton Rouge who served on the Louisiana Board of Regents for Higher Education from 1977—1989, the superboard which must approve education budgets presented to the state legislature. She is also a former member of the...
, is a native of Claiborne Parish and a past political figure in her own right.
McKeithen won the runoff and the ensuing general election. Kennon did not endorse either runoff candidate. His nephew, Edward Kennon
Edward Kennon
Francis Edward Kennon, Jr. , usually known as Ed Kennon is a multi-millionaire Shreveport real-estate developer and a former Democratic member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, the regulatory body for oil, natural gas, and utilities. He represented north Louisiana on the commission for...
(a son of F. E. Kennon, Sr.), a Shreveport developer and a later member of 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...
, stumped for the Roman Catholic and pro-Kennedy "Chep" Morrison, who had endorsed Kennon in the 1951-1952 election cycle after the elimination of Morrison's first choice, his former law partner, U.S. Representative Hale Boggs
Hale Boggs
Thomas Hale Boggs Sr. , was an American Democratic politician and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Orleans, Louisiana...
of New Orleans.
Kennon's death
Kennon died in 1988 at the age of eighty-five. He and his wife, who survived him by fourteen years, are not interred at the Minden CemeteryMinden Cemetery
The Minden Cemetery, located in Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, United States, has graves dating from 1843, seven years after the founding of the city in 1836...
, as are many of his family members, but in the Young Family Cemetery in Port Hudson
Port Hudson, Louisiana
Port Hudson is a small unincorporated community in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, United States. Located about northwest of Baton Rouge, it is most famous for an American Civil War battle known as the Siege of Port Hudson.-Geography:...
in East Baton Rouge Parish.
Bill Dodd's eulogy of Kennon
One of Kennon's 1951 primary opponents, William J. "Bill" Dodd, offered this eulogy in the form of a letter to the editor of the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate on the passing of Kennon:"As a personal friend and colleague of one whose death deserves more than a routine news story and a short obituary, I am writing this letter in the hope that its contents will be made available to the citizens of Louisiana.
"Recently, Louisiana lost one of its greatest citizens, Robert F. "Bob" Kennon. He was the kind of person most often mentioned in sermons as a role model for those seeking perfection in their daily lives. Also he was the kind of politician professors of government describe as a good public official.
"In both his personal and public life, he proved that the preachers and the political science professors were right.
"At LSU, he was an honor student, colonel of the cadet corps, and a varsity football player. As a young lawyer, he was successful in his practice of law, which led him into politics, {and} he became mayor of Minden, a district attorney, a District Court of Appeals judge, and a Supreme Court judge.
"When World War II came, though married and the father of young children, he volunteered into the U.S. Army and served with distinction, at home and overseas in Europe.
"Bob Kennon was elected governor of Louisiana in 1952. During his tenure as governor, he reenacted Civil Service for state employees, put voting machines in every voting precinct (which ended vote stealing forever) and took slot machines and gambling out of Louisiana.
{Instead of running up deficits, Governor Kennon ended each fiscal year with a surplus and was the only governor I can recall who actually reduced taxes.
"For his four years, there were not only no scandals in state government, but there were no hints of wrongdoing by the governor or his department heads.
"From 1952 until he went out of office {1956}, Governor Kennon, his lovely and gracious wife, and three fine sons lived in the Governor's Manson and made it a real home for the first family as well as a model for the whole state.
"Governor Kennon's appointments were men and women of the highest moral standards and possessed of excellent government experience. Like their governor, they regarded their public offices as public trusts.
"Governor Kennon was never tried and acquitted of wrongdoing because he didn't break the law or do anything suggesting he ever acted illegally or even unethically. He never spent any time with AA or in a CDU for he didn't drink alcohol and didn't snort cocaine. And when he took trips on boats, he went fishing or to a hunting camp with his boys and not to a hideaway like Bimini. His family was exemplary and made no waves that called for suppressing hospital or police records or anything else.
"Perhaps the fact that Kennon was honest and efficient and ran the state and his life according to the laws of God and man, he missed out on the press coverage that goes to those who have to be rehabilitated and forgiven for their unethical and illegal conduct; coverage that often praises those rascals for their courage and fortitude to face the public after disgracing themselves and their friends who elected them.
"Whatever the reason for Governor Kennon's lack of recognition for having been a model father, soldier, judge, and governor, the cold base record shows that he was exactly the kind of man the public, the preachers, and the press say they want but seldom get in the governor's office.
"Bob Kennon was, with all his success, a humble man and, if living, he would not want credit for what he did. He regarded his going a good job as his duty, and Bob was a man who always did his duty. . . .
Extended family
Several members of the extended Kennon family served in public office. John T. Kennon, Jr., or Sonny Kennon (1928–2005), son of John T. Kennon, Sr. (Governor Kennon's first cousin) served as the elected ward marshalMarshal
Marshal , is a word used in several official titles of various branches of society. The word is an ancient loan word from Old French, cf...
of Webster Parish and in 1971 ran unsuccessfully for Webster Parish sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
against O.H. Haynes, Jr. John T. Kennon's sister was Josephine Kennon Williams (1925–2009), wife of B. David Williams. Their daughter, the former Barbara Jo Williams (born 1948), is married to retired state District Judge Jim Wiley of Winnfield
Winnfield, Louisiana
Winnfield is a city in and the parish seat of Winn Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,749 at the 2000 census. It has long been associated with the Long faction of the Louisiana Democratic Party and was home to three governors of Louisiana.-Geography:Winnfield is located at ...
. Their daughter, Anastasia Wiley, is also a judge in Winnfield.
In 2001, Kennon was posthumously inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame
Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame
The Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield, Louisiana, highlights the careers of more than a hundred of the state’s leading politicians and political journalists. Because three governors, Huey P. Long, Jr., Oscar K...
in Winnfield
Winnfield, Louisiana
Winnfield is a city in and the parish seat of Winn Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,749 at the 2000 census. It has long been associated with the Long faction of the Louisiana Democratic Party and was home to three governors of Louisiana.-Geography:Winnfield is located at ...
.
See also
- List of the youngest mayors in the United States
- Youth politicsYouth politicsYouth politics is a category of issues which distinctly involve, affect or otherwise impact youth.-USA:With roots in the early youth activism of the Newsboys and Mother Jones' child labor protests at the turn of the 20th century, youth politics were first identified in American politics with the...
- Doris Dorcas Carter, "Governor Robert Floyd Kennon," North Louisiana HistoryNorth Louisiana HistoryNorth Louisiana History is an academic journal published twice annually in Shreveport, Louisiana by the North Louisiana Historical Association .-History:...
, Vol. 25, Nos. 2,3 (Spring-Summer 1994), pp. 55-71