Russell B. Long
Encyclopedia
Russell Billiu Long was an American Democratic politician and United States Senator
from Louisiana
from 1948 until 1987.
, and received bachelor's and law degrees from Louisiana State University
in Baton Rouge, where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon
fraternity (Zeta Zeta chapter). During college, he served as freshman class president, sophomore Arts and Sciences President, and then student body president. In June of 1942, World War II, Long entered the naval
reserve (avoiding combat) and completed his service as a Lieutenant in December 1945.
Huey P. Long and Rose McConnell Long
, who served about a year in the Senate
following her husband's death. When Russell Long was elected in November 1948, he became the only person in U.S. history to have been preceded in the Senate by both his father and his mother. The U.S. Constitution requires Senators to be at least 30 years old and Long barely met this requirement. He was elected to the Senate on November 2, 1948, one day before his 30th birthday. He did not take office, however, until December 31, giving him a few days of seniority over others in the Senate class of 1948, including Lyndon B. Johnson
and Hubert Humphrey
. Before he ran for the Senate, Long had served as executive counsel to his uncle, Earl Kemp Long, who returned to the governorship in 1948.
of Minden
in the Democratic primary, 264,143 (51 percent) to 253,668 (49 percent). The margin was hence 10,475 votes. Long then overwhelmed Republican
oilman Clem S. Clarke of Shreveport, 306,337 (75 percent) to 102,339 (25 percent). Clarke was the first Louisiana Republican senatorial nominee in decades. He carried Iberia
, Caddo
(Long's native parish), Lafayette
, and East Baton Rouge parishes. Clarke had tried get the courts to forbid Long from running on both the Harry Truman and Strom Thurmond
slates in Louisiana, but he failed to convince the judges, and Long's votes on each slate were counted.
if you're going to have capitalism." On the other hand, he was aware of some of the political ramifications of "tax reform," stating that it simply meant "Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree!"
Long's contributions to the United States' tax laws include the Earned Income Tax Credit
, a program aimed at reducing the tax burden on poor working families, the Child Support Enforcement Act, and Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), employee benefit plans designed to allow employees to invest in the stock of their employers. In the year 2006, the Earned Income Tax Credit lifted more than four million people above the poverty line and was called “the nation’s most effective antipoverty program for working families.” Long also initiated the provision that allows a taxpayer to allocate $1 of taxes for a Presidential election campaign fund checkoff
(the "dollar checkoff").
Democratic senators named him the party Assistant Majority Leader (whip) in 1965. He lost this leadership position in 1969 to Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts
, but remained as Senate Finance Committee Chairman. He had especially good relations with both of his senatorial colleagues from Louisiana, first Allen J. Ellender
and, then, J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., who like Long was born in Shreveport.
In 1966, at the request of former National Football League Commissioner Pete Rozelle
, Long and Congressman Hale Boggs
used their influence to pass legislation that allowed for the merger of the American Football League and the National Football League
(NFL). Without the legislation, the merger would have been prohibited by anti-trust laws governing monopolies. In exchange for ensuring the passage of the legislation, Long and Boggs requested that Rozelle award the next NFL expansion franchise to New Orleans. Rozelle complied, and Long and Boggs joined Rozelle in announcing that New Orleans had obtained the New Orleans Saints
on November 1, 1966.
Long served as President Lyndon B. Johnson
's legislative Senate floor leader for many of the Great Society
programs. Through his position on the Senate Finance Committee, he was instrumental in building support for the passage of the Tax Reform Act of 1986
.
of Monroe
also ran in the 1950 senatorial primary election.
After he dispatched Lafargue and Mills, Long overwhelmed his Republican opponent, Charles S. Gerth, a businessman from New Orleans, who had also run for senator in 1948 against Long's long-term colleague, Allen J. Ellender
, but as a Democrat. In the 1950 race, Long polled 220,907 (87.7 percent) to Gerth's 30,931 (12.3 percent).
In 1962, Long defeated attorney Philemon A. "Phil" St. Amant, a retired United States Army
lieutenant colonel
from Baton Rouge, 407,162 votes (80.2 percent) to 100,843 votes (19.8 percent) in the Democratic primary. Long then trounced his Republican challenger Taylor W. O'Hearn
, a Shreveport attorney and accountant and later state representative
, with 318,838 votes (75.6 percent) to 103,066 (24.4 percent).
Speculation persisted that Long would run for governor in the 1963 Democratic primary. He had received encouragement from "all the shades of factionalism in the state." Instead, he endorsed his cousin, Gillis W. Long
, the U.S. representative from the Eighth Congressional District based about Alexandria
. At the time, Long was second to the aging Senator Harry Flood Byrd, Sr.
, of Virginia on the Senate Finance Committee and had already presided as chairman during Byrd's prolonged absence because of failing health.
As a result of President Johnson's signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
, Long (along with more than a dozen other southern Senators, including Herman Talmadge
and Richard Russell
) did not attend the 1964 Democratic National Convention
in Atlantic City
. However, Long defied conventional wisdom by delivering a television address in Louisiana in which he strongly endorsed the Johnson-Humphrey ticket, which lost the state to the Republican Barry M. Goldwater-William E. Miller
electors. The action had no consequence on Long's future, however, as Republicans declined to challenge his reelection in 1968, 1974, and 1980.
In 1968, Long overpowered a primary rival, Maurice P. Blache, Sr. (1917–1991), to win renomination. He was unopposed in the general election when the presumed Republican candidate, Richard Kilbourne, the district attorney
in East Feliciana Parish, withdrew from the race. Kilbourne abandoned his campaign so that his party could concentrate on trying to elect David C. Treen
to represent Louisiana's 2nd congressional district
over incumbent Democrat Hale Boggs
.
In 1974, Long defeated state Insurance Commissioner
Sherman A. Bernard of Westwego
in Jefferson Parish, 520,606 (74.7 percent) to 131,540 (18.9 percent), in the Democratic primary. (Another 44,341 (6.4 percent) went to a third candidate, Annie Smart.) State Republican Chairman James H. Boyce of Baton Rouge noted that the party could not find a viable candidate to challenge Long.
In 1980, Long defeated State Representative Louis Woody Jenkins
of Baton Rouge, 484,770 (57.6 percent) to 325,922 (38.8 percent) in the state's nonpartisan blanket primary. During the 1980 campaign, Long's friend and colleague, Robert J. "Bob" Dole
, the Kansas
Republican who had been his party's vice presidential nominee in 1976 and who would be the presidential nominee in 1996, made a television commercial for Long in the race against Jenkins. Dole and Long were both running for reelection that year. The 1980 primary was the last time Long's name was on a ballot.
called him a "legend" and "one of the most skillful legislators, compromisers and legislative strategists in history." Referring to Long's enormous power, the Wall Street Journal once called Long "the fourth branch of government."
In 1986, after Long announced his retirement, Democratic Congressman John Breaux
of Crowley
was elected to succeed him in the Senate. Breaux defeated the Republican U.S. Representative W. Henson Moore, III
, of Baton Rouge. Moore had led the balloting in the nonpartisan blanket primary but lost the general election to Breaux in a nationally Democratic year. Breaux, unlike Long, however, did not secure the election of his chosen successor. The seat was won in 2004 by Republican U.S. Representative David Vitter
of the New Orleans suburbs.
Long remained in Washington, D.C., as a highly sought-after lobbyist after his retirement. For a brief period of time following his retirement, he was a partner in the law firm of Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey
, which dissolved in 1987. He later founded the Long Law Firm, where he remained a partner until his death. Long also served on the Board of Directors of The New York Stock Exchange, Lowe's Companies, Inc., and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.
"'the dirty five' who side with the criminal."
, Russell Long was the only former senator still living whose service went back as far as 1948. He was in the Senate, for instance, six years before Strom Thurmond
arrived for what turned out to have been a 48-year stint. He began his Senate service a full decade before Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia
arrived in January 1959 for a 51-year career. The Long funeral, held in Baton Rouge, is remembered in part for the moving eulogies
delivered by his grandson, attorney Russell Long Mosely, and by his former colleagues J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., and John Breaux
.
, who resides in Washington, D.C.
Long's brother, Palmer Reid Long, Sr. (1921–2010), of Shreveport, worked in the 1948 Senate campaign as well as efforts to elect Earl Long governor. Palmer Long attended Sewanee Military Academy in Tennessee
and LSU in Baton Rouge and was a flight instructor with the United States Army Air Corps
, forerunner of the Air Force
during World War II. Married to the former Louene Dance (1994–2010), who preceded him in death by nine months, Palmer Long was otherwise involved in the family's oil and natural gas business and shunned most other political participation beyond personal contributions. He was highly active on behalf of the Louisiana Shriners Hospital
in Shreveport. Oddly, after 1995, most of Palmer Long's considerable political contributions went to Republican candidates, including Russell Long's friend Bob Dole, who ran for president against Bill Clinton
in 1996, and for John S. McCain in 2008 in the losing presidential race with Barack Obama
. Palmer Long is identified as a Republican voter by the website RealVoters.
Long also had a sister, Rose Long McFarland (1917–2006), later of Boulder
, Colorado.
's film JFK
, portrayed in a cameo appearance
by legendary actor Walter Matthau
. In the scene, based on a real-life occurrence, Long chats with New Orleans District Attorney
Jim Garrison
during an airplane ride where he denounces the lone gunman theory
of the John F. Kennedy assassination
concluding: "That dog don't hunt." This conversation leads Garrison to read the entirety of the Warren Report himself, and leads him to the conclusion that there was a conspiracy to assassinate the President.
William C. Havard, Rudolf Heberle, and Perry H. Howard
, in The Louisiana Election of 1960 noted that Russell Long as a U.S. senator extended his family dynasty. "Russell Long represents a modified and tone-down version of Longism but retains a basic orientation toward the active use of governmental power as a means of adjusting social and economic imbalances among group interests."
In 1993, Russell Long was among the first thirteen inductees into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame
in Winnfield
, along with his father and his uncle, Earl Long.
The prestigious Russell B. Long Service Award is named in his honor. Among the recipients is the state legislator Ronnie Johns
of Sulphur
in Calcasieu Parish
.
Dr. Bruce Gold and Ralph Newsome are alumni of the Senator Russell B. Long Foundation in Joseph Heller's "Good as Gold".
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from 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...
from 1948 until 1987.
Early life
Long 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....
, and received bachelor's and law degrees from 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 was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon is a fraternity founded at Yale College in 1844 by 15 men of the sophomore class who had not been invited to join the two existing societies...
fraternity (Zeta Zeta chapter). During college, he served as freshman class president, sophomore Arts and Sciences President, and then student body president. In June of 1942, World War II, Long entered the naval
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
reserve (avoiding combat) and completed his service as a Lieutenant in December 1945.
Early career
Long was the son of the flamboyant Louisiana governor and SenatorUnited States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Huey P. Long and Rose McConnell Long
Rose McConnell Long
Rose McConnell Long was a United States Senator and the wife of Huey Long. She was Louisiana's first female senator....
, who served about a year in the Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
following her husband's death. When Russell Long was elected in November 1948, he became the only person in U.S. history to have been preceded in the Senate by both his father and his mother. The U.S. Constitution requires Senators to be at least 30 years old and Long barely met this requirement. He was elected to the Senate on November 2, 1948, one day before his 30th birthday. He did not take office, however, until December 31, giving him a few days of seniority over others in the Senate class of 1948, including Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
and Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
. Before he ran for the Senate, Long had served as executive counsel to his uncle, Earl Kemp Long, who returned to the governorship in 1948.
Defeating Kennon and Clarke, 1948
To win the Senate seat vacated by the death of Democrat John Holmes Overton, Long first defeated Judge Robert F. KennonRobert F. Kennon
Robert Floyd Kennon, Sr., known as Bob Kennon , was the 48th Governor of Louisiana, serving from 1952-1956. He failed to win a second non-consecutive term in the 1963 Democratic primary....
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...
in the Democratic primary, 264,143 (51 percent) to 253,668 (49 percent). The margin was hence 10,475 votes. Long then overwhelmed 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...
oilman Clem S. Clarke of Shreveport, 306,337 (75 percent) to 102,339 (25 percent). Clarke was the first Louisiana Republican senatorial nominee in decades. He carried Iberia
Iberia Parish, Louisiana
Iberia Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is New Iberia. As of 2000, the population was 73,266.Iberia Parish is part of the New Iberia Micropolitan Statistical Area as well as the Lafayette–Acadiana Combined Statistical Area.Iberia, along with...
, Caddo
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...
(Long's native parish), Lafayette
Lafayette Parish, Louisiana
Lafayette Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Lafayette. According to the 2010 Census, its population was recorded as 221,578....
, and East Baton Rouge parishes. Clarke had tried get the courts to forbid Long from running on both the Harry Truman and Strom Thurmond
Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond was an American politician who served as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes...
slates in Louisiana, but he failed to convince the judges, and Long's votes on each slate were counted.
Specialist on tax law
Long was known for his knowledge of tax laws. In 1953, he began serving as an influential member of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee and was the chairman from 1966 until Republicans assumed control of the Senate in 1981. During his time in the Senate, Long was a strong champion of tax breaks for businesses, once saying, "I have become convinced you're going to have to have capitalCapital (economics)
In economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital refers to already-produced durable goods used in production of goods or services. The capital goods are not significantly consumed, though they may depreciate in the production process...
if you're going to have capitalism." On the other hand, he was aware of some of the political ramifications of "tax reform," stating that it simply meant "Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree!"
Long's contributions to the United States' tax laws include the Earned Income Tax Credit
Earned income tax credit
The United States federal earned income tax credit or earned income credit is a refundable tax credit primarily for individuals and families who have low to moderate earned income. Greater tax credit is given to those who also have qualifying children...
, a program aimed at reducing the tax burden on poor working families, the Child Support Enforcement Act, and Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), employee benefit plans designed to allow employees to invest in the stock of their employers. In the year 2006, the Earned Income Tax Credit lifted more than four million people above the poverty line and was called “the nation’s most effective antipoverty program for working families.” Long also initiated the provision that allows a taxpayer to allocate $1 of taxes for a Presidential election campaign fund checkoff
Presidential election campaign fund checkoff
The presidential election campaign fund checkoff appears on US income tax return forms as the question Do you want $3 of your federal tax to go to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund?...
(the "dollar checkoff").
Democratic senators named him the party Assistant Majority Leader (whip) in 1965. He lost this leadership position in 1969 to Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, but remained as Senate Finance Committee Chairman. He had especially good relations with both of his senatorial colleagues from Louisiana, first Allen J. Ellender
Allen J. Ellender
Allen Joseph Ellender was a popular U.S. senator from Houma, Louisiana , who served from 1937 until his death. He was a Democrat who was originally allied with the legendary Huey Pierce Long, Jr.. As Senator he compiled a generally conservative record, voting 77% of the time with the Conservative...
and, then, J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., who like Long was born in Shreveport.
In 1966, at the request of former National Football League Commissioner Pete Rozelle
Pete Rozelle
Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle was the commissioner of the National Football League from January 1960 to November 1989, when he retired from office. Rozelle is credited with making the NFL into one of the most successful sports leagues in the world....
, Long and Congressman 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...
used their influence to pass legislation that allowed for the merger of the American Football League and the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
(NFL). Without the legislation, the merger would have been prohibited by anti-trust laws governing monopolies. In exchange for ensuring the passage of the legislation, Long and Boggs requested that Rozelle award the next NFL expansion franchise to New Orleans. Rozelle complied, and Long and Boggs joined Rozelle in announcing that New Orleans had obtained the New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League ....
on November 1, 1966.
Long served as President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
's legislative Senate floor leader for many of the Great Society
Great Society
The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States promoted by President Lyndon B. Johnson and fellow Democrats in Congress in the 1960s. Two main goals of the Great Society social reforms were the elimination of poverty and racial injustice...
programs. Through his position on the Senate Finance Committee, he was instrumental in building support for the passage of the Tax Reform Act of 1986
Tax Reform Act of 1986
The U.S. Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of 1986 to simplify the income tax code, broaden the tax base and eliminate many tax shelters and other preferences...
.
Subsequent elections
After his election in 1948, Long never again faced a close contest for reelection. Because the 1948 election was for a two-year unexpired term, Long had to run again in 1950 for his first full six-year term. That year, he had no trouble defeating the intraparty challenge of Malcolm E. Lafargue (1908–1963), a great-nephew of Senator John Overton but a candidate to the political right of the Longs. In an advertisement, Lafargue questioned how Long is the self-proclaimed "poor man's friend" because the incumbent "pretends to sneer at millionaires, but Long is a millionaire himself." Lafargue claimed further that Russell Long and his uncle, then Governor Earl Kemp Long, "have borrowed so much money from our unborn children that Louisiana today has the greatest debt of any state." Lafargue criticized what he called Long's "welfare state" and "socialist" political backing and denied himself having ever endorsed the Huey Long "Share the Wealth" ticket. Former U.S. Representative Newt V. MillsNewt V. Mills
Newt Virgus Mills was a U.S. Representative from Louisiana.Born in Calhoun, Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, Mills attended the public schools of his native city, Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge, Louisiana State Normal College at Natchitoches, and Spencer...
of Monroe
Monroe, Louisiana
Monroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...
also ran in the 1950 senatorial primary election.
After he dispatched Lafargue and Mills, Long overwhelmed his Republican opponent, Charles S. Gerth, a businessman from New Orleans, who had also run for senator in 1948 against Long's long-term colleague, Allen J. Ellender
Allen J. Ellender
Allen Joseph Ellender was a popular U.S. senator from Houma, Louisiana , who served from 1937 until his death. He was a Democrat who was originally allied with the legendary Huey Pierce Long, Jr.. As Senator he compiled a generally conservative record, voting 77% of the time with the Conservative...
, but as a Democrat. In the 1950 race, Long polled 220,907 (87.7 percent) to Gerth's 30,931 (12.3 percent).
In 1962, Long defeated attorney Philemon A. "Phil" St. Amant, a retired United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
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...
from Baton Rouge, 407,162 votes (80.2 percent) to 100,843 votes (19.8 percent) in the Democratic primary. Long then trounced his Republican challenger Taylor W. O'Hearn
Taylor W. O'Hearn
Taylor Walters O'Hearn was a pioneer in the rebirth of the Republican Party in Louisiana during the mid-twentieth century. He and Morley A. Hudson, both of Shreveport in Caddo Parish, were the first two Republicans elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives since Reconstruction. The pair...
, a Shreveport attorney and accountant and later 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...
, with 318,838 votes (75.6 percent) to 103,066 (24.4 percent).
Speculation persisted that Long would run for governor in the 1963 Democratic primary. He had received encouragement from "all the shades of factionalism in the state." Instead, he endorsed his cousin, Gillis W. Long
Gillis William Long
Gillis William Long was a Democratic U.S. Representative from Louisiana and member of the Long family. Long served seven non-consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives but placed third in two campaigns for the Democratic gubernatorial nominations in 1963 and 1971...
, the U.S. representative from the Eighth Congressional District based about 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....
. At the time, Long was second to the aging Senator Harry Flood Byrd, Sr.
Harry F. Byrd
Harry Flood Byrd, Sr. of Berryville in Clarke County, Virginia, was an American newspaper publisher, farmer and politician. He was a descendant of one of the First Families of Virginia...
, of Virginia on the Senate Finance Committee and had already presided as chairman during Byrd's prolonged absence because of failing health.
As a result of President Johnson's signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation...
, Long (along with more than a dozen other southern Senators, including Herman Talmadge
Herman Talmadge
Herman Eugene Talmadge was an American politician from the U.S. state of Georgia. He served as governor of Georgia briefly in 1947 and again from 1948 to 1955. His term was marked by his segregationist policies. After leaving office Talmadge was elected to the U.S...
and Richard Russell
Richard Russell, Jr.
Richard Brevard Russell, Jr. was a Democratic Party politician from the southeastern state of Georgia. He served as state governor from 1931 to 1933 and United States senator from 1933 to 1971....
) did not attend the 1964 Democratic National Convention
1964 Democratic National Convention
The 1964 Democratic National Convention was the 1964 presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party. It took place at the Atlantic City Convention Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey from August 24 to 27, 1964. Incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson -- who had been Vice President under...
in Atlantic City
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
. However, Long defied conventional wisdom by delivering a television address in Louisiana in which he strongly endorsed the Johnson-Humphrey ticket, which lost the state to the Republican Barry M. Goldwater-William E. Miller
William E. Miller
William Edward "Bill" Miller was a New York politician. He was the Republican Party nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 1964 election...
electors. The action had no consequence on Long's future, however, as Republicans declined to challenge his reelection in 1968, 1974, and 1980.
In 1968, Long overpowered a primary rival, Maurice P. Blache, Sr. (1917–1991), to win renomination. He was unopposed in the general election when the presumed Republican candidate, Richard Kilbourne, the 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...
in East Feliciana Parish, withdrew from the race. Kilbourne abandoned his campaign so that his party could concentrate on trying to elect David C. Treen
David C. Treen
David Conner "Dave" Treen, Sr. , was an American attorney and politician from Mandeville, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana – the first Republican Governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana since Reconstruction. He was the first Republican in modern times to have served in the U.S...
to represent Louisiana's 2nd congressional district
Louisiana's 2nd congressional district
Louisiana's 2nd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The district contains nearly all of the city of New Orleans , and some of its suburbs, including the West Bank portion of Jefferson Parish and South South Kenner.The district is currently represented...
over incumbent Democrat 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...
.
In 1974, Long defeated state Insurance Commissioner
Insurance commissioner
Insurance commissioner is an executive office in many U.S. states, some in the state cabinet. The office differs state by state:...
Sherman A. Bernard of Westwego
Westwego, Louisiana
Westwego is a city in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States, and a suburb of New Orleans. The population was 10,763 at the 2000 census. It lies along the west bank of the Mississippi River.-Geography:...
in Jefferson Parish, 520,606 (74.7 percent) to 131,540 (18.9 percent), in the Democratic primary. (Another 44,341 (6.4 percent) went to a third candidate, Annie Smart.) State Republican Chairman James H. Boyce of Baton Rouge noted that the party could not find a viable candidate to challenge Long.
In 1980, Long defeated State Representative Louis Woody Jenkins
Woody Jenkins
Louis Elwood "Woody" Jenkins is a newspaper editor in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who served as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1972–2000 and waged three unsuccessful races for the United States Senate....
of Baton Rouge, 484,770 (57.6 percent) to 325,922 (38.8 percent) in the state's nonpartisan blanket primary. During the 1980 campaign, Long's friend and colleague, Robert J. "Bob" Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
, the Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
Republican who had been his party's vice presidential nominee in 1976 and who would be the presidential nominee in 1996, made a television commercial for Long in the race against Jenkins. Dole and Long were both running for reelection that year. The 1980 primary was the last time Long's name was on a ballot.
Retirement
After he considered and rejected a run for governor of Louisiana, Long retired from the Senate in January 1987. Summing up his career in the Senate, Ronald ReaganRonald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
called him a "legend" and "one of the most skillful legislators, compromisers and legislative strategists in history." Referring to Long's enormous power, the Wall Street Journal once called Long "the fourth branch of government."
In 1986, after Long announced his retirement, Democratic Congressman John Breaux
John Breaux
John Berlinger Breaux is a former United States senator from Louisiana who served from 1987 until 2005. He was also a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1972 to 1987. He was considered one of the more conservative national legislators from the Democratic Party...
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...
was elected to succeed him in the Senate. Breaux defeated the Republican U.S. Representative W. Henson Moore, III
Henson Moore
William Henson Moore III , is a retired attorney and businessman who is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, having represented the Baton Rouge-based Sixth Congressional District, from 1975-1987. He is only the second Republican to have represented Louisiana in the House since...
, of Baton Rouge. Moore had led the balloting in the nonpartisan blanket primary but lost the general election to Breaux in a nationally Democratic year. Breaux, unlike Long, however, did not secure the election of his chosen successor. The seat was won in 2004 by Republican U.S. Representative David Vitter
David Vitter
David Vitter is the junior United States Senator from Louisiana and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, he served in the United States House of Representatives, representing the suburban Louisiana's 1st congressional district. He served as a member of the Louisiana House of...
of the New Orleans suburbs.
Long remained in Washington, D.C., as a highly sought-after lobbyist after his retirement. For a brief period of time following his retirement, he was a partner in the law firm of Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey
Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey
Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey was a United States law firm founded in 1968. The firm, based in New York, had grown from eight lawyers at its inception to over 700 lawyers at the time of its bankruptcy and dissolution in 1987...
, which dissolved in 1987. He later founded the Long Law Firm, where he remained a partner until his death. Long also served on the Board of Directors of The New York Stock Exchange, Lowe's Companies, Inc., and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.
Political positions
Long was opposed to judicial intrusions into police power, calling the liberal members of the Warren CourtWarren Court
The Warren Court refers to the Supreme Court of the United States between 1953 and 1969, when Earl Warren served as Chief Justice. Warren led a liberal majority that used judicial power in dramatic fashion, to the consternation of conservative opponents...
"'the dirty five' who side with the criminal."
Death
At the time of his death from heart failureMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
, Russell Long was the only former senator still living whose service went back as far as 1948. He was in the Senate, for instance, six years before Strom Thurmond
Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond was an American politician who served as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes...
arrived for what turned out to have been a 48-year stint. He began his Senate service a full decade before Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
arrived in January 1959 for a 51-year career. The Long funeral, held in Baton Rouge, is remembered in part for the moving eulogies
Eulogy
A eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services. However, some denominations either discourage or do not permit eulogies at services to maintain respect for traditions...
delivered by his grandson, attorney Russell Long Mosely, and by his former colleagues J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., and John Breaux
John Breaux
John Berlinger Breaux is a former United States senator from Louisiana who served from 1987 until 2005. He was also a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1972 to 1987. He was considered one of the more conservative national legislators from the Democratic Party...
.
Family
Long married the former Katherine Mae Hattic in June 1939. They had two daughters, Rita Katherine (born 1944) and Pamela. The Longs divorced, and the senator thereafter married the former Carolyn Bason from North CarolinaNorth Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, who resides in Washington, D.C.
Long's brother, Palmer Reid Long, Sr. (1921–2010), of Shreveport, worked in the 1948 Senate campaign as well as efforts to elect Earl Long governor. Palmer Long attended Sewanee Military Academy in Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
and LSU in Baton Rouge and was a flight instructor with the United States Army Air Corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
, forerunner of the Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
during World War II. Married to the former Louene Dance (1994–2010), who preceded him in death by nine months, Palmer Long was otherwise involved in the family's oil and natural gas business and shunned most other political participation beyond personal contributions. He was highly active on behalf of the Louisiana Shriners Hospital
Shriners Hospitals for Children
Shriners Hospitals for Children is a network of 22 non-profit hospitals across North America. Children with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care and receive all services in a family-centered environment, regardless of the patients’...
in Shreveport. Oddly, after 1995, most of Palmer Long's considerable political contributions went to Republican candidates, including Russell Long's friend Bob Dole, who ran for president against Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
in 1996, and for John S. McCain in 2008 in the losing presidential race with Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
. Palmer Long is identified as a Republican voter by the website RealVoters.
Long also had a sister, Rose Long McFarland (1917–2006), later of Boulder
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
, Colorado.
In popular culture
Long appears as a character in Oliver StoneOliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
's film JFK
JFK (film)
JFK is a 1991 American film directed by Oliver Stone. It examines the events leading to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and alleged subsequent cover-up, through the eyes of former New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison .Garrison filed charges against New Orleans businessman Clay...
, portrayed in a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
by legendary actor Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...
. In the scene, based on a real-life occurrence, Long chats with New Orleans 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...
Jim Garrison
Jim Garrison
Earling Carothers "Jim" Garrison — who changed his first name to Jim in the early 1960s — was the District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Louisiana from 1962 to 1973. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best known for his investigations into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy...
during an airplane ride where he denounces the lone gunman theory
Lone gunman theory
The lone gunman theory is the nickname given to the controversial conclusion reached by the Warren Commission that U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by a single gunman named Lee Harvey Oswald who fired only three shots, one of which being the single bullet that wounded both Kennedy...
of the John F. Kennedy assassination
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
concluding: "That dog don't hunt." This conversation leads Garrison to read the entirety of the Warren Report himself, and leads him to the conclusion that there was a conspiracy to assassinate the President.
William C. Havard, Rudolf Heberle, and Perry H. Howard
Perry H. Howard
Perry Holbrook Howard was a sociologist known for his research in the field of Louisiana politics. He was a long-term professor at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, from which he received his Ph.D. in 1954. A native of Maine, Howard served for three years in the United States Navy in the...
, in The Louisiana Election of 1960 noted that Russell Long as a U.S. senator extended his family dynasty. "Russell Long represents a modified and tone-down version of Longism but retains a basic orientation toward the active use of governmental power as a means of adjusting social and economic imbalances among group interests."
In 1993, Russell Long was among the first thirteen inductees 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 ...
, along with his father and his uncle, Earl Long.
The prestigious Russell B. Long Service Award is named in his honor. Among the recipients is the state legislator Ronnie Johns
Ronnie Johns (Louisiana politician)
Ronald Steven Johns, known as Ronnie Johns , is a State Farm Insurance agency owner in Sulphur, Louisiana, who is an incoming Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate from District 27 in Calcasieu Parish. He is unopposed in the nonpartisan blanket primary set for October 22, 2011, to choose...
of Sulphur
Sulphur, Louisiana
Sulphur is a city in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 22,512 at the 2000 census. Sulphur is a suburb of Lake Charles, and is part of the Lake Charles Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
in Calcasieu Parish
Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana
Calcasieu Parish[p] is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Lake Charles. As of 2010, the parish population was 192,768...
.
Dr. Bruce Gold and Ralph Newsome are alumni of the Senator Russell B. Long Foundation in Joseph Heller's "Good as Gold".