Joe Waggonner

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Joseph David "Joe D." Waggonner, Jr. (born September 7, 1918, in Plain Dealing) was a popular Democratic congressman from northern Bossier Parish who represented the old Fourth Congressional District of northwest Louisiana from December 1961 until January 1979.

Contents 1 Defeating Charlton Lyons 2 Waggonner's background 3 His chosen successor, "Buddy" Leach 4 Republican/Southern Democrat coalition 5 Relations with Presidents Nixon and Ford 6 Waggonner's legacy 7 References

[edit] Defeating Charlton Lyons

Waggonner won a special election in 1961 to succeed long-term Representative Overton Brooks, who died in office. He defeated a strong Republican challenger, Charlton Havard Lyons, Sr., a Shreveport oilman who was attempting to plant a GOP beachhead in then overwhelmingly Democratic Louisiana. Waggonner polled 33,892 votes (54.5 percent) to Lyons' 28,250 ballots (45.5 percent). Waggonner polled majorities in every parish except Lyons' home base, Caddo Parish. After the 1961 special election, Waggonner had no other serious opponents. He did not seek a tenth term in 1978.

[edit] Waggonner's background

Waggonner was born to Joe David Waggonner, Sr., and the former Elizzibeth (unusual spelling) Johnston. He graduated from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish, in 1941, where he was a member of Kappa Sigma. He married the former Mary Ruth Carter (born 1921 on December 14, 1942. The couple resides in Benton, the seat of Bossier Parish. They have two children, Carol Jean Waggonner of Benton and David Waggonner.

He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and in the Korean War and achieved the rank of lieutenant commander. He served thereafter in the U.S. Naval Reserve.

He was first elected to public office in 1954 -- the Bossier Parish School Board. He was president of the board from 1956-1957. In 1960, he was elected to the State Board of Education from the northwest Louisiana district; in 1961, he was chosen president of the Louisiana School Boards Association and president of the United Schools Committee of Louisiana. He was also instrumental in the founding of the White Citizens' Councils in the late 1950s.

Waggonner ran a wholesale petroleum products distribution agency for northern Bossier Parish.

[edit] His chosen successor, "Buddy" Leach

Waggonner was succeeded in office by his preferred candidate, then State Representative Anthony Claude "Buddy" Leach, Jr., of Leesville, the seat of Vernon Parish, another Democrat in Waggonner's "conservative" mold. Leach, however, was unable to cement his hold on the district and was unseated in the 1980 general election after a single term by fellow Democrat (later Republican) Charles E. "Buddy" Roemer, III. That 1980 House election was sometimes called the "battle of the Buddys" waged between Democrats Leach and Roemer. Waggonner's seat, however, remained Democratic for nine years after his retirement, before the Republican Jim McCrery, a Leesville native and a Shreveport resident, won it in a special election.

[edit] Republican/Southern Democrat coalition

In Congress, Waggonner often supported a then existing Republican-Southern Democratic coalition on various issues. He was fiscally conservative and opposed civil rights laws and many social programs. He took a "hawkish" position on the Vietnam War. He was both personally and politically close to President Nixon and opposed the president's impeachment over Watergate-related matters.

[edit] Relations with Presidents Nixon and Ford

In retirement, Waggonner flew to Yorba Linda, California, in April 1994, to attend Nixon's funeral. Though friendly with Nixon, he quarreled with Nixon's successor, Gerald R. Ford, when Ford, as a former president, came into the Fourth Congressional District in 1978 to support a Republican, the late Jimmy Wilson of Vivian (northern Caddo Parish), a former state representative who narrowly lost the race to Leach.

In the 1964 gubernatorial second primary and general election, Waggonner endorsed Democrat John McKeithen, who, like Waggonner in 1961, was opposed by the Republican Lyons. Waggonner was strongly opposed to the strengthening of the Republican Party in Louisiana. He once said that Louisiana was already a two-party system through its long-term "Long" and "anti-Long" competition. Nevertheless, in his later years, Waggonner did occasionally endorse Republicans, including the 1996 GOP nominee Robert J. "Bob" Dole, who ironically had been Ford's vice-presidential choice in 1976.

[edit] Waggonner's legacy

Waggonner's papers are at his alma mater, Louisiana Tech. Waggonner's late brother, W.E. "Willie" Waggonner, was a Democratic sheriff in Bossier Parish for many years.

Waggonner was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield in 1998, along with his former congressional colleague Speedy O. Long of Jena.

While leading the Southern conservative section of the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, later known as the "Boll Weevils", he wielded power with President Nixon that was often reserved for a speaker or a committee chairman. He was a powerful member of the House Ways and Means Committee and a key player the Republican president needed to get legislation passed in the House.

Waggonner skillfully used this influence to secure funding for Interstate 49 and the Inner and Outer Loop, as well as funding for the Red River Waterway. There would be no navigable Red River or Shreveport-Bossier City port without his work. He also was instrumental in persuading General Motors to build its Shreveport plant.

Waggonner was honored by having the federal courthouse in Shreveport named for him, but that facility has since been abandoned and replaced. He is honored by the Joe D. Waggonner Lock and Dam on the Red River. There is also a Joe D. Waggonner Scholarship in Engineering and Science at Louisiana Tech.

[edit] References

Billy Hathorn, "The Republican Party in Louisiana, 1920-1980," Master's thesis (1980), Northwestern State University at Natchitoches

http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000018

http://www.zoominfo.com/directory/Waggonner_Joe_898669350.htm

http://www.latech.edu/specialcollections/collections/m115.shtml www.latech.edu/facultyawards/bor_endowed_chairs.shtml

Who's Who in America, 1976-1977

Preceded by Overton Brooks (D)

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 4th congressional district 1961–1979

Succeeded by Anthony Claude "Buddy" Leach (D)