Oscar K. Allen
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Oscar Kelly Allen, Sr. (August 8, 1882 - January 28, 1936), also known as O. K. Allen, was the Democratic governor of Louisiana from 1932 to 1936. He was a key lieutenant in the political machine of Huey Pierce Long, Jr., that dominated the state during the first half of the 1930s. Allen succeeded Alvin Olin King, who served briefly in the state's highest office after Long left the governorship to take a seat in the United States Senate.
Allen was born in a log cabin in Winn Parish to Asa Levi Allen and the former Sophronia Perkins. He attended Winn Parish schools, the Springfield Normal School and Business College in Springfield, Missouri, and Trinity University, a private institution then in Waxahachie, Texas, south of Dallas in Ellis County. (Trinity is now in San Antonio.)
Allen taught school in Winn Parish in 1898 and later in Mineral Springs and Pleasant Hill in Sabine Parish. In 1908, he was an assistant registrar at Trinity. Thereafter, he worked at times in farming, railroads, the mercantile business, and in oil drilling.
Allen married the former Florence Scott Love of Paris, Texas, the seat of Lamar County, on December 4, 1912. They had three children: Joyce Love (Mrs. Frederick J. Stare), Oscar Kelly Allen, Jr. (born 1915), and Asa Benton Allen (born 1925)
Allen took an early, active interest in politics and civic affairs. He was elected tax assessor in Winn Parish and served from 1916-1920. He was the clerk of the Winn Parish Police Jury (equivalent of county commission in other states) from 1924-1927. He was elected to the Louisiana state Senate in 1928 in the wake of Long's landslide victory in the gubernatorial election. He was Long's floor leader in the Senate. Allen also served as chairman of the state Highway Commission from 1928 until 1930, when the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that holding both legislative and executive positions simultaneously was unconstitutional.
Allen was elected governor in the shadow of Huey Long, who had relocated to Washington, D.C., to assume his senatorial duties. Allen merely served as an instrument to carry through Long's wishes, earning the nickname "OK" Allen for his approval of all of Long's intended measures. There is one story, undoubtedly false but valuable for the perception of Allen that it demonstrates, that a leaf blew into "OK" Allen's office one day and that he signed it, thinking it was legislation from Long.
Allen died in the governor's mansion of a brain hemorrhage. At the time of his death, he was the Democratic nominee for Long's vacated seat in the United States Senate. He had won the Senate nomination with an unprecedented 200,000-vote plurality, but he did not live to assume the office, which went thereafter to Allen J. Ellender of Houma, the seat of Terrebonne Parish in Acadiana.
Allen is honored by the O.K. Allen Bridge atop the Red River between Alexandria and Pineville.
His younger brother, Asa Leonard Allen represented the former Eighth Congressional District, based in central Louisiana, in the United States House of Representatives from 1937-1953.
[edit] External links
"Oscar K. Allen," A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, Vol. I (1988), p. 10
| Preceded by Alvin Olin King (D) |
Governor of Louisiana 1932–1936 |
Succeeded by James Albert Noe, Sr., (D) |
| Governors of Louisiana |  |
|---|---|
| First Period of Statehood (1812-1861): Claiborne • Villeré • Robertson • Thibodaux • H. Johnson • Derbigny • Beauvais • Dupre • Roman • White • Roman • Mouton • I. Johnson • Walker • Hébert • Wickliffe • Moore
Confederate Louisiana (1861-1865): Moore • H. Allen Union-Controlled Louisiana (1862-1865): Shepley • Hahn Reconstruction Era (1865-1868): Wells • Flanders • Baker Second Period of Statehood (1868-Present): Warmoth • Pinchback • J. McEnery • Kellogg • Nicholls • Wiltz • S. McEnery • Nicholls • Foster • Heard • Blanchard • Sanders • Hall • Pleasant • Parker • Fuqua • Simpson • H. Long • King • O. Allen • Noe • Leche • E. Long • Jones • Davis • E. Long • Kennon • E. Long • Davis • McKeithen • Edwards • Treen • Edwards • Roemer • Edwards • Foster Jr. • Blanco |
