John H. Cade, Jr.

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John Hamilton Cade, Jr.
In office
1976 – 1978
Preceded by James Harvey Boyce, Sr., of Baton Rouge
Succeeded by George Joseph Despot of Shreveport
Born July 9, 1928(1928-07-09)
Flag of the United States Monroe, Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, USA
Died January 8, 1988 (aged 59)
Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana
Spouse Marie Howell Cade (1932-2006)
Children Martha Morse Cade (born 1963) and John Overton Cade (born 1966)
Occupation Businessman
Religion Christian Science
(1) Twice defeated for local offices, John Cade made his mark in politics as Louisiana Republican state chairman, having worked to elect David C. Treen as governor in 1979 but having failed miserably to reelect Treen in 1983.

(2) Cade attended his first Republican National Convention in 1964, when he voted to nominate U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona to challenge U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson.

John Hamilton Cade, Jr. (July 9, 1928 – January 8, 1988), was an Alexandria businessman and a pioneer in the development of the modern American Republican Party in Louisiana. Though he never held elected office himself, Cade was the GOP national committeeman and thereafter the Louisiana party chairman from 1976-1978. He was the campaign manager on several occasions for his close friend, David C. Treen, the first Louisiana Republican since Reconstruction to win election to the United States House of Representatives (1972) and thereafter to the governorship (1979).

Cade was born in Monroe to John Hamilton Cade, Sr. (1894-1981), and the former Carrie Flournoy (1895-1982). He and his father were owners of the former Alexandria Feed and Seed Co., which the senior Cade established in 1933. Cade married the former Marie Howell (November 26, 1932 -- September 17, 2006); they had two children.

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[edit] Early Republican campaigns

In 1964, he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention which met in San Francisco to nominate Barry M. Goldwater for president. It was at the Cow Palace conclave that he first met David Treen, a fellow Louisiana delegate.

In 1966, Cade was a Republican candidate for a then at-large seat on the Rapides Parish School Board. The entire GOP slate was defeated. Two years later, Cade ran unsuccessfully for the Rapides Parish Police Jury (equivalent of county commission in other states). Cade said that he never expected to be elected to local office: "I realized that I could do my best work behind the scenes."

Cade managed Treen's House races in the Third Congressional District in 1972, 1974, 1976, and 1978. The campaigns were herculean tasks at the time; the 1972 Treen victory being the first Republican breakthrough in modern Louisiana history, and the 1974 race mired in the political fallout from Watergate.

[edit] Cade and Treen split over Reagan and Ford

In the race for the 1976 Republican presidential nomination, Cade hitched his star to former California Governor Ronald W. Reagan. Although Treen had backed Reagan at the 1968 convention, he favored Gerald R. Ford, Jr.,in 1976.

Cade and Treen worked for Ford's election in the fall, but Louisiana supported the southern Democratic choice, former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter.

[edit] Managing Treen's gubernatorial runs

Treen held on to his House seat in the elections of 1976 and 1978, and entered the gubernatorial campaign of 1979 to choose a successor to term-limited Governor Edwin Washington Edwards. Cade was his campaign manager, and he devoted his activities nearly 24-7 to electing his friend as governor.

Cade viewed Treen's narrow victory in 1979 as "a significant turning point in Louisiana politics." He also commended the approximately 15,000 Treen volunteers: "We bucked a tremendous tide. I don't think that ever again that Republicans will meet the same tide of opposition because they are Republicans." Yet four years later, when Cade again wore the hat of campaign manager, he watched in dismay as Treen was unseated by a nearly 2-1 margin by Edwin Edwards.

Cade declined appointment to any state position under Treen but continued as an unpaid advisor to the new governor. Cade was also appointed to the Louisiana State University Board of Supervisors, having served until 1986.

[edit] Cade's legacy

Cade died of an apparent heart attack at the age of fifty-nine. He was a member of the Christian Science Church.

David Treen called his friend Cade "the unsung hero of the Louisiana Republican Party. Those close to him know how much he's given. But because of his nature, he didn't [sic] ever blow his horn."

Then U.S. Representative Clyde C. Holloway recalled that Cade had "in my early days been very, very helpful to me. He was a Republican when you could hold a convention in a telephone booth." Holloway, who served in Congress from 1987-1993, said that Cade came a long way toward achieving his goal of a two-party system in Louisiana. "The ball is definitely rolling. If only he'd had a few more years . . . to be around to see it," Holloway said.

At the time of Cade's passing, there were nearly 750,000 registered Republicans in Louisiana.

Alexandria GOP leader Charles Trent declared that Cade was "personally responsible for the growth of the Republican Party in this state. . . . All of us [Republicans] have always leaned on John Cade as an advisor and a consultant in so many things."

Former state Representative John W. "Jock" Scott of Alexandria, son of the late Judge Nauman Scott, and himself a Democrat-turned-Republican, said that Cade had "good political judgment and was reliable. . . . [Cade] has been a source of real common sense. [The Republican Party] is prone to a lot of personality conflicts, and he brought some maturity to those small-party type disadvantages. He was able to see all the personalities involved and move the party forward."

Cade is commemorated by the John H. Cade, Jr., Scholarship Fund at Louisiana State University at Alexandria, P.O. Box 100, Lecompte, LA, 71346.

Preceded by
James Harvey Boyce, Sr., of Baton Rouge		 Louisiana Republican State Chairman

John Hamilton Cade, Jr., of Alexandria
1976–1978

 Succeeded by
George Joseph Despot of Shreveport

[edit] References