Shelby M. Jackson

Shelby Marion Jackson
Jackson in one of his 1963 political advertisements
Louisiana Superintendent of Education
In office 1948 – May 1964
Preceded by	John Easterly Coxe
Succeeded by	William Joseph "Bill" Dodd
Personal details
Born	(1903-11-20)November 20, 1903 Concordia Parish, Louisiana, USA
Died	January 25, 1972 (age 68)
Resting place	Scott Cemetery in Monterey, Louisiana
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Phoebe Steele Jackson
Children	Patricia Diana Jackson
Alma mater	Louisiana State University
Occupation	Educator

Shelby Marion Jackson (November 20, 1903 – January 25, 1972)^[1] was a Democrat who served from 1948 to 1964 as the superintendent of public education in Louisiana. In the early 1960s, Jackson tried in vain to block federally authorized school desegregation. Jackson was posthumously honored in 1994 by the naming of the "Shelby M. Jackson Memorial Campus" of Louisiana Technical College in Ferriday.

Background

Jackson was a native of rural Monterey in Concordia Parish in eastern Louisiana. He held both Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.^[2]

A former educator, Jackson was elected four times as his state's school superintendent. In his first election in 1948, Jackson ran on the unsuccessful Sam Houston Jones gubernatorial slate but he managed to unseat the two-term incumbent superintendent, John Easterly Coxe,^[3] who in 1940 had defeated the 32-year superintendent T H Harris. Upon reelection in 1944, when he defeated fellow Democrat L. E. Frazier, Coxe claimed to have "stopped the Sam Jones machine in its effort to seize control of the schools."^[4]

In 1956, Jackson defeated two primary rivals to gain his third term as superintendent. In his last reelection on April 17, 1960, he overwhelmed the first Republican ever to seek the superintendency, Donald Emerich, a professor at Centenary College in Shreveport. Jackson polled 86.7 percent of the two-party vote, to Emerich's 13.3 percent.^[5] Jackson became well-known politically through his tenure as superintendent. For sixteen years, every child's report card in the state bore Jackson's stenciled signature. By the end of his fourth term as superintendent, the state had gained 340,000 more pupils than it had in 1948.^[6]

Jackson, as superintendent, advocated increased state spending on education to avoid dependence on federal financing. In a 1962 address in Minden, he said that inadequate financing and federal control of education were great dangers to public schools. He said that local administrators should not be burdened with finances but instead focus their time on strengthening instruction. He claimed that the interest group, the NAACP, followed 14-point goals set by the Communist Party of the United States. "It is important that we unite, work on this problem together, and return to constitutional government. We must do everything we can to place the United States first over all other nations and maintain our sovereignty."^[6]

Jackson runs for governor, 1963

Continuing his strong segregationist position, Jackson had on November 13, 1960, declared a school holiday in an attempt to thwart court-ordered school desegregation in Orleans Parish, where the first race-mixing was implemented in Louisiana schools. Jackson argued that the state should disobey the court order. The legislature in special session passed twenty-nine segregation laws, all struck down by Judge J. Skelly Wright of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The legislature also named Risley C. Triche of Napoleonville to head an eight-member committee to supervise the Orleans Parish schools and to maintain segregation. Wright's rulings however, were upheld, and desegregation proceeded.^[7]

Jackson was hospitalized in 1961 for several weeks but recovered. A journalist described him as "a militant anti-communist ... whose speeches run pretty long and are sometimes repetitive. He does not have good relations with some of the press. He can be pretty stubborn. He rarely seems relaxed."^[8]

As expected, Jackson entered the 1963 Democratic gubernatorial primary. He campaigned on an intraparty ticket with New Orleans attorney Harry R. Cabral (1926–1998), who sought the position of lieutenant governor against the incumbent conservative Taddy Aycock of Franklin in St. Mary Parish. Jackson was said to represent "dissent against the 'liberal' tendencies in both state and national government" and seemingly expected to "ride the current wave of 'conservative' protest into office."^[9] He carried the endorsement of the since defunct Shreveport Journal in part because of his support for unpledged electors in the upcoming 1964 presidential election.^[10]

Jackson finished fifth with 103,945 votes (11.5 percent). Others fared worse, including outgoing State Representative Louis J. Michot of Lafayette, a future education superintendent, and Frank Voelker, Jr., an attorney from Lake Providence who left the states' rights panel, the Louisiana Sovereignty Commission, to make the race for governor but withdrew before the primary election.

Had he run for a fifth term as superintendent and not for governor, it has been speculated that a clear majority of his votes would have otherwise gone to the fourth-place candidate, former Governor Robert F. Kennon of Minden in Webster Parish. Therefore, with more than half of Jackson's votes added to his total, Kennon, not fellow Democrat John McKeithen, would have entered the party runoff contest with the Number 1 primary candidate, former New Orleans Mayor deLesseps Story Morrison

One may indeed argue that Jackson had little chance of being governor, but he inadvertently denied Kennon the likelihood of a second nonconsecutive term. Jackson endorsed the successful McKeithen in the runoff with Morrison. Cabral finished far behind in the lieutenant governor's race as well, with victory going once again to Aycock.

Dodd's dirty trick on Jackson

Jackson was succeeded as superintendent by his fellow Democrat, William J. "Bill" Dodd, who served from 1964 to 1972. Dodd claimed in his memoirs Peapatch Politics: The Earl Long Era in Louisiana Politics that he and his friends encouraged Jackson to run for governor to clear the way for Dodd to seek the superintendency. Dodd said that many of his own backers sent personal letters to Jackson with $1 bills as campaign contributions to demonstrate "grass-roots" support for the segregationist candidate. And Jackson fell for Dodd's bait—entering a gubernatorial race that he could not win and surrendering his superintendency, which he may well have retained had he sought a fifth term. It was a "dirty trick" to which Dodd confesses in his memoirs.^[11]

Dodd said that Jackson had tried to capitalize on the desegregation crisis: "Shelby Jackson was too dumb and schoolteacherish to use his great opportunities effectively. Too, my being on the [state education] board and gigging him quietly didn't help his cause much."^[11]

Shelby M. Jackson Building at 2100 E. E. Wallace Boulevard North in Ferriday, Louisiana

Shelby M. Jackson Campus

Jackson, his widow, Phoebe Steele Jackson (September 3, 1904 – November 5, 2005), and their daughter, Patricia Diana Jackson (January 30, 1937 – December 6, 1999)^[12] are interred at Scott Cemetery in Monterey in Concordia Parish.^[1] Mrs. Jackson left an endowment for the renamed Shelby M. Jackson Campus in 1994 and then expanded the financial support in 1997. It had been originally the Concordia Parish Trade School, then Concordia Vocational-Technical School, and then Concordia Technical Institute until it was renamed in honor of Jackson.

References