Difference between revisions of "James M. McLemore"
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{{Infobox person | {{Infobox person | ||
| name=James McGoldrick McLemore<br> | | name=James McGoldrick McLemore<br> | ||
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|spouse=Kathyrne Duff McLemore<br> | |spouse=Kathyrne Duff McLemore<br> | ||
Two children<br> | Two children<br> | ||
| − | Parents:<br> | + | '''Parents''':<br> |
Patrick Cleburne McLemore, Sr.<br> | Patrick Cleburne McLemore, Sr.<br> | ||
| − | Theodosia McGoldrick | + | Theodosia McGoldrick McLemore |
| − | + | | residence=[[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]], <br>Louisiana}} | |
| − | | residence=[[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]], <br>Louisiana | + | |
| − | + | '''James McGoldrick McLemore''' (April 6, 1907 – 1997) was a landowner, [[cattle]]man, and auction barn owner from [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] who ran unsuccessfully in 1952 and 1956 for the [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[Governor|gubernatorial]] nomination in his native [[Louisiana]]. In the second election, he became the first candidate for governor to base his campaign almost entirely on the preservation of racial [[segregation]] in the aftermath of the May 17, 1954 [[United States Supreme Court]] decision ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]].''<ref name=perez/> The victors in the two elections were [[Robert F. Kennon]] and [[Earl Long|Earl Kemp Long]], respectively. | |
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| − | '''James McGoldrick McLemore''' (April 6, 1907 – 1997) was a landowner, [[cattle]]man, and auction barn owner from [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] who ran unsuccessfully in 1952 and 1956 for the [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[Governor|gubernatorial]] nomination in his native [[Louisiana]]. In the second election, he became the first candidate for governor to base his campaign almost entirely on the preservation of racial [[segregation]] in the aftermath of the May 17, 1954 [[United States Supreme Court]] decision ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' | ||
==Background== | ==Background== | ||
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| − | McLemore was born in Coushatta in Red River Parish in northwestern Louisiana, the oldest of three children of Patrick Cleburne McLemore, Sr. (1878-1962), and the former Theodosia McGoldrick (1882-1944). His sister was Sarah Lucy McLemore Fenton (1911-1984),<ref name=findagrave/> the widow of Arthur Phillips Fenton, who was killed in [[World War II]] in 1943 and is interred at [[Arlington National Cemetery]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49180851|title=Arthur Phillips Fenton|publisher= | + | McLemore was born in Coushatta in Red River Parish in northwestern Louisiana, the oldest of three children of Patrick Cleburne McLemore, Sr. (1878-1962), and the former Theodosia McGoldrick (1882-1944). His sister was Sarah Lucy McLemore Fenton (1911-1984),<ref name=findagrave/> the widow of Arthur Phillips Fenton, who was killed in [[World War II]] in 1943 and is interred at [[Arlington National Cemetery]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49180851|title=Arthur Phillips Fenton|publisher=Findagrave.com|accessdate=August 27, 2014}}</ref> His younger brother, Patrick Cleburne McLemore, Jr. (1913-1921), died six weeks before his eighth birthday. McLemore was married to the former Kathyrne Duff (1906-1997).<ref name=findagrave>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=McLemore&GSfn=James&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=20&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=131156101&df=all&|title=James McGoldrick McLemore|publisher=Findagrave.com|accessdate=August 27, 2014}}</ref><ref>The McLemore gravestone does not give the month and day of death; it is unclear if the McLemores died on the same day in a common event or if, more likely, one preceded the other in death in the year 1997.</ref> |
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| − | In 1947, McLemore was elected a director of the American Brahman Breeders Association at a meeting in [[Houston, Texas|Houston]], [[Texas]].<ref>{{cite web|url= | + | In 1947, McLemore was elected a director of the American Brahman Breeders Association at a meeting in [[Houston, Texas|Houston]], [[Texas]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth7925/|title=Directors of the American Brahman Breeders Association|publisher=Texashistory.unt.edu|accessdate=October 30, 2013}}</ref> Because of his wealth, McLemore was sometimes called "Cadillac Mac".<ref name=perez/> |
| − | http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth7925/|title=Directors of the American Brahman Breeders Association|publisher= | + | |
| − | Because of his wealth, McLemore was sometimes called "Cadillac Mac".<ref name=perez/> | ||
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He was a chairman of the [[Louisiana State University]] Board of Supervisors.<ref name=findagrave/> | He was a chairman of the [[Louisiana State University]] Board of Supervisors.<ref name=findagrave/> | ||
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==1952 campaign== | ==1952 campaign== | ||
| − | In | + | |
| + | In then 1952 gubernatorial campaign, McLemore spoke strongly against the "Fair Deal" of [[U.S. President]] [[Harry Truman]], who had lost Louisiana's [[electoral votes]] in 1948 to [[Strom Thurmond]], then the governor of [[South Carolina]], who ran on the [[Dixiecrat]] ticket but was the official Democratic nominee in Louisiana. McLemore in 1952 carried the endorsement of [[Leander Perez]], the political boss of Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes and a former Thurmond supporter, who at first had toyed with the candidacy of [[Lucille May Grace]], the register of state lands. Regardless, Perez wanted to defeat candidates supporting both Truman and Earl Long, who was at the time term-limited in the governor's office and was hence supporting Carlos G. Spaht, Sr., a state court judge in [[Baton Rouge]], rather than his lieutenant governor, [[Bill Dodd]].<ref name=perez>{{cite book|url= | ||
https://books.google.com/books?id=A2ZXz67oSdAC&pg=PA151&lpg=PA151&dq=James+M.+McLemore+of+Alexandria&source=bl&ots=tybRsQ0jdo&sig=5dOQiQbq3ZzpaycT-rZjK7PX1SA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8S1wUu7RCrTC2gWnyICACw&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=James%20M.%20McLemore%20of%20Alexandria&f=false|title=Glen Jeansonne, Leander Perez: Boss of the Delta|publisher=Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1977, 1995, 2006, pp. 151-152, 161|accessdate=October 29, 2013}}</ref> | https://books.google.com/books?id=A2ZXz67oSdAC&pg=PA151&lpg=PA151&dq=James+M.+McLemore+of+Alexandria&source=bl&ots=tybRsQ0jdo&sig=5dOQiQbq3ZzpaycT-rZjK7PX1SA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8S1wUu7RCrTC2gWnyICACw&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=James%20M.%20McLemore%20of%20Alexandria&f=false|title=Glen Jeansonne, Leander Perez: Boss of the Delta|publisher=Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1977, 1995, 2006, pp. 151-152, 161|accessdate=October 29, 2013}}</ref> | ||
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| − | The since defunct ''New Orleans States Press'' endorsed McLemore. The publication declared that McLemore "tells the same story in every parish" | + | The since defunct ''New Orleans States Press'' endorsed McLemore. The publication declared that McLemore "tells the same story in every parish" and did not gear his message for a specific audience, locality, or region ... He hasn't got any political machine behind him. All the big ones are pledged to other candidates. What McLemore has behind him is the independent people who like a candidate who faces up to the issues."<ref>''New Orleans States Press'', December 14, 1951, p. 5.</ref> McLemore received the support of his home-town newspaper, the ''[[Alexandria Town Talk]],'' which criticized the record of outgoing Governor Earl Long.<ref name=mpress>''Minden Press,'' January 11, 1952, p. 13.</ref> Long referred to McLemore as "a blabbermouth".<ref>''Minden Press'', November 23, 1951.</ref> |
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At first McLemore carried the backing of the weekly newspaper, ''The Franklin Sun'' in Winnsboro in Franklin Parish, but prior to the primary, that publication switched to another candidate, [[U.S. Representative]] [[Hale Boggs]] of Louisiana's New Orleans-based 2nd congressional district, who finished third in the primary. The ''Franklin Sun'' hailed Boggs for his experience and declared him "morally and politically clean."<ref name=heralddec>''Minden Herald'', December 28, 1951, p. 6.</ref>''The Bastrop Clarion'' in Bastrop in Morehouse Parish, stood with McLemore and questioned why ''The Franklin Sun'' had endorsed a candidate that it considered only "second best".<ref name=heralddec/> | At first McLemore carried the backing of the weekly newspaper, ''The Franklin Sun'' in Winnsboro in Franklin Parish, but prior to the primary, that publication switched to another candidate, [[U.S. Representative]] [[Hale Boggs]] of Louisiana's New Orleans-based 2nd congressional district, who finished third in the primary. The ''Franklin Sun'' hailed Boggs for his experience and declared him "morally and politically clean."<ref name=heralddec>''Minden Herald'', December 28, 1951, p. 6.</ref>''The Bastrop Clarion'' in Bastrop in Morehouse Parish, stood with McLemore and questioned why ''The Franklin Sun'' had endorsed a candidate that it considered only "second best".<ref name=heralddec/> | ||
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''The New Orleans Times-Picayune'' did not support its hometown Representative Boggs in that race but instead endorsed McLemore: | ''The New Orleans Times-Picayune'' did not support its hometown Representative Boggs in that race but instead endorsed McLemore: | ||
| − | + | <blockquote>A successful businessman whose word is respected, [McLemore] has the kind of experience good government needs. ... Louisiana needs a sound, efficient, and honest business administration to cut out the political deadheads and spoilsmen, restore a healthy balance in its fiscal affairs, and give its people a just, fair, and equitable return for their tax moneys. ... Throw off factional collar and strike down political bossdom.<ref>''The New Orleans Times-Picayune'' editorial, reprinted in ''Minden Herald'', December 21, 1951.</ref></blockquote> | |
| − | <blockquote>A successful businessman whose word is respected, [McLemore] has the kind of experience | + | |
| − | + | Running with McLemore in 1952 for statewide offices were G. M. "Jimmie" Bodenheimer of [[Shreveport]] for state attorney general, a position won by [[Fred S. LeBlanc]], and [[Lionel Ott]], a member of the New Orleans City Council for lieutenant governor, an office won instead by [[C. E. "Cap" Barham]], an [[attorney]] from [[Ruston, Louisiana|Ruston]]. McLemore also endorsed Robert Kennon's successful choice for auditor, [[Allison Kolb]] of Baton Rouge, originally from Colfax in Grant Parish.<ref>''Minden Herald,'' January 3, 1952, p. 1.</ref> | |
| − | Running with McLemore in 1952 for statewide offices were G. M. "Jimmie" Bodenheimer of [[Shreveport]] for state attorney general, a position won by Fred S. LeBlanc, and Lionel Ott, a member of the New Orleans City Council for lieutenant governor, an office won instead by | + | |
| − | "Cap" Barham | + | McLemore held a political rally, called a "Citizens Revolt" at the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium, the home of the Louisiana Hayride, in which he denounced the "professional politicians". He assured the nearly 1,500 in attendance that he was no politician at all but a lifelong businessman.<ref>"Professional Politicians McLemore Rally Target", ''The Shreveport Times,'' November 15, 1951, p. 3.</ref> |
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| − | McLemore held a political rally, called a "Citizens Revolt" at the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium, the home of the Louisiana Hayride, in which he denounced the "professional politicians". He assured the nearly 1,500 in attendance that he was no politician at all but a lifelong businessman.<ref>"Professional Politicians McLemore Rally Target", ''The Shreveport Times'' | + | McLemore finished in fourth place in 1952 with 116,405 votes (15.3 percent).<ref name=electionstats>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RB2Hxcg4zNoC&pg=PA511|author=[[Milburn E. Calhoun]]|publisher=Louisiana Almanac, 2008-2009|publisher=Pelican|year=2009|page=511|accessdate=October 29, 2013}}</ref> In that race on primary election night, McLemore endorsed Kennon, a judge in [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]], who went into a runoff election against the Long-backed candidate, Judge Spaht.<ref>"McLemore for Kennon," ''Minden Press,'' January 21, 1952, p. 9.</ref> |
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| − | McLemore finished in fourth place in 1952 with 116,405 votes (15.3 percent).<ref name=electionstats>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RB2Hxcg4zNoC&pg=PA511|author=[[Milburn E. Calhoun]]|publisher=Louisiana Almanac, 2008-2009|publisher=Pelican|year= 2009|page=511|accessdate=October 29, 2013}}</ref> In that race on primary election night, McLemore endorsed Kennon, a judge in [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]], who went into a runoff election against the Long-backed candidate, Judge Spaht.<ref>"McLemore for Kennon" | ||
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After the governor's race, McLemore was a Louisiana delegate to the 1952 [[Democratic National Convention]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/mcleary-mclennan.html|title=Index to Politicians: Mclear to Mclennon|publisher=The Political Graveyard|accessdate=October 30, 2013}}</ref> which met in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], to nominate [[Adlai Stevenson|Adlai E. Stevenson, II]], and [[John Sparkman]] to carry the party banner against the [[Republican Party|Republican]] ticket of [[Dwight Eisenhower]] and [[Richard M. Nixon]]. Stevenson won the Louisiana electoral vote in 1952 but not in 1956 when he was again the Democrat standard-bearer against Eisenhower. | After the governor's race, McLemore was a Louisiana delegate to the 1952 [[Democratic National Convention]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/mcleary-mclennan.html|title=Index to Politicians: Mclear to Mclennon|publisher=The Political Graveyard|accessdate=October 30, 2013}}</ref> which met in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], to nominate [[Adlai Stevenson|Adlai E. Stevenson, II]], and [[John Sparkman]] to carry the party banner against the [[Republican Party|Republican]] ticket of [[Dwight Eisenhower]] and [[Richard M. Nixon]]. Stevenson won the Louisiana electoral vote in 1952 but not in 1956 when he was again the Democrat standard-bearer against Eisenhower. | ||
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==1956 campaign== | ==1956 campaign== | ||
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| − | When he ran governor once again in 1956, McLemore | + | When he ran for governor once again in 1956, McLemore finished fifth with 48,188 votes (5.9 percent)<ref name=electionstats/> in the contest dominated by Earl Long, who carried sixty-two of the state's sixty-four parishes in Long's last return to the governor's office. In that race, Leander Perez and outgoing Governor Robert Kennon supported not McLemore but the fourth-placed candidate, [[Fred Preaus]] of Farmerville in Union Parish, a former highway director in the Kennon administration. In invoking the racial issue, McLemore accused Long of having "encouraged" the registration of [[African-American]] voters who were likely to support Long-backed candidates in the Democratic primaries.<ref name=perez/> In his second gubernatorial bid, McLemore ran with J. B. Alexander as his candidate for lieutenant governor.<ref>''Minden Press,'' January 16, 1956, p. 10.</ref> |
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| − | Similarly, McLemore claimed that Kennon, whom he had supported in the 1952 runoff election against Spaht, had done too little in office as governor to defend segregation but was on that issue "like an ostrich with his head buried in the sand."<ref name=segregation>"McLemore outlines plan on segregation", ''Minden Herald,'' December 22, 1955.</ref> McLemore said that he would if elected call a conference of other southern governors to develop a regional strategy to defend segregation.<ref name=segregation/> As the campaign wound down, McLemore said that desegregation would lead to miscegenation, and he further claimed that the [[NAACP]] had been infiltrated by [[Communism|communists]]. The NAACP, he said, was a "minority communistic-inspired group." A vote for McLemore, he claimed, would be "an escape from the integration vice that is closing on us from both outside and within."<ref>''Minden Herald'' | + | Similarly, McLemore claimed that Kennon, whom he had supported in the 1952 runoff election against Spaht, had done too little in office as governor to defend segregation but was on that issue "like an ostrich with his head buried in the sand."<ref name=segregation>"McLemore outlines plan on segregation", ''Minden Herald,'' December 22, 1955.</ref> McLemore said that he would if elected call a conference of other southern governors to develop a regional strategy to defend segregation.<ref name=segregation/> As the campaign wound down, McLemore said that desegregation would lead to miscegenation, and he further claimed that the [[NAACP]] had been infiltrated by [[Communism|communists]]. The NAACP, he said, was a "minority communistic-inspired group." A vote for McLemore, he claimed, would be "an escape from the integration vice that is closing on us from both outside and within."<ref>''Minden Herald,'' January 10, 1956, p. 2.</ref> He urged voters to rally to his cause and the "South's way of life."<ref>''Minden Herald'' and ''Webster Signal,'' January 12, 1956, p. 2.</ref> |
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==Death== | ==Death== | ||
James and Kathryne McLemore had two children.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://records.ancestry.com/james_mcgoldrick_mclemore_records.ashx?pid=38329486|title=James McGoldrick McLemore|publisher=records.ancestry|accessdate=August 27, 2014}}</ref> Both died in 1997 and are interred at Springville Cemetery off U.S. Highway 71 in his native Coushatta. The gravestone reads "God is our refuge and strength." The marker does not give the month and day of the death of either McLemore.<ref name=findagrave/> | James and Kathryne McLemore had two children.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://records.ancestry.com/james_mcgoldrick_mclemore_records.ashx?pid=38329486|title=James McGoldrick McLemore|publisher=records.ancestry|accessdate=August 27, 2014}}</ref> Both died in 1997 and are interred at Springville Cemetery off U.S. Highway 71 in his native Coushatta. The gravestone reads "God is our refuge and strength." The marker does not give the month and day of the death of either McLemore.<ref name=findagrave/> | ||
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==References== | ==References== | ||
{{reflist}} | {{reflist}} | ||
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{{DEFAULTSORT:McLemore, James M.}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:McLemore, James M.}} | ||
[[Category:Louisiana People]] | [[Category:Louisiana People]] | ||
[[Category:Business People]] | [[Category:Business People]] | ||
| + | [[Category:Ranchers]] | ||
[[Category:Politicians]] | [[Category:Politicians]] | ||
[[Category:Democrats]] | [[Category:Democrats]] | ||
Latest revision as of 19:18, October 12, 2022
| James McGoldrick McLemore (Louisiana businessman and politician) | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 6, 1907 Coushatta, Red River Parish Louisiana, USA |
| Died | 1997 (aged. c. 90) Resting place: |
| Political Party | Louisiana gubernatorial candidate in 1952 and 1956 |
| Spouse | Kathyrne Duff McLemore Two children |
James McGoldrick McLemore (April 6, 1907 – 1997) was a landowner, cattleman, and auction barn owner from Alexandria who ran unsuccessfully in 1952 and 1956 for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in his native Louisiana. In the second election, he became the first candidate for governor to base his campaign almost entirely on the preservation of racial segregation in the aftermath of the May 17, 1954 United States Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education.[1] The victors in the two elections were Robert F. Kennon and Earl Kemp Long, respectively.
Background
McLemore was born in Coushatta in Red River Parish in northwestern Louisiana, the oldest of three children of Patrick Cleburne McLemore, Sr. (1878-1962), and the former Theodosia McGoldrick (1882-1944). His sister was Sarah Lucy McLemore Fenton (1911-1984),[2] the widow of Arthur Phillips Fenton, who was killed in World War II in 1943 and is interred at Arlington National Cemetery.[3] His younger brother, Patrick Cleburne McLemore, Jr. (1913-1921), died six weeks before his eighth birthday. McLemore was married to the former Kathyrne Duff (1906-1997).[2][4]
In 1947, McLemore was elected a director of the American Brahman Breeders Association at a meeting in Houston, Texas.[5] Because of his wealth, McLemore was sometimes called "Cadillac Mac".[1]
He was a chairman of the Louisiana State University Board of Supervisors.[2]
1952 campaign
In then 1952 gubernatorial campaign, McLemore spoke strongly against the "Fair Deal" of U.S. President Harry Truman, who had lost Louisiana's electoral votes in 1948 to Strom Thurmond, then the governor of South Carolina, who ran on the Dixiecrat ticket but was the official Democratic nominee in Louisiana. McLemore in 1952 carried the endorsement of Leander Perez, the political boss of Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes and a former Thurmond supporter, who at first had toyed with the candidacy of Lucille May Grace, the register of state lands. Regardless, Perez wanted to defeat candidates supporting both Truman and Earl Long, who was at the time term-limited in the governor's office and was hence supporting Carlos G. Spaht, Sr., a state court judge in Baton Rouge, rather than his lieutenant governor, Bill Dodd.[1]
The since defunct New Orleans States Press endorsed McLemore. The publication declared that McLemore "tells the same story in every parish" and did not gear his message for a specific audience, locality, or region ... He hasn't got any political machine behind him. All the big ones are pledged to other candidates. What McLemore has behind him is the independent people who like a candidate who faces up to the issues."[6] McLemore received the support of his home-town newspaper, the Alexandria Town Talk, which criticized the record of outgoing Governor Earl Long.[7] Long referred to McLemore as "a blabbermouth".[8]
At first McLemore carried the backing of the weekly newspaper, The Franklin Sun in Winnsboro in Franklin Parish, but prior to the primary, that publication switched to another candidate, U.S. Representative Hale Boggs of Louisiana's New Orleans-based 2nd congressional district, who finished third in the primary. The Franklin Sun hailed Boggs for his experience and declared him "morally and politically clean."[9]The Bastrop Clarion in Bastrop in Morehouse Parish, stood with McLemore and questioned why The Franklin Sun had endorsed a candidate that it considered only "second best".[9]
The New Orleans Times-Picayune did not support its hometown Representative Boggs in that race but instead endorsed McLemore:
A successful businessman whose word is respected, [McLemore] has the kind of experience good government needs. ... Louisiana needs a sound, efficient, and honest business administration to cut out the political deadheads and spoilsmen, restore a healthy balance in its fiscal affairs, and give its people a just, fair, and equitable return for their tax moneys. ... Throw off factional collar and strike down political bossdom.[10]
Running with McLemore in 1952 for statewide offices were G. M. "Jimmie" Bodenheimer of Shreveport for state attorney general, a position won by Fred S. LeBlanc, and Lionel Ott, a member of the New Orleans City Council for lieutenant governor, an office won instead by C. E. "Cap" Barham, an attorney from Ruston. McLemore also endorsed Robert Kennon's successful choice for auditor, Allison Kolb of Baton Rouge, originally from Colfax in Grant Parish.[11]
McLemore held a political rally, called a "Citizens Revolt" at the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium, the home of the Louisiana Hayride, in which he denounced the "professional politicians". He assured the nearly 1,500 in attendance that he was no politician at all but a lifelong businessman.[12]
McLemore finished in fourth place in 1952 with 116,405 votes (15.3 percent).[13] In that race on primary election night, McLemore endorsed Kennon, a judge in Minden, who went into a runoff election against the Long-backed candidate, Judge Spaht.[14]
After the governor's race, McLemore was a Louisiana delegate to the 1952 Democratic National Convention,[15] which met in Chicago, Illinois, to nominate Adlai E. Stevenson, II, and John Sparkman to carry the party banner against the Republican ticket of Dwight Eisenhower and Richard M. Nixon. Stevenson won the Louisiana electoral vote in 1952 but not in 1956 when he was again the Democrat standard-bearer against Eisenhower.
1956 campaign
When he ran for governor once again in 1956, McLemore finished fifth with 48,188 votes (5.9 percent)[13] in the contest dominated by Earl Long, who carried sixty-two of the state's sixty-four parishes in Long's last return to the governor's office. In that race, Leander Perez and outgoing Governor Robert Kennon supported not McLemore but the fourth-placed candidate, Fred Preaus of Farmerville in Union Parish, a former highway director in the Kennon administration. In invoking the racial issue, McLemore accused Long of having "encouraged" the registration of African-American voters who were likely to support Long-backed candidates in the Democratic primaries.[1] In his second gubernatorial bid, McLemore ran with J. B. Alexander as his candidate for lieutenant governor.[16]
Similarly, McLemore claimed that Kennon, whom he had supported in the 1952 runoff election against Spaht, had done too little in office as governor to defend segregation but was on that issue "like an ostrich with his head buried in the sand."[17] McLemore said that he would if elected call a conference of other southern governors to develop a regional strategy to defend segregation.[17] As the campaign wound down, McLemore said that desegregation would lead to miscegenation, and he further claimed that the NAACP had been infiltrated by communists. The NAACP, he said, was a "minority communistic-inspired group." A vote for McLemore, he claimed, would be "an escape from the integration vice that is closing on us from both outside and within."[18] He urged voters to rally to his cause and the "South's way of life."[19]
Death
James and Kathryne McLemore had two children.[20] Both died in 1997 and are interred at Springville Cemetery off U.S. Highway 71 in his native Coushatta. The gravestone reads "God is our refuge and strength." The marker does not give the month and day of the death of either McLemore.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Glen Jeansonne, Leander Perez: Boss of the Delta. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1977, 1995, 2006, pp. 151-152, 161. Retrieved on October 29, 2013.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 James McGoldrick McLemore. Findagrave.com. Retrieved on August 27, 2014.
- ↑ Arthur Phillips Fenton. Findagrave.com. Retrieved on August 27, 2014.
- ↑ The McLemore gravestone does not give the month and day of death; it is unclear if the McLemores died on the same day in a common event or if, more likely, one preceded the other in death in the year 1997.
- ↑ Directors of the American Brahman Breeders Association. Texashistory.unt.edu. Retrieved on October 30, 2013.
- ↑ New Orleans States Press, December 14, 1951, p. 5.
- ↑ Minden Press, January 11, 1952, p. 13.
- ↑ Minden Press, November 23, 1951.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Minden Herald, December 28, 1951, p. 6.
- ↑ The New Orleans Times-Picayune editorial, reprinted in Minden Herald, December 21, 1951.
- ↑ Minden Herald, January 3, 1952, p. 1.
- ↑ "Professional Politicians McLemore Rally Target", The Shreveport Times, November 15, 1951, p. 3.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Milburn E. Calhoun (2009). {{{title}}}. Pelican. Retrieved on October 29, 2013.
- ↑ "McLemore for Kennon," Minden Press, January 21, 1952, p. 9.
- ↑ Index to Politicians: Mclear to Mclennon. The Political Graveyard. Retrieved on October 30, 2013.
- ↑ Minden Press, January 16, 1956, p. 10.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 "McLemore outlines plan on segregation", Minden Herald, December 22, 1955.
- ↑ Minden Herald, January 10, 1956, p. 2.
- ↑ Minden Herald and Webster Signal, January 12, 1956, p. 2.
- ↑ James McGoldrick McLemore. records.ancestry. Retrieved on August 27, 2014.