Allen J. Ellender

Allen J. Ellender

Allen Joseph Ellender (born September 24, 1890 in Montegut , Terrebonne Parish , Louisiana , †  July 27, 1972 in Bethesda , Maryland ) was an American politician and from 1937 until his death US Senator for the state of Louisiana. He was a Democrat and an original ally of the legendary Huey Long .

Early years

Allen Ellender attended public and private schools. He then graduated in 1909 from St. Aloysius Catholic College (now Brother Martin High School ) in New Orleans . He then studied law at Tulane University in New Orleans. He was admitted to the bar in 1913 and then opened a practice in Houma .

Political career

Ellender was district attorney for Houma from 1913 to 1915 and then District Attorney for Terrebonne Parish from 1915 to 1916. During World War I , he served as sergeant in the US Army Artillery Corps from 1917 to 1918 .

Ellender took part in 1921 as a delegate to Louisiana's constitutional convention. The constitution passed there by the committee was then withdrawn in 1974, two years after Ellender's death. In 1924 he became a deputy in the Louisiana House of Representatives voted and held this office until 1936. During this time he was from 1928 to 1932 faction leaders and then from 1932 to 1936 Speaker of the House when he was elected to the US Senate.

He took the seat that had been held by Long until then and was actually intended for the Democratic candidate Oscar K. Allen from Winnfield . Allen passed away after winning the Democratic nomination by a majority of 200,000 votes. His death paved the way for Ellender's election.

During his tenure in the US Senate, Ellender served as Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee from 1951 to 1953, and from 1955 to 1971. During that time, he was a strong advocate of government sugar cane holdings. Furthermore, like almost all senators from the southern states, he signed the so-called " Southern Manifesto " in 1956, which condemned a court ruling in terms of racial equality. From 1971 until his death he also chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee . But he also held the office of President pro tempore of the Senate in 1971 and 1972.

Ellender, along with the Liberal Republican Ralph Flanders of Vermont, vocalized against McCarthyism and attacked the investigative methods into communism used by Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin .

Honors

The Ellender Memorial High School in Houma and the Allen Ellender Middle School in Marrero were named after him. Furthermore, Ellender was posthumously inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield in 1994 .

literature

• Dictionary of American Biography; Becnel, Thomas A. Senator Allen Ellender of Louisiana: A Biography. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996; US Congress. Memorial Services. 92nd Cong., 2nd sess., 1972. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office , 1974.

Web links

• Allen J. Ellender in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Alexandria Daily Town Talk, October 12, 1948, November 1960
• City of Winnfield