Speedy O. Long

Speedy O. Long (1969)

Speedy Oteria Long (born June 16, 1928 in Tullos , La Salle Parish , Louisiana , †  October 5, 2006 in Trout , Louisiana) was an American politician . Between 1965 and 1973 he represented the state of Louisiana in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Speedy Long was a member of the Long family, which was very influential in Louisiana. Its most prominent members included Huey Pierce Long , Rose McConnell Long , Russell B. Long , George S. Long , Gillis William Long and Earl Long ; these were members of Congress and / or governors of Louisiana. He attended the public schools in his home country and graduated from Winnfield High School in 1945 . Long served in the US Navy between 1946 and 1948 . He then studied until 1950 at Northwestern State College in Natchitoches . In 1951 and 1952, during the Korean War , he was drafted again into the Navy. After studying law at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and being admitted to the bar in 1959, he began to work in his new profession in Jena .

Politically, Long was a member of the Democratic Party in line with family tradition . Between 1956 and 1964 he was a member of the Louisiana Senate . In the 1964 congressional elections , he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in the eighth constituency of his state , where he succeeded his cousin Gillis, whom he defeated in the primaries, on January 3, 1965. After three re-elections, he was able to complete four legislative terms in Congress by January 3, 1973 . There he was a member of the Armed Forces Committee and the Fisheries Committee. Long was considered a conservative democrat.

In 1971 and 1987 he ran unsuccessfully for the office of governor of Louisiana. At the first attempt he finished eighth in the primary of his party, in 1987 he was sixth there. From 1973 to 1985, Long served as a district attorney in the 28th Judicial District of Louisiana. He died in Trout on October 5, 2006. Speedy Long was married to Florence Marie Theriot (1933-2007) and the couple had two children.

Web links

• Speedy O. Long in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Speedy O. Long in the database of Find a Grave (English)