John McKeithen

John Julian McKeithen (May 28, 1918 – June 4, 1999) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 49th governor of Louisiana from 1964 to 1972. A populist Democrat, McKeithen was the first Louisiana governor in the 20th century to win consecutive terms after a constitutional amendment allowed re-election. His administration is best known for overseeing the beginnings of school integration, controversial payments to the Ku Klux Klan, and the launch of large-scale infrastructure projects, including the establishment of the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District and the initial development of the Louisiana Superdome, which became one of the most iconic sports venues in the United States.

According to one observer, McKeithen projected “three contradictory images-those of reformer, progressive Longite, and segregationist.”

Early life McKeithen was born in Grayson, Louisiana on May 28, 1918, to Jesse J. McKeithen and DeEtte Eglin, a farming family in Caldwell Parish. He attended High Point College and later transferred to Louisiana State University where he received his law degree in 1942. He married Marjorie Howell Funderburk that same year with whom he had six children, including Walter Fox McKeithen, who served five terms as Louisiana Secretary of State.

During World War II, McKeithen served as a U.S. Army first lieutenant in the 77th Infantry Division. He saw combat action across the Pacific Theater, serving honorably in the battles of Guam, Leyte, and Okinawa. For his actions during the Battle of Okinawa, he was awarded the Bronze Star. After the war, he settled in Columbia, Louisiana and set up a law practice.

Political career 1948–1963 McKeithen was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1948. Governor Earl K. Long appointed him as floor leader despite his lack of experience and low profile. He lost the race for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in 1952, and in 1954 was elected to the Louisiana Public Service Commission. McKeithen won the Democratic nomination, which in the Deep South at the time was tantamount to election, and defeated the Republican candidate Charlton Lyons in the 1964 general election.

McKeithen's first term saw the construction of the Louisiana Superdome, reforms to the state code of ethics, and the Civil Rights Movement. In one incident, a confident of McKeithen's was sent to Bogalusa with $10,000 in cash to be split equally between local Klan leaders and the local chapter of Deacons for Defense and Justice. These payments by McKeithen were discovered through declassified FBI records in 2016, through the Freedom of Information Act.

Second term as governor McKeithen defeated Congressman John Rarick by a wide margin in the 1967 Democratic primary for Governor and was elected unopposed in the 1968 general election.

During his second term, a series of articles in Life magazine alleged that he was connected to the New Orleans mafia, though he was never charged. As one of his last acts as governor in 1964, Jimmie Davis approved a plan for the building of a levee at Marcello's property Churchill Farms. The contract stipulated that the state would put up $500,000 for its construction. In 1967 Davis' successor McKeithen approved the issuance of the check. When Life magazine exposed the contract McKeithen denied that he had ever issued a check. Previously in 1964 McKeithen had appointed Frances Pecora, wife of Marcello associate Nofio Pecora, as Chairman of the Fire Insurance Rating Division of the Louisiana Insurance Rating Commission.

Later life and death

After the completion of his second term, McKeithen retired to his farm in Columbia, Louisiana and continued to practice law. He managed an oil and gas company and was appointed to the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University in 1983.

McKeithen underwent heart surgery in 1997, after which his health declined. On June 4, 1999, McKeithen died at the age of 81 in Columbia.