Win the Race or Die Trying by Jack B. McGuire

Author:Jack B. McGuire [McGuire, Jack B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, United States, State & Local, South (AL; AR; FL; GA; KY; LA; MS; NC; SC; TN; VA; WV), Social History, Biography & Autobiography, Political
ISBN: 9781496807649
Google: QmhUDAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
Published: 2016-07-21T00:46:48+00:00

12.

THE RUNOFF CAMPAIGN: ALL IN

The runoff campaign kicked off the following week. Long returned to the stump on Saturday, July 30, with rallies beginning in Jena at 9:30 a.m. and ending in Rosepine at 7:45 p.m., with stops in between at Pollock, Colfax, St. Maurice, Provencal, and Hornbeck.1 On Sunday, July 31, he spoke at Mora, Natchez, Flora, Campti, and Ajax.2 He told an audience of 150 at Campti that he was “not exactly pleased” with the primary results, but on the other hand not too disappointed. He said he did not run first “because about 30,000 country people didn’t get out and vote.” Holt, he laughed, “says I’m too old. I still have some snap. I got it in my suspenders and socks too. I had enough snap to beat him three to one.”3

On August 1, in Alexandria, Ben Holt endorsed McSween, and Long immediately denounced him for “selling out.” Holt announced his support of McSween in a live television program on KALB-TV and was followed on the air by Long. Holt cited Long’s confinement in two mental institutions, his western trip and its escapades, his attempt to hold the special session of the legislature that Holt helped kill, and what Holt claimed was his arrest in New Orleans on a drunk driving charge, which was not true. “Since leaving the governor’s office,” Holt said, “Mr. Long has continued to embarrass and humiliate his friends, the people, and the state of Louisiana by his escapades in Baltimore, New York City, and New Orleans. This conduct does not recommend him to any office, particularly one in which he would represent us in our nation’s capital. This conduct, unfortunately, shows that his condition has not improved.” Holt said that after conferring with supporters and friends and taking into account the best interests of the district, “This was the only possible course for me to take on this vital matter.” Holt concluded that “this is no longer a matter of just politics. It is a matter of decency and principle and we have every right to expect our public officials to conduct their offices in decency.”4

Long, outraged by Holt’s attack on him, said that he was at his Hot Wells resort motel room shortly after the primary when Holt came to see him and “began talking about $30,000. I told him I didn’t have it, and he came to $20,000. I told him I didn’t have that either.” Long said Holt told him “I spent a lot of money and I want my money back.” Long said he told Holt there was a state law prohibiting defeated candidates from selling out in a second primary, and “I said Little Ben, you got the wrong man.”5

Holt angrily denied a sellout to McSween. He said Long telephoned him twice to talk about an endorsement, but “I told him on both occasions that if he wanted to talk to me that I would be glad to see him at my office during business hours, but that I could not endorse him.

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