Fox McKeithen's Legacy According To John Maginnis
Political writer John Maginnis offered the following analysis of McKeithen's career:
"Though born in the first year of the Baby Boom, McKeithen more belonged to the bygone era of Louisiana politics, of stump speeches, election tickets and country hams given to voters. He grew up in that world of his father, former Governor John McKeithen, and of former Governor Earl Long, who indeed was young Fox's "Uncle Earl".
"McKeithen was the last living link to that colorful era, and perhaps Uncle Earl wouldn't mind us calling Fox another of the 'last of the red hot poppas.'
"He was one of the last of a few other things, such as North Louisiana politicians at the state level, going back to when governors hailed from Winnfield and Beech Springs and his hometown of Columbia.
"McKeithen was the most consistently successful Republican elected official, the only one holding statewide office in state government.
His daddy called it "crazy" when Fox became a Republican midway during his first term as secretary of state, and Big John wasn't far off. His next election, against Democrat Doug Schmidt in 1991, was his closest. The top Republican on the ballot was David Duke, and McKeithen was nearly buried in Edwin Edwards' Democratic landslide. He survived by 9,000 votes, partly due to the support of the Morial political organization in New Orleans, a returned favor going back to John McKeithen's appointing Dutch Morial a state judge in the 1960s, the future mayor's first political office.
"It was his own family ties that caused Fox McKeithen to campaign for his daughter Marjorie, a Democrat, in her near-miss challenge to Congressman Richard Baker, R-Baton Rouge, in 1998. Some GOP officials wanted to censure Fox, but since McKeithens were winning elections in this state before Republicans were, they got over it. He won his last two elections easily.
"In a final act of non-partisanship, hours before he died, he resigned and turned over his office to his first assistant and longtime friend, Democrat Al Ater.
"Fox McKeithen came from a time when friendship and kinship counted for more than party, and one wonders if those days haven't passed with him."
In 2006, McKeithen was inducted posthumously into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield, an honor his father had procured in 1993, having been among the first thirteen honorees.
Read more about this topic: W. Fox Mc Keithen
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