Robert F. Kennon - A Third Gubernatorial Campaign, 1963

A Third Gubernatorial Campaign, 1963

Kennon's term ended in the spring of 1956, and he was succeeded by his long-time foe, Earl Long. He unsuccessfully attempted to run for governor again in 1963. Three LSU scholars described Kennon as "the traditional anti-Long type: respectable, business-oriented, an exponent of governmental quietism, and an advocate of 'good government' administrative reform."

In the Democratic primary, Kennon ran fourth (127,870 votes or 14.1 percent). He was therefore eliminated from a runoff between Public Service Commissioner John McKeithen of Columbia in Caldwell Parish and the more liberal contender, former New Orleans Mayor deLesseps Morrison, Sr. Some observers theorized that the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, which occurred two weeks before the primary election, may have weakened Kennon's prospects because Kennon had in a televised address criticized policies of both President Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. He called the Kennedys "young, misguided men." Kennon was also weakened by the presence of the fifth-place candidate, veteran Education Superintendent Shelby M. Jackson, a native of Concordia Parish in eastern Louisiana, whose votes are believed to have come primarily at the expense of Kennon and therefore worked to deny Kennon the coveted runoff position against Morrison. Jackson was the vocal segregationist among the five candidates, as Kennon discussed "state sovereignty", which some saw as a code word for segregation. Even if half of Jackson's votes had otherwise gone to Kennon, then Kennon, and not McKeithen, would have entered the runoff with Morrison. Jackson's supporters were also believed in many cases to have been previous backers of the 1959 segregationist gubernatorial hopeful, William M. Rainach of Claiborne Parish. Another candidate in the race was former State Representative Claude Kirkpatrick from Jefferson Davis Parish, who had headed the Department of Public Works under outgoing Governor Jimmie Davis. Kirkpatrick's widow, Edith Killgore Kirkpatrick, is a native of Claiborne Parish and a past political figure in her own right.

McKeithen won the runoff and the ensuing general election. Kennon did not endorse either runoff candidate. His nephew, Edward Kennon (a son of F. E. Kennon, Sr.), a Shreveport developer and a later member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, stumped for the Roman Catholic and pro-Kennedy "Chep" Morrison, who had endorsed Kennon in the 1951-1952 election cycle after the elimination of Morrison's first choice, his former law partner, U.S. Representative Hale Boggs of New Orleans.