Taylor W. O'Hearn

Taylor W. O'Hearn

Taylor Walters O'Hearn (July 6, 1907–April 2, 1997) was a pioneer in the rebirth of the Republican Party in Louisiana during the mid-20th century. He and Morley A. Hudson, both of Shreveport in Caddo Parish, were the first two Republicans elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives since Reconstruction. The pair served single terms from 1964 to 1968. O'Hearn and Hudson were joined in the Caddo delegation by Democrats Algie D. Brown, Frank Fulco, and newcomer J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., later a member of both the Louisiana State Senate and the United States Senate.

O'Hearn was born in Shreveport to Ernest O'Hearn (1880–1972), a railroad worker, and Mattie W. O'Hearn (1886–1982). Ernest O'Hearn, who was probably born in New Orleans, had been orphaned as a child when both of his parents died of yellow fever. In 1948, Taylor O'Hearn became a self-employed CPA in Shreveport. In 1957, he passed the Louisiana bar exam, having studied at night at Centenary College in Shreveport. He was a United States Navy veteran with service during World War II. He was a former commander of the American Legion Post 14 in Shreveport.

Like most Louisiana Republicans of his era, Taylor O'Hearn started political life as a Democrat. In 1959, he supported the segregationist gubernatorial candidate William M. Rainach of Claiborne Parish in the Democratic primary. Rainach finished a weak third, and the governorship went to Jimmie Davis, a former Shreveporter who had also served as governor from 1944-1948.