Taylor W. O'Hearn - Challenging Russell B. Long, 1962

Challenging Russell B. Long, 1962

Having grown disenchanted with the national Democratic administration of President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, O'Hearn switched parties to run in 1962 for the U.S. Senate. He challenged incumbent Democrat Russell B. Long, who as the oldest son of the legendary Huey Pierce Long, Jr., was already himself a near political icon in Louisiana.

O'Hearn charged that Long was practicing "the same old pork barrel. He's promising everybody everything with their own money." O'Hearn further claimed that Long was attempting to take credit for all political progress in the state. Long refused to debate O'Hearn, who charged that the senator "doesn't have the guts to talk to the people about campaign issues." Long replied that he was "not ashamed I've fought to get things for Louisiana. I'm not ashamed to go to the White House to talk to the president to get things done for my state and its people."

Critical of the Kennedy Cuban policies, O'Hearn called the failed Bay of Pigs operation a "desertion of Cuban patriots . . . It's odd to me that Russell Long and Jack Kennedy were the only two persons in the country who did not know about the Cuban arms buildup." He claimed that the Cuban blockade was "timed perfectly with the political campaign."

O'Hearn also claimed that Long voted 75 percent of the time for Kennedy policies: "These bills are not just socialistic but radical!" Long denied O'Hearn's contention that he was automatically in lockstep with Kennedy policies. Long voiced opposition for instance, to Kennedy's intervention in the desegregation of the University of Mississippi at Oxford that fall, which had led to a violent confrontation.

O'Hearn said that he opposed foreign aid until neutral countries committed themselves to the West. He proposed that the United States withdraw from the United Nations until "the communist bloc pays its share." In appealing for support, O'Hearn said that his "honor and integrity the only things I own. No one is going to buy it, bargain for it, or obtain it in any other matter."

In a newspaper advertisement, Long declared himself an "Independent Thinker" who is "unalterably opposed to federal control of state education, foreign aid to Russia's satellites, unnecessary federal spending, and increased taxation." He also claimed to be a "leader in the fight to preserve our traditional southern way of life." Long noted that he had kept open Fort Polk near Leesville in Vernon Parish and had fought for assistance to underprivileged children, the needy blind, small business, and farmers.

Long first easily turned aside a challenge from the "right" in his own party in the summer of 1962 against the retired lieutenant colonel Philemon "Phil" St. Amant of Baton Rouge. He then defeated O'Hearn, 318,838 votes (75.6 percent) to 103,066 (24.4 percent). O'Hearn carried seven north Louisiana parishes, where conservatism was running strongly at the time. He polled a clear majority in Louisiana's 4th congressional district. He fared best in his own Caddo Parish, where he polled 64.7 percent. He also received 58.7 percent in Madison Parish (Tallulah) in northeast Louisiana. O'Hearn carried Webster (Minden), Morehouse (Bastrop), Bossier (Bossier City and Benton), Claiborne (Homer), and La Salle (Jena) parishes. Madison and Claiborne parishes, however, became staunchly Democratic after the implementation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 added large numbers of African Americans to their voter rolls. In ten other parishes, all in north Louisiana, O'Hearn drew more than 40 percent of the vote.