1. John Julian McKeithen was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 49th governor of Louisiana from 1964 to 1972.
13 Facts About John McKeithen
1. 2.
John McKeithen studied at High Point College, and later received a law degree from Louisiana State University in 1942.
3.
John McKeithen served in the 77th Infantry Division in the Pacific Theater during World War II.
4.
John McKeithen was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1948.
5.
John McKeithen lost the race for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in 1952, and in 1954 was elected to the Louisiana Public Service Commission.
6.
John McKeithen entered the 1963 Democratic primary for Governor of Louisiana.
7.
John McKeithen won the Democratic nomination, which in the Deep South at the time was tantamount to election, and defeated the Republican candidate Charlton Lyons in the 1964 general election.
8.
In one incident, a confident of John McKeithen's was sent to Bogalusa with $10,000 in cash to be split equally between local Klan leaders and the local chapter of Deacons for Defense and Justice.
9.
John McKeithen was popular in his first term, and successfully engineered the passage of a constitutional referendum that allowed governors to run for re-election, the first time this had been allowed in Louisiana in the 20th century.
10.
John McKeithen helped to engineer a referendum for a domed stadium in New Orleans, with the approval being key in the formation of the first professional team in the state in the New Orleans Saints to begin play in 1967.
11.
John McKeithen managed an oil and gas company and was appointed to the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University in 1983.
12.
John McKeithen underwent heart surgery in 1997, after which his health declined.
13.
On June 4,1999, John McKeithen died at the age of 81 in Columbia.