Sidney McCrory
Sidney McCrory | |
---|---|
Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry | |
In office May 8, 1956 – May 10, 1960 | |
Preceded by | Dave L. Pearce |
Succeeded by | Dave L. Pearce |
Personal details | |
Born | Sidney Jackson McCrory July 27, 1911 Hope Villa, Ascension Parish Louisiana, USA |
Died | February 27, 1985 | (aged 73)
Resting place | Prairieville Cemetery in Prairieville, Louisiana |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Nettie Fay Cooper McCrory |
Children | Sandra M. Lang Sharon M. Balser |
Parent(s) | Cecil C. and Estelle Buffington Buillon McCrory |
Residence(s) | Ascension Parish, Louisiana |
Entomologist | |
Sidney Jackson McCrory (July 27, 1911 – February 27, 1985)[1] was the Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry from 1956 to 1960 during the final term of his political ally, Governor Earl Long. He was also a key organizer in 1960 for the John F. Kennedy/Lyndon B. Johnson ticket, which handily carried Louisiana's then ten electoral votes.[2]
Background
McCrory was one of six children born in the village of Hope Villa on
Sidney McCrory, whose middle name "Jackson" comes from his paternal grandfather, finished LSU with a degree in entomology. Before he was elected agriculture commissioner, he had been the state entomologist and considered himself particularly well versed in the science of insects.[2] McCrory married the former Nettie Fay Cooper (c. 1919–2008), a schoolteacher in East Baton Rouge Parish, a native of Merryville in Beauregard Parish, and the daughter of Mars LeRoy Cooper and Laura Elvira Cooper. The McCrorys had two daughters, Sandra M. Lang and husband, Craig, and Sharon M. Balser.[4]
One of McCrory's sisters, Cherrie Claire, married J. L. Iles, who during
Political races
Sidney McCrory unseated the one-term commissioner,
Pearce, a former member of both houses of the
William J. "Bill" Dodd, a veteran state officeholder and an astute observer of Louisiana politics in the mid-twentieth century, said that Earl Long "hated" Pearce—the two became estranged shortly after Pearce became commissioner—and put up the "egghead" McCrory to unseat Pearce in the 1956 primary. Dodd did not explain why Long "hated" Pearce, but McCrory unseated Pearce that year.
In his Peapatch Politics: The Earl Long Era in Louisiana Politics, Dodd noted with humor how Long became irritated with McCrory, who had been invited on Long's intraparty ticket
to harass and, we hoped, defeat Uncle Earl's old political enemy, Dave Pearce. All McCrory could talk about was
pesticides and how to get rid of different kinds of crop-killing bugs. His main topic and claim to fame, which dominated all of his speeches, whether he was in cotton country, forestry areas, or the city of New Orleans, was his eradicating the pink boll worms from Louisiana cotton fields. Uncle Earl almost went crazy when had to listen to ... McCrory kill enough pink boll worms to fill the Atlantic Ocean.
Pearce staged a comeback and defeated McCrory in the primary held on December 5, 1959, when anti-Long sentiment was running strongly in the state. McCrory was even eliminated from the
References
- ^ "Sidney Jackson McCrory". findagrave.com. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
- ^ a b c d "W. C. Abbott, Jr., "A barefoot boy from Home Villa had a hand in history"". thepineywoods.com. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
- ^ "Cecil C. McCrory". Louisiana Historical Association. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved June 18, 2013.
- ^ "Nettie Faye McCrory". rabenhorst.com. Archived from the original on June 24, 2013. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
- ^ Minden Herald, January 16, 1948, p. 2
- ^ "Bill Sherman, "Louisiana ag chiefs: past and present", July 3, 2008" (PDF). ldaf.state.la.us. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 29, 2013. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
- ^ Minden Press, January 11, 1960
- ^ Minden Press-Herald, October 26, 1971, p. 12A