Jimmie Davis: Difference between revisions
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==Political legacy== |
==Political legacy== |
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Davis established a State Retirement System and funding of more than $100 million in public improvements, while leaving the state with a $38 million surplus after his first term.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sec.state.la.us/67.htm|title=Louisiana Secretary of State<!--Bot-generated title-->|publisher=|accessdate=July 17, 2016}}</ref> |
Davis established a State Retirement System and funding of more than $100 million in public improvements, while leaving the state with a $38 million surplus after his first term.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sec.state.la.us/67.htm|title=Louisiana Secretary of State<!--Bot-generated title-->|publisher=|accessdate=July 17, 2016|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070812153046/http://www.sec.state.la.us/67.htm|archivedate=August 12, 2007|df=mdy-all}}</ref> |
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During his second term, Davis built the Sunshine Bridge, the new [[Louisiana Governor's Mansion]], and [[Toledo Bend Reservoir]], all criticized at the time, but later recognized as beneficial to the state. Davis coordinated the pay periods of state employees, who had sometimes received their checks a week late, a particular hardship to those with low earnings. |
During his second term, Davis built the Sunshine Bridge, the new [[Louisiana Governor's Mansion]], and [[Toledo Bend Reservoir]], all criticized at the time, but later recognized as beneficial to the state. Davis coordinated the pay periods of state employees, who had sometimes received their checks a week late, a particular hardship to those with low earnings. |
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{{wikisource author}} |
{{wikisource author}} |
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* {{IMDb name|204834|Jimmie Davis}} |
* {{IMDb name|204834|Jimmie Davis}} |
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* [http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/tabid/404/Default.aspx State of Louisiana Biography] |
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080110153727/http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/tabid/404/Default.aspx State of Louisiana Biography] |
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* [http://www.la-cemeteries.com/Governors/Davis,%20James%20Houston/Davis,%20James%20Houston.shtml Cemetery Memorial] by La-Cemeteries |
* [http://www.la-cemeteries.com/Governors/Davis,%20James%20Houston/Davis,%20James%20Houston.shtml Cemetery Memorial] by La-Cemeteries |
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* [https://archive.org/details/Jimmy_Davis-Shes_a_Real_Hum_Dinger Listen to Jimmie singing "She's a Real Hum Dinger"] |
* [https://archive.org/details/Jimmy_Davis-Shes_a_Real_Hum_Dinger Listen to Jimmie singing "She's a Real Hum Dinger"] |
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* [ |
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110418100814/http://countrymusichalloffame.org/full-list-of-inductees/view/jimmie-davis at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum] |
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* [http://www.selu.edu/acad_research/programs/csls/historical_collections/archival_collections/c_d/davis_jimmie.html Jimmie Davis Collection] and [http://www.selu.edu/acad_research/programs/csls/historical_collections/photo_collections/c_d_photos/davis_jimmie.html Jimmie Davis Photo Collection] at [[Southeastern Louisiana University]] in [[Hammond, Louisiana|Hammond]]. |
* [http://www.selu.edu/acad_research/programs/csls/historical_collections/archival_collections/c_d/davis_jimmie.html Jimmie Davis Collection] and [http://www.selu.edu/acad_research/programs/csls/historical_collections/photo_collections/c_d_photos/davis_jimmie.html Jimmie Davis Photo Collection] at [[Southeastern Louisiana University]] in [[Hammond, Louisiana|Hammond]]. |
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*{{Find a Grave|6370060}} |
*{{Find a Grave|6370060}} |
Revision as of 11:35, 11 December 2017
Jimmie Davis | |
---|---|
Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock | |
Preceded by | Earl K. Long |
Succeeded by | John McKeithen |
Personal details | |
Born | James Houston Davis September 11, 1899 Beech Springs, (MA) |
Profession | Singer, songwriter, former educator, politician |
James Houston Davis (September 11, 1899 – November 5, 2000) was an American singer and songwriter of both sacred and popular songs. Also a politician, he was elected for two nonconsecutive terms from 1944–48 and from 1960–64 as the
Davis was a nationally popular
Early life
Davis was born to a
Davis graduated from Beech Springs High School and the
During the late 1920s, Davis taught history (and, unofficially, yodeling) for a year at the former Dodd College for Girls in Shreveport.[citation needed] The college president, Monroe E. Dodd, who was also the pastor of the large First Baptist Church of Shreveport and a pioneer radio preacher, invited Davis to join the faculty.
Musical career
Davis became a commercially successful singer of rural music before he entered politics. His early work was in the style of country music singer
In 1999, "
Until his death, Davis insisted that he wrote the song. It will be associated with him.
Davis often performed during his campaign stops when running for governor of Louisiana. After being elected in 1944, he became known as the "singing governor." While governor, he had a No. 1 hit single in 1945 with "There's a New Moon Over My Shoulder". Davis recorded for Decca Records for decades and released more than 40 albums.
A long-time
A number of his songs were used as part of motion picture soundtracks. Davis appeared in half a dozen films, including one starring
Singles
Year | Single | US Country |
---|---|---|
1937 | "Nobody's Darling but Mine" | — |
1938 | "Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland" | — |
1938 | "There's A Gold Mine In The Sky"[7] | — |
1940 | "You Are My Sunshine" | — |
1944 | "Is It Too Late Now" | 3 |
"There's a Chill on the Hill Tonight" | 4 | |
1945 | "There's a New Moon Over My Shoulder" | 1 |
1946 | "Grievin' My Heart Out for You" | 4 |
1947 | "Bang Bang" | 4 |
1962 | "Where the Old Red River Flows" | 15 |
Political career
Davis was elected in 1938 as Shreveport's public safety commissioner. At the time, Shreveport had the
First term as governor (1944–1948)
Davis was elected governor as a Democrat in 1944. Among those eliminated in the primary were
In the
Davis recruited Chris Faser, Jr., a young staff member of the Public Service Commission, to manage his gubernatorial race and act as his chief of staff. Faser became the "go-to" guy to obtain access to the governor.[8]
Davis pleased
Davis reached out to the Longites when he commuted the prison sentence imposed on former LSU President James Monroe Smith, convicted in the Louisiana Hayride scandals of the late 1930s. Like Davis, Smith was a native of Jackson Parish.[9]
Earl Long was seeking the
Davis kept his hand in show business, and set a record for absenteeism during his first term. He made numerous trips to
Under the state constitution, Davis was term-limited to a single non-consecutive term in office.
The election of 1959–1960
When he became a candidate for a second term in 1959–1960, Davis had been out of office for nearly a dozen years. In a later study of this election, three Louisiana State University political scientists described him by the following:
Davis has all the external attributes of a "man of the people", but his serious political connections seem to be with the [parish-seat] elite and its allies, particularly the major industrial combinations of the state. He is in many respects a toned-down version of the old-style southern politician who could spellbound the mass of voters into supporting him regardless of the effects of his programs on their welfare.... Davis creates the perfect image of a man to be trusted and one whose intense calm is calculated to bring rational balance into the political life of the state.[11]
Davis was running at a time when African Americans in the civil rights movement were seeking social justice and restoration of their constitutional rights. In 1954 the US Supreme Court had ruled in
In the first round of balloting, Davis polled 213,551 (25.3 percent) to Morrison's 278,956 (33.1 percent). Rainach ran third with 143,095 (17 percent). Noe finished fourth with 97,654 (11.6 percent), and Dodd followed with 85,436 (10.1 percent). Davis won the northern and central parts of the state plus Baton Rouge, while Morrison dominated the southern portion of the state, particularly the French cultural parishes. In the runoff, Davis prevailed, 487,681 (54.1 percent) to Morrison's 414,110 (45.5 percent). It was estimated that Davis drew virtually all the Rainach support from the first primary.
Earl Long endorsed Davis in the runoff in part because he had a longstanding personal dislike of Morrison. Long's gubernatorial running-mate, James A. Noe, who finished fourth in the primary, stood with Morrison,[12] as did the fifth-place gubernatorial candidate and former Long lieutenant governor, Bill Dodd.[13]
Rainach and his unsuccessful candidate for state comptroller, later U.S. Representative
In the runoff with Morrison, Davis tried to identify as a more determined and dedicated segregationist than his rival. Morrison questioned Davis's change in campaign strategy and also appealed to segregationists. Morrison charged that Davis had "operated an integrated honky-tonk in California", when Davis was out of state with his singing career. Morrison also said that Davis had allowed the illegal operation of nine thousand slot machines when Davis was governor during the 1940s.[16]
Meanwhile, Earl Long had run unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in the first primary in 1959. There was a runoff between Morrison's choice for the job, Alexandria Mayor W. George Bowdon, Jr., and Davis's selection, former state House Speaker Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock of Franklin, St. Mary Parish. Aycock defeated Bowdon by a margin similar to the plurality of Davis over Morrison. The defeat was Long's second for lieutenant governor. He had lost in the 1944 primary to J. Emile Verret of Iberia Parish, who served in the second-ranking position in the first Davis administration.
Davis effectively used the slogan "He's One of Us" in the gubernatorial race. Number 6 on the ballot, he assembled an intraparty
In their study The Louisiana Election of 1960, William C. Havard, Rudolf Heberle, and
In the general election held on April 19, 1960, Davis defeated Republican Francis Grevemberg, a Lafayette native, by a margin of nearly 82–17 percent. Grevemberg had been head of the state police under Democratic Governor Robert F. Kennon and had gained a reputation for fighting organized crime. He called for a true two-party system for Louisiana. As the Democratic nominee in the nearly one-party state, Davis faced no serious political threat and did little campaigning against Grevemberg.
It has been reported that had General
Davis and Dodd
In the 1959 campaign, Bill Dodd had attacked Davis ferociously: it was part of Dodd's strategy to get Davis to withdraw from the primary. "Nothing personal in his [Dodd's] heart, just a cold-blooded plan to wind up in a second primary against Morrison, who he figured could not win against anyone [else] in a runoff," said Davis in the introduction to Dodd's memoirs, Peapatch Politics: The Earl Long Era in Louisiana Politics. Dodd endorsed Morrison in the runoff, but he had a long-term reason for this decision. Dodd planned to run for school superintendent in the 1963 primary, and he wanted to have at least the neutrality of Morrison four years thereafter.
Dodd and Davis later became close friends. In Davis' words:
- Bill and I have many things in common. We share the same type of religion and boyhood background; we got our start as schoolteachers and figured prominently in public education; we both served in public life at or near the top. And I like to feel that we share a common appreciation and respect for people, all people. One of the greatest rewards in politics is meeting people. And one of the greatest and most unusual men I've ever met is Bill Dodd.
Second term (1960–1964)
Davis' appointees in the second term included outgoing State Representative
As part of his support of segregation, Davis initiated passage of state legislation to create the Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission, which operated from 1960 to 1967. It "espoused states rights, anti-communist and segregationist ideas, with a particular focus on maintaining the status quo in race relations. It was closely allied with the Louisiana Joint Legislative Committee on Un-American Activities."[19] It was modeled after Mississippi's commission, established in 1956 to resist integration. Davis tapped Frank Voelker, Jr., City Attorney of Lake Providence, to chair the newly established Commission. It was given unusual powers to investigate state citizens, and used its authority to exert economic pressure to suppress civil rights activists. Voelker left the commission in 1963 to run for governor but placed poorly in the primary; he withdrew and supported other candidates.[20]
In his second term, Davis chose veteran Representative
Fourth place in 1971
In 1971, Davis entered another crowded Democratic
In a runoff election held in December 1971, U.S. Representative
Toward the end of his life, longtime Democrat Davis endorsed at least two Republican candidates after the state's voters had gone through a political realignment. By the late 20th century, white conservatives in the state largely supported the Republican Party. In 1996 Davis endorsed Republican state representative
Political legacy
Davis established a State Retirement System and funding of more than $100 million in public improvements, while leaving the state with a $38 million surplus after his first term.[23]
During his second term, Davis built the Sunshine Bridge, the new Louisiana Governor's Mansion, and Toledo Bend Reservoir, all criticized at the time, but later recognized as beneficial to the state. Davis coordinated the pay periods of state employees, who had sometimes received their checks a week late, a particular hardship to those with low earnings.
Earl Long once remarked that Davis was so relaxed and low-key that one could not "wake up Jimmie Davis with an earthquake".[24]
Public relations specialist Gus Weill, who worked in the Davis campaign in 1959, wrote a biography of the former governor in 1977, entitled You Are My Sunshine, based on Davis' best-known song.[25]
Personal life
Davis' first wife, the former Alvern Adams, the daughter of a physician in Shreveport, was the first lady while he was governor during both terms. Two years after her death in 1967, Davis in 1969 married Effie Juanita Carter Gordon, known thereafter as Anna Davis (February 15, 1917 – March 5, 2004). She was a gospel music pioneer who sold more than 30 million records in forty years of affiliation with Columbia Records.
Out of office, Davis resided primarily in Baton Rouge but made numerous singing appearances, particularly in churches throughout the United States.
Davis died on November 5, 2000. He had suffered a fall in his home some ten months earlier and may have had a stroke in his last days. He is interred alongside his first wife at the Jimmie Davis Tabernacle Cemetery in his native Beech Springs community near Quitman. Jim Davis was cremated.[27][28]
Davis was aged 101 years and 55 days,[27] which made him the longest-lived of all U.S. state governors at the time of his death. Davis held this record until March 18, 2011, when Albert Rosellini of Washington achieved a greater lifespan of 101 years, 56 days.
Honors
The Jimmie Davis Bridge over the Red River connects Shreveport and Bossier City via Louisiana Highway 511. It was named in his honor during his second term as governor.
The Jimmie Davis Tabernacle is located near Weston in Jackson Parish. The tabernacle hosts occasional gospel singing. At the site is a replica of the Davis homestead (c. 1900) and of the Peckerwood Hill Store, an old general store that served the community.
Jimmie Davis State Park is located on Caney Lake (not to be confused with Caney Lakes Recreation Area near Minden) southwest of Chatham.
Davis was
Davis was inducted into the
In 1993, Davis was among the first thirteen inductees of the
The 2006 recipient of the "Friends of Jimmie Davis" award was the late former State Senator B.G. Dyess, a Baptist minister from Rapides Parish.
The Davis archives of papers and photographs is housed in the "You Are My Sunshine" Collection of the Linus A. Sims Memorial Library at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond.[32]
Davis believed that his singing career enhanced his political prospects. He once told
Filmography
Davis had several appearances in movies (usually or always as himself), including:
- 1942: Strictly in the Groove
- 1942: Riding Through Nevada
- 1943: Frontier Fury
- 1944: Cyclone Prairie Rangers
- 1947: Louisiana
- 1949: Mississippi Rhythm
- 1950: Square Dance Katy
See also
- List of Governors of Louisiana
- Jim Flynn, a writer encouraged when Davis signed his first song writing contract
References
- ^ "Ancestry of Jimmie Davis". Retrieved July 17, 2016.
- ^ "Jimmie Davis, Louisiana's Singing Governor, Is Dead". The New York Times. November 6, 2000. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
- ^ OLIVER, MYRNA (November 7, 2000). "Jimmie Davis; 'Singing Governor' Spread Sunshine". Retrieved July 17, 2016 – via LA Times.
- ^ "Jimmie Davis Country Music Hall of Fame Plaque. Presented - Lot #21201 - Heritage Auctions". Retrieved July 17, 2016.
- ^ "Item Display - Comparative intelligence of whites, blacks and mulattoes". Lsu.louislibraries.org:5203. August 21, 2003. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
- )
- ^ http://www.45worlds.com/78rpm/record/5473
- ^ "Christian Faser, Jr. (1917-2004)". Baton Rouge Morning Advocate. January 18, 2004.
{{cite news}}
:|access-date=
requires|url=
(help) - ^ "Smith, James Monroe". A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography (Louisiana Historical Association). Retrieved March 25, 2011.
- ^ Mathur, Monika (June 23, 2009). "A look at odd behavior by US governors". Associated Press.
- Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UniversityStudies, 1963, p. 40
- ^ "Noe Gives Support to Morrison", 'The Shreveport Times, December 10, 1959, p. 1
- ^ "Dodd Announces Endorsement for Morrison Ticket", The Shreveport Times, December 8, 1959, p. 1
- ^ Minden Herald, December 31, 1959
- ^ "Morrison Says Davis Sought NAACP Support", The Shreveport Times, December 16, 1959, p. 10-A
- ^ "Beaten Candidates Give Endorsements", The Shreveport Times, December 11, 1959, p. 5-A
- ^ Davis exhibit, Delta Music Museum, Ferriday, Louisiana
- ^ Havard, Heberle, and Havard, The Louisiana Election of 1960, pp. 50–52
- ^ "Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission", Amistad Research Center, Tulane University; Sources: Adam Fairclough. Race and Democracy: The Civil Rights Struggle in Louisiana, 1915-1972. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1995.
- ^ Havard, Heberle, and Howard, The Louisiana Election of 1960, p. 99
- ^ Havard, Heberle, and Howard, The Louisiana Elections of 1960, pp. 90–92
- ^ Susie Labry, 1995
- ^ "Louisiana Secretary of State". Archived from the original on August 12, 2007. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ Contributor, By James Carville, CNN. "Carville: Wake up Democrats; you could lose - CNN.com". Retrieved July 17, 2016.
{{cite web}}
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has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ISBN 0882896601(0-88289-660-1)
- ^ Source: Historic marker, Eglin House in Shreveport
- ^ a b ""Sunshine" singer Jimmie Davis dead at 101". mtv.com. Archived from the original on January 29, 2013. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
{{cite web}}
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ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "James William Davis obituary". Monroe News Star. Retrieved November 9, 2012.
- ^ http://www.deltamusicmuseum.com/inductees.html
- ^ "Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame". cityofwinnfield.com. Archived from the original on July 3, 2009. Retrieved August 22, 2009.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ "Tom Kelly, "Winnfield opens Civic Center with "Hall" event: Renovated forestry building is modern, ready to serve for years into the future", February 2005". thepineywoods.com. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
- ^ Davis Collection at Southeastern (retrieved 2012-05-06).
- ^ Davis, quoted in Eric Welch, "Gospel-singing Jeweler Is 'Country' Candidate", Macon Telegraph, 1967 August 26, p. A1.
- Toru Mitsui (1998). "Jimmie Davis." In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Ed. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 136.
- Kevin S. Fontenot, "You Can't Fight a Song: Country Music in Jimmie Davis' Gubernatorial Campaigns," Journal of Country Music (2007).
External links
- Jimmie Davis at IMDb
- State of Louisiana Biography
- Cemetery Memorial by La-Cemeteries
- Listen to Jimmie singing "She's a Real Hum Dinger"
- at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
- Jimmie Davis Collection and Jimmie Davis Photo Collection at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond.
- Jimmie Davis at Find a Grave
- Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame and Museum