View source for Allen J. Ellender

{{Short description|American politician (1890–1972)}}
{{Refimprove|date=March 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = AllenJosephEllender.jpg
| caption             = Official portrait, {{Circa|1971}}
| order               = [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate]]
| term_start          = January 21, 1971
| term_end            = July 27, 1972
| predecessor         = [[Richard Russell Jr.]]
| successor           = [[James Eastland]]
| jr/sr1              = United States Senator
| state1              = [[Louisiana]]
| term_start1         = January 3, 1937
| term_end1           = July 27, 1972
| predecessor1        = [[Rose McConnell Long]]
| successor1          = [[Elaine Edwards]]
| order2              = 54th [[List of Speakers of the Louisiana House of Representatives|Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives]]
| term_start2         = 1932
| term_end2           = 1936
| governor2           = [[Alvin Olin King]]<br />[[Oscar K. Allen]]
| predecessor2        = [[John B. Fournet]]
| successor2          = [[Lorris M. Wimberly]]
| birth_date          = September 24, 1890
| birth_place         = [[Montegut, Louisiana]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1972|7|27|1890|9|24|mf=y}}
| death_place         = [[Bethesda, Maryland]], U.S.
| constituency        = 
| party               = [[US Democratic Party|Democratic]]
| alma_mater          = [[Tulane University]]
| profession          = Lawyer
| spouse              = {{marriage|Helen Calhoun Donnelly|1917|1949|end = died}}<ref>
{{cite book |title=Senator Allen Ellender of Louisiana: a biography |last=Becnel |first=Thomas |year=1995 |publisher=LSU Press |isbn=978-0-8071-1978-5 |pages=22 and p. 166 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wrbQd0_eA_EC&q=helen+ellender+brain+tumor&pg=PA166 |access-date=October 27, 2011}}</ref>
| children            = 1<ref>{{cite book |title=Senator Allen Ellender of Louisiana: a biography |last=Becnel |first=Thomas |year=1995 |publisher=LSU Press |isbn=978-0-8071-1978-5 |page=26 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wrbQd0_eA_EC&q=helen+ellender+brain+tumor&pg=PA166 |access-date=October 27, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eunicetoday.com/obituaries|title=Orthopedic surgeon|publisher=Eunice Today|access-date=May 17, 2014}}</ref>
| allegiance          = United States 
| branch              = [[United States Army]]
| unit                = 
| serviceyears        = 1918
| rank                = [[Private (rank)#United States Army|Private]]
| battles             = [[World War I]]
}}
'''Allen Joseph Ellender''' (September 24, 1890 – July 27, 1972) was an American politician and lawyer who was a U.S. senator from [[Louisiana]] from 1937 until his death. He was a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] who was originally allied with [[Huey Long]]. As Senator he had a generally conservative record, voting 77% of the time with the [[Conservative Coalition]] on domestic issues.<ref>Thomas Becnel, ''Senator Allen Ellender of Louisiana: a biography'' (1996) p 245</ref><ref name="Becnel, p 248">Becnel, ''Senator Allen Ellender'' p 248</ref> A staunch [[Racial segregation|segregationist]], he signed the [[Southern Manifesto]] in 1956, voted against the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]], and opposed anti-lynching legislation in 1938.<ref>[https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/75-3/s101 TO IMPOSE CLOTURE ON DEBATE H.R. 1507, AN ANTI-LYNCHING BILL.]. ''GovTrack.us''. Retrieved September 13, 2021.</ref><ref>Thomas Becnel, ''Senator Allen Ellender of Louisiana: a biography (1996) p 245''</ref><ref name=":0">Congressional Record – Senate (January 20, 1938)

[https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1938-pt1-v83/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1938-pt1-v83-16-1.pdff https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1938-pt1-v83/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1938-pt1-v83-16-1.pdf]</ref> Unlike many Democrats he was not a "[[War hawk|hawk]]" in foreign policy and opposed the [[Vietnam War]].<ref name="Becnel, p 248"/>

Ellender served as President Pro Tempore, and the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He also served as the chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee for over 18 years.

==Early life==
Ellender was born in the town of [[Montegut, Louisiana|Montegut]] in Terrebonne Parish. He was the son of Victoria Marie (Javeaux) and Wallace Richard Ellender, Sr.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/LA/TB-buried.html|title=The Political Graveyard: Terrebonne Parish, La.|author=Lawrence Kestenbaum|work=politicalgraveyard.com|access-date=June 14, 2015}}</ref> He attended public and private schools, and in 1909 he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Roman Catholic [[Brother Martin High School|St. Aloysius College]] in New Orleans.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tulane University |date=1913 |title=Jambalaya, the Tulane University Yearbook |url=https://tuarchives.tulane.edu/sites/default/files/tuarchives/yearbooks/jambalayayearboo18edit%20%281%29.pdf |location=Nashville, TN |publisher=Benson Printing Co. |page=101 |ref={{sfnRef|"Jambalaya, the Tulane University Yearbook"}}}}</ref> (It has been reorganized as [[Brother Martin High School]]). He graduated from [[Tulane University Law School]] with an [[bachelor of laws|LL.B.]] in 1913,{{sfn|"Jambalaya, the Tulane University Yearbook"|page=100}} was admitted to the bar later that year, and launched his practice in Houma.

===World War I===
Though he received a draft deferment for [[World War I]], Ellender volunteered for military service.<ref>{{cite book |last=Becnel |first=Thomas A. |date=1995 |title=Senator Allen Ellender of Louisiana: A Biography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wrbQd0_eA_EC&pg=PA24 |location=Louisiana State University Press |publisher=Baton Rouge, LA |pages=24–25 |isbn=978-0-8071-1978-5 |ref={{sfnRef|''Senator Allen Ellender of Louisiana: A Biography''}}}}</ref> Initially rejected on medical grounds after being diagnosed with a kidney stone, Ellender persisted in attempting to serve in uniform.{{sfn|''Senator Allen Ellender of Louisiana: A Biography''|pages=24–25}} After surgery and recovery, Ellender inquired through his Congressman about obtaining a commission in the Army's [[Judge Advocate General's Corps, United States Army|Judge Advocate General Corps]], and was offered a commission as an interpreter and translator in the [[United States Marine Corps]], which he declined over concerns that because he spoke [[Louisiana French]], he might not be proficient enough in the formal French language.{{sfn|''Senator Allen Ellender of Louisiana: A Biography''|pages=24–25}}

While taking courses to improve his French, he also applied for a position in the [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps#Student Army Training Corps (SATC)|Student Army Training Corps]] at Tulane University.{{sfn|''Senator Allen Ellender of Louisiana: A Biography''|pages=24–25}} He was accepted into the program in October 1918, and reported to Camp Martin on the Tulane University campus.{{sfn|''Senator Allen Ellender of Louisiana: A Biography''|pages=24–25}} The war ended in November, and the SATC program was disbanded, so Ellender was released from the service in December before completing his training.{{sfn|''Senator Allen Ellender of Louisiana: A Biography''|pages=24–25}} Despite attempts lasting into the late 1920s to secure an honorable discharge as proof of his military service, Ellender was unsuccessful in obtaining one.{{sfn|''Senator Allen Ellender of Louisiana: A Biography''|page=52}} Instead, the commander of Camp Martin replied to an inquiry from Ellender's congressman that "Private Allen J. Ellender" had been released from military service in compliance with an army order prohibiting new enlistments in the SATC after the [[Armistice of November 11, 1918]].{{sfn|''Senator Allen Ellender of Louisiana: A Biography''|pages=52–53}} As his career progressed, his biography often included the incorrect claim that Ellender had served as a sergeant in the [[United States Army]] Artillery Corps during the war.<ref>{{cite book |last=Onofrio |first=Jan |date=1999 |title=Louisiana Biographical Dictionary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yHYYYlp473oC&pg=PA88 |location=St. Clair Shores, MI |publisher=Somerset Publishers, Inc. |page=88 |isbn=978-0-403-09817-0}}</ref>

===State politics===
Ellender was a delegate to the Louisiana constitutional convention in 1921. The constitution produced by that body was retired in 1974, two years after Ellender's death. He served in the [[Louisiana House of Representatives]] from 1924 to 1936. He was floor leader from 1928 to 1932, when in 1929 he worked successfully against the [[Impeachment in the United States|impeachment]] forces, led by [[Ralph Norman Bauer]] and [[Cecil Morgan]], that attempted to remove [[Governor of Louisiana|Governor]] Huey Long for a litany of [[Political corruption|abuses of power]]. Ellender was the House Speaker from 1932 to 1936, when he was elected to the US Senate.

==U.S. Senator==
In 1937 he took his Senate seat, formerly held by the fallen Huey Long and slated for the Democratic nominee [[Oscar K. Allen|Oscar Kelly Allen, Sr.]], of [[Winnfield, Louisiana|Winnfield]], the seat of Long's home parish of [[Winn Parish|Winn]]. Allen had won the Democratic nomination by a plurality exceeding 200,000 votes, but he died shortly thereafter. His passing enabled Ellender's election. The Democrats had so dominated state politics since the [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disfranchisement]] of most blacks at the turn of the century, that the primary was the decisive election for offices.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}

Ellender was one of twenty liberal Democratic senators in July 1937 who voted against killing the [[Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937]],<ref>[https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/75-1/s42 TO RECOMMIT TO THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIAL BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT. S. 1392, A BILL TO REORGANIZE THE JUDICIARY BRANCH.]. ''GovTrack.us''. Retrieved September 13, 2021.</ref> which was introduced by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in an effort to [[Court packing|pack the United States Supreme Court]] following several anti-New Deal decisions from the Court.

Ellender was repeatedly re-elected to the Senate and served until his death in 1972. He gained seniority and great influence. He was the leading sponsor of the federal free lunch program, which was enacted in 1945 and continues; it was a welfare program that helped poor students.<ref name="auto">Becnel, ''Senator Allen Ellender'' p 130</ref>

In 1946, Ellender defended fellow Southern demagogue [[Theodore Bilbo]], who incited violence against blacks in his re-election campaign.<ref>[https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/electing-appointing-senators/contested-senate-elections/126Theodore_Bilbo.htm The Election Case of Theodore G. Bilbo of Mississippi (1947)]. ''United States Senate''. Retrieved September 13, 2021.</ref> When a petition was filed to the Senate, a committee chaired by Ellender investigated the voter suppression.<ref>Fleegler, Robert L. [http://www.mississippihistory.org/sites/default/files/bilbo.pdf Theodore G. Bilbo and the Decline of Public  Racism, 1938-1947] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808213315/http://www.mississippihistory.org/sites/default/files/bilbo.pdf |date=August 8, 2021 }}. ''Mississippi Historical Society''. Retrieved September 13, 2021.</ref> Ellender defended the violent attacks on blacks trying to vote as the result of "tradition and custom" rather than Bilbo's incitements. The committee voted on party lines to clear Bilbo, with the three Democrats siding with the Mississippi [[demagogue]] while the two conservative Republicans, [[Bourke Hickenlooper]] of [[Iowa]] and [[Styles Bridges]] of [[New Hampshire]], dissented from the verdict. Bilbo, however, ultimately did not take his Senate seat due to medical issues and died a short time later.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Ellender served as the powerful chairman of the [[U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry|Senate Agriculture Committee]] from 1951 to 1953 and 1955 to 1971, through which capacity he was a strong defender of [[sugar cane]] interests. He chaired the even more powerful [[U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations|Senate Appropriations Committee]] from 1971 until his death. Denoting his seniority as a Democrat in the Senate, Ellender was [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate|President pro tempore]] of the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] from 1971 to 1972, an honorific position.

Ellender was an opponent of Republican Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] of [[Wisconsin]], who had achieved national prominence through a series of well-publicized speeches and investigations attacking supposed [[Communism|communist]] infiltration in the US government, army and educational institutions during the 1950s.<ref>Becnel, ''Senator Allen Ellender'' pp 192-3</ref>

In March 1952, Ellender stated the possibility of the House of Representatives electing the president in that year's general election and added that the possibility could arise from the entry of Georgia Senator [[Richard Russell, Jr.]] into the general election as a third-party candidate and thereby see neither President Truman or Republican Senator [[Robert A. Taft]] able to secure enough votes from the Electoral College.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=A7-hzOuI2KQC&dat=19520303&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|title=Senator Thinks House May Pick Next President|date=March 3, 1952|newspaper=Sarasota Herald-Tribune}}</ref>

Ellender strongly opposed the federal civil rights legislation of the 1960s, which included the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]] to enforce blacks' constitutional rights in voting. Many, particularly in the Deep South, had been [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disfranchised]] since 1900. In the aftermath of the [[Lynching of Roosevelt Townes and Robert McDaniels|Duck Hill lynchings]], he also helped block a proposed anti-lynching bill which had previously been passed in the [[United States House of Representatives|House]], proclaiming, "We shall at all cost preserve the white supremacy of America."<ref name=":0" /> He did support some Louisiana state legislation sought by civil rights groups, such as repeal of the state [[Poll tax (United States)|poll tax]] (a disfranchisement mechanism).<ref name="auto"/>

In late 1962 he underwent a tour of East Africa. In [[Southern Rhodesia]] he spoke to the media and was reported by a newspaper to have said he did not believe African territories were ready for self-governance and "incapable of leadership" without the assistance of white people. He was further reported to have said [[apartheid]] in [[Union of South Africa|South Africa]] was a proper policy choice and should have been instituted sooner. Ellender later denied making these remarks, but [[Uganda]] and [[Tanganyika (1961–1964)|Tanganyika]] responded to the allegations by barring him from entering their countries.<ref>{{cite news| title = Ellender Denies Voicing Slurs Against Africans| newspaper = The New York Times| agency = Reuters| page = 9| date =  December 6, 1962}}</ref>

On August 31, 1964, during President Johnson's signing of the [[Food Stamp Act of 1964]], the president noted Ellender as one of the members of Congress he wanted to compliment for playing "a role in the passage of this legislation".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=26472|title=546. Remarks Upon Signing the Food Stamp Act.|first=Lyndon B.|last=Johnson|author-link=Lyndon B. Johnson|date=August 31, 1964|publisher=American Presidency Project}}</ref>

==Last campaign, death, and aftermath==
[[File:Allen Joseph Ellender (D–LA).jpg|thumb|right|220px|Ellender late in his career]]
In 1972, the Democratic gubernatorial runner-up from December 1971, former state senator [[J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.]], of Shreveport, challenged Ellender for renomination. Ellender was expected to defeat Johnston, but he died from a heart attack on July 27, aged 81, at [[Bethesda Naval Hospital]].<ref>{{cite news|url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1879&dat=19720723&id=QE8fAAAAIBAJ&sjid=r9EEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4838,3600524|title = Sen. Allen Ellender Dies of Heart Attack|agency = [[Associated Press]]|newspaper = [[Daytona Beach News-Journal|Daytona Beach Morning Journal]]|date = July 28, 1972|accessdate = May 12, 2022|page = 1}}</ref> Nearly 10 percent of Democratic voters, however, still voted for the deceased Ellender.

The Ellender family endorsed McKeithen in the 1972 general election because of resentment over Johnston's entry into the race against Ellender.<ref>"Tim Ellender, McKeithen's State Campaign Manager, Visits Here", ''Tensas Gazette'', [[St. Joseph, Louisiana|St. Joseph]], Louisiana, October 26, 1972, p. 1.</ref>
Ellender's immediate successor was not Johnston but [[Elaine S. Edwards]], first wife of Governor [[Edwin Edwards]], who was appointed to fill his seat from August 1, 1972, to November 13, 1972. Six days after the election, Johnston was appointed to finish Ellender's remaining term to gain a seniority advantage over other freshman senators.

== See also ==

* [[List of United States Congress members who died in office (1950–1999)]]

== References ==

{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Becnel, Thomas. ''Senator Allen Ellender of Louisiana: a biography'' (1996), the standard scholarly biography [https://archive.org/details/senatorallenelle0000becn online]
* Finley, Keith M. ''Delaying the Dream: Southern Senators and the Fight Against Civil Rights, 1938-1965'' (Baton Rouge, LSU Press, 2008).

==External links==
* https://web.archive.org/web/20090703054258/http://cityofwinnfield.com/museum.html
{{CongBio|E000112}}
* https://web.archive.org/web/20070127233419/http://www.legis.state.la.us/members/h1812-2008.pdf
* {{Commons category-inline}}

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{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[United States Senator|U.S. Senator]] from [[Louisiana]]<br />([[Classes of United States Senators|Class 2]])|years=[[1936 United States Senate election in Louisiana|1936]], [[1942 United States Senate election in Louisiana|1942]], [[1948 United States Senate election in Louisiana|1948]], [[1954 United States Senate election in Louisiana|1954]], [[1960 United States Senate election in Louisiana|1960]], [[1966 United States Senate election in Louisiana|1966]]}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[President pro tempore of the United States Senate|President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate]]|years=1971–1972}}
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{{U.S. Senator box
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{{s-ttl|title=Chair of the [[United States Senate Committee on Appropriations|Senate Appropriations Committee]]|years=1971–1972}}
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{{s-ttl|title=Most senior [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] in the U.S. Senate|years=1971–1972}}
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