W.K. Brown 4700.1175

T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History Collection

ABSTRACT

INTERVIEWEE NAME: W.K. Brown COLLECTION: 4700.1175

IDENTIFICATION: Louisiana Politician

INTERVIEWER: Gary Huey

PROJECT: Gillis Long Biography

DATES: 5 August 1986 FOCUS DATES: 1940s-1980s

ABSTRACT:

Tape 1710, Side A

Brown met Long at LSU [Louisiana State University] in the mid-1940s; Long ran for president of the Student Body and Brown helped him campaign; Cathy Long, Gillis= wife; a stripper went to one of Long=s campaigns and several men threw her in a lake and the police showed up; Brown was with Long when he ran for Congress; Lloyd Teekell[?]; Earl Long; how the Long surname affected Gillis= campaigns; Long=s loss in the 1963 campaign; McKeithen and Morrison also were candidates in 1963; Speedy O. Long; rivalry between Long and McKeithen; Long worked with the Poverty Program with Sergeant Shriver; Long ran for governorship in 1971 along with Johnston and Edwards and lost again; Long=s views on integration might have caused his loss; Jesse Bankston; Close race for governorship; Harold McSween; Brown talks about Long=s personality; Long stayed close to people; Treen; Long would work overtime and had long days; Long as a good money-raiser; Long=s vote in Washington helped him in fund raising; Long was born in Winn Parish and came from a poor family; Russell [US Senator];

Tape 1710, Side B

Long backed up a lot of social programs; Long=s take on civil rights issues might have hurt his voting record; Long an influential Democrat and representative of Louisiana in Washington, D.C.; Gillis Long=s funeral; Long=s wife, Cathy, decided to run after her husband=s death and Brown felt she went to fast and that it hurt her health-wise; Long, after bypass surgery continued to overwork and he had poor health; Brown also knew Earl Long and admired him just as he admired Gillis;

TAPES: 1 (T 1710) TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 60 minutes

# PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 37