T. Harry
Williams Center for Oral History Collection
INTERVIEWEE
NAME: Winston
Riddick COLLECTION:4700.1179
IDENTIFICATION:
Political
Ally and Friend of Gillis Long
INTERVIEWER: Gary Huey
PROJECT:
Gillis
Long Biography
DATES:
18
July 1987 FOCUS
DATES: 1960s-1980s
ABSTRACT:
Tape
1720
Meeting
Gillis Long at a Young Democrats rally; discusses his and his wife's commitment
to civil rights and the repercussions they suffered; being impeached while
University of Southwest Louisiana's (USL) student body president because he
integrated intramural sports; USL president abolishes intramural sports rather
than allowing them to be integrated; taking job as a political science
professor at Louisiana State University (LSU); Riddick's family anti-Long;
Gillis's ability to form friendships with people who were traditionally
anti-Long; relationship between Gillis Long and John McKeithen; Long's loss in
the 1963 gubernatorial election; Long's support for civil rights; reasons for
Long's election to Congress in 1962; Long's connections in Washington; the role
of Russell Long in Gillis's early political career; McKeithen and the split in
the Long family; War on Poverty; Gillis's family living in a chicken coop
during the Depression; John F. Kennedy's brother-in-law & head of the
Office of Economic Opportunity [OEO] Sargent Shriver; describes his role in
securing passage for the constitutional amendment allowing Louisiana's
governors [beginning with John McKeithen] to serve two consecutive terms;
Louisiana's poverty and illiteracy; reasons for Gillis's loss in the 1971
gubernatorial race; Edwin Edwards and the black vote in the 1971 gubernatorial
election; black newspapers and political leaders in New Orleans endorse Long
for governor in 1971; Edwin Edwards's speech writers; reasons Gillis Long
carried New Orleans in the first primary; in exchange for Long's support,
Edwards promised to support him in a bid for Congress; describes reasons for
Long's success in fund raising; Long's phone list; Long's staff service
oriented; capability of Long's staff
Tape
1721
Reasons
for Long's well-organized staff; discusses role of a congressman's staff in
determining his effectiveness in office; importance of reading; Long's
commitment to increased voter registration; membership on an ad hoc Democratic
committee formed to pick candidates for state-wide elections (ca. 1967);
attempt to get Louisiana Democrats loyal to the national party to head the
state party; Gillis's wide range of friends; helping “loyal” Democrats win
elections; Gillis's opinions about U. S. foreign policy; Ronald Reagan's
foreign policy, especially in Nicaragua; Jimmy Carter's foreign policy;
Gillis's trip to Morocco; Richard Nixon; Watergate; Gillis Long's honesty;
Justice Department investigation into Louisiana elections; working for Louis
Lambert gubernatorial campaign in 1979; Gillis's decision not to run for
governor in 1979; Gillis's lack of charisma in television appearances; use of
direct mail to target black voters; Oliver North; Louisiana electorate's desire
to be entertained; advantages and disadvantages of Gillis being a Long; impact
of television on Louisiana politics; Edwin Edwards; Gillis Long's political
weaknesses; reapportionment of Gillis's district to insure his reelection;
describes the sacrifices that Long made for his political career
T1722
Gillis's
friendship with Riddick's son Wade; discusses Korean airplane shot down by the
Russians; Wade's fishing trip with Gillis; Gillis crushing a vertebrae on
another fishing trip and use of experimental therapy to treat it; Gillis Long's
legacy in the Democratic Party
TAPES:
T1720;
T1721; T1722 TOTAL
PLAYING TIME: 2.5 hours
#
PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 88
RESTRICTIONS: None