---

John McKeithen, the first modern Louisiana governor to serve two consecutive terms, was born on May 28, 1918. 

The son of a Caldwell Parish farmer, his parents wanted him to become a Methodist minister. Instead, he earned a law degree from LSU and set up a practice in Columbia. 

After his election to the Legislature, then-Gov. Earl Long tapped him as a floor leader, even though he was still a relatively unknown country lawyer. 

”He told me not to worry, I’d get on all right, and I guess I did,” McKeithen later recalled.

He lost a race for lieutenant governor in 1952, before gaining election to the Public Service Commission in 1954. 

During his first run for governor, McKeithen employed a folksy plea–”Won’t you he’p me?”–with a promise to “clean up the mess in Baton Rouge.” His stance as a reformer combined with his Longite roots in northern Louisiana attracted followers of both the Long and anti-Long factions.

McKeithen was so popular during his first term that the Legislature and the public approved amending the state constitution to allow the governor to succeed himself, lifting a ban on consecutive terms implemented at the turn of the 20th century. His second term was marred by accusations of Mafia influence in his administration, although the scandal was never linked to him personally.

McKeithen worked to sell Louisiana to the rest of the world and attract industry. The Louisiana Chemical Association credits his “right to profit” legislation for helping to spur the growth of their sector. 

He is also widely credited as the force behind construction of the Superdome. The project was not completed until 1975, three years after he left office, by which time the initial $22 million cost estimate had ballooned to $130 million. 

Though he was elected as a segregation supporter, he tolerated civil rights as governor and worked to reduce racial tension. 

”The most important thing he did came in a speech he delivered to the A.F.L.-C.I.O. convention in Baton Rouge in the summer of 1966,” said John Martzell, a New Orleans lawyer who was executive secretary of McKeithen’s Louisiana Commission on Human Relations. ”He pointed to some blacks in the audience and said, ‘I know I’m not leaving this state, and I don’t think you’re leaving either. So we’ve got to solve our problem.’ It was giving the imprimatur of the state governor to solving racial differences. Previous governors had always proclaimed massive resistance to integration.”

FBI records made public in 2016 indicate McKeithen was behind payments to Ku Klux Klan leaders that were meant to suppress racial violence. The goal, according to the FBI, was to “maintain law and order in the State of Louisiana and to contact the Klan on a liaison basis in order to ensure that no violence occurred.”

McKeithen’s granddaughter, Marjorie McKeithen, said her grandfather’s proudest accomplishment was “his record on civil rights and race relations during an explosive period in our country’s history.”

Following his second term, McKeithen continued practicing law and managing an oil-and-gas exploration company. He was appointed to the LSU Board of Supervisors in 1983.

McKeithen died on June 4, 1999, at the age of 81, in his hometown of Columbia, and is buried there.

Editor’s note: Sources consulted for this story include the Secretary of State’s office, The Advocate, The New York Timesand the Louisiana Chemical Association. 

This piece first ran in the May 30, 2024 edition of LaPolitics Weekly. Wish you could have read it then? Subscribe today!

Know the most important news affecting Louisiana

Get our free weekly newsletter that covers government, policy and politics that impact your everyday life—in 5 minutes or less.

Sign Up