Frederick Tidwell Preaus
| Frederick Tidwell Preaus | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 25, 1912 Farmerville, Union Parish, Louisiana, USA |
| 💀Died | July 13, 1987 (aged 75) Union Parish, LouisianaJuly 13, 1987 (aged 75) |
| 🎓 Alma mater | Louisiana Tech University |
| 💼 Occupation | Businessman
Gubernatorial candidate, 1956 |
| 🏛️ Political party | Democratic |
| 👩 Spouse(s) | Mona Gill Preaus |
| 👶 Children | Frederick Fauntleroy Preaus Eugene R. Preaus |
Frederick Tidwell Preaus, known as Fred Preaus (April 25, 1912 – July 13, 1987),[1] was a businessman and politician in the U.S. state of Louisiana, a native of Farmerville, the seat of Union Parish near the Arkansas state line. He was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate in the 1956 Louisiana gubernatorial election.
Early life
Preaus was descended from a pioneer Union Parish family of French, German, and English origin. His mother was the first woman to register to vote in the parish, with ratification in 1920 of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution.[2]
Preaus graduated in 1933 from Louisiana Tech University in nearby Ruston.[3] In 1953, he served as the president of the Tech Alumni Association. Preaus owned a Ford and Mercury automobile dealership in Farmerville, was elected to the city council, and was active in the chamber of commerce. In 1952, incoming Governor Robert F. Kennon appointed Preaus as the state highway director.[2] Preaus was also in the timber business. He and J. A. Auger (1911–2010) developed the first chip mill in Farmerville.[4]
Run for governor
In 1955, Preaus, with the backing of Kennon, who was ineligible to seek a second consecutive four-year term, declared his candidacy for governor. Preaus's platform stressed law enforcement, industrial development, tidelands oil revenues, no state tax increases, $65 per month welfare payments to the elderly or needy, the dredging of twenty new lakes,[2] and the maintenance of racial segregation. He claimed that the NAACP civil rights organization was upsetting the "goodwill" that existed in Louisiana between the races.[5]
For lieutenant governor, Preaus allied with former New Orleans City Council member A. Brown "Brownie" Moore, a 1934 graduate of Tulane Law School who had served in General George S. Patton's Third Army during World War II. Prior to the formation of the mayor-council form of government, Moore had served from 1950 to 1954 as the New Orleans public utilities commissioner. He had been previously supported by all Democratic political factions and daily newspapers in New Orleans.[2]
One of his opponents in the campaign, former governor Earl Kemp Long, belittled Preaus, who had the reputation as a scrupulously honest, small-town car dealer and church deacon:
Fred Preaus is an honest man. If I were buying a Ford car, I'd buy it from Fred Preaus. He would give me a good deal. If I had trouble with the car, he'd give me a loaner while he got it fixed — that's just the kind of man he is. But if I was buying two Fords — well, he's just not big enough to handle a deal that size.[6][7]
Preaus was unable to make much headway in the gubernatorial race but carried one parish — not his own Union Parish, but Plaquemines Parish, then dominated by the political boss Leander Perez, one of Preaus's most determined backers. Preaus finished in third place with 95,955 votes (11.7 percent), trailing deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, Sr., the mayor of New Orleans, who made the first of his three unsuccessful gubernatorial races, and Earl Kemp Long, who won the second of his three non-consecutive terms as Louisiana governor. Lagging behind Preaus were former state police superintendent Francis Grevemberg, and James M. McLemore, an Alexandria landowner and cattleman who made a second bid for governor, once again as a particularly avowed segregationist candidate.[8] A. Brown Moore, meanwhile, lost to Long's choice for the second position, Lether Frazar of Lake Charles.
Personal
Preaus was married to the former Mona Gill (1912–1996). She died in Baton Rouge at the age of 83. Their son, attorney Frederick Fauntleroy Preaus (1937–2006), died in San Diego, California, at the age of 69. Prior to moving to San Diego, Preaus resided in New Orleans.[9] The younger son is Eugene R. Preaus (born 1941) of New Orleans.[10]
The automobile dealership is still known as Preaus Motor Company.
References
- ↑ "Frederick T. Preaus". search.ancestry.com. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Minden Herald and Webster Review, December 8, 1955, p. 9
- ↑ "Louisiana Tech, 1933". usgwarchives.net. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
- ↑ "Mary Nash-Wood, "Augers Leave Behind Rich Legacy"". Farmerville Gazette, February 3, 2010. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
- ↑ "Preaus Takes Strong Stand on Segregation", Minden Herald, December 8, 1955, p. 1
- ↑ "Free Thoughts". prorev.com. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
- ↑ Michael L. Kurtz and Morgan D. Peoples (1990). The Saga of Uncle Earl and Louisiana Politics. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press. p. 182. ISBN 0-8071-1577-0. Retrieved January 29, 2015. Search this book on
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, Gubernatorial first primary returns, January 17, 1956
- ↑ "Social Security Death Index". ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
- ↑ "Obituaries from the Monroe News Star, December 2006". googleusercontent.com. Archived from the original on July 6, 2007. Retrieved September 5, 2010.CS1 maint: Unfit url (link)
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