Algie D. Brown
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Algie Dee Brown
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| In office 1948 – 1972 |
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| Born | March 8, 1910 Waldo, Columbia County, Arkansas, USA |
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| Died | October 29, 2004 (aged 94) Shreveport, Louisiana, USA |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | (1) Hazel Turner Brown (1919-1994, married 1947-1994)
(2) Elise Beaudreaux Brown (1923-2003, married 1996-2003) |
| Children | Sons Curtis Brown; Bryan Brown |
| Occupation | Attorney |
| Religion | Baptist |
Algie Dee Brown[1] was a Shreveport attorney and a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives (1948-1972). He served under governors Earl Kemp Long, Robert F. Kennon, James Houston "Jimmie" Davis, and John J. McKeithen. His interest in politics began in the early 1930s when he heard the legendary Huey Pierce Long, Jr., give a stem-winding speech in Shreveport.
Brown served in an at-large Caddo Parish delegation during his entire House career. By the time he declined to seek a seventh term in 1972, single-member districts were instituted in Louisiana legislative races. In the 1964 general election, Brown ran third for the five available seats but was outdistanced by two GOP candidates, Morley A. Hudson and Taylor W. O'Hearn. Joining Brown in the delegation were fourth-place finisher Frank Fulco and newcomer J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., later a United States senator. Brown was not pleased at finishing behind two Republican beneficiaries of Charlton Lyons, who was waging the first well-organized GOP campaign for governor in modern Louisiana history.[2]
In 1960, Brown co-sponsored the bill which created the ten-member Joint Legislative Committee on Un-American Activities, modeled after the national House Committee on Un-American Activities.[3] The stated purpose of the committee was to investigate "communist and socialist activities" within Louisiana.[4] The bill achieved final approval but only after the Louisiana State Senate amendeded it to require that the committee act through the office of the state attorney general, then Jack P.F. Gremillion, to enforce contempt actions.[5]
Brown was born to John Spence Brown and the former Melody Bryan in a log house on a farm near Waldo near Magnolia in southwestern Arkansas. One of seven children, he outlived his six siblings. The Browns moved to Shreveport in 1924, where Algie graduated in 1928 from C.E. Byrd High School, the first public high school in the city. One of his Byrd classmates was his future legislative colleague, Frank Fulco, who became a leader of the Italian American community in Louisiana. In 1934, Brown received a bachelor of arts from Methodist-affiliated Centenary College.[6]
In 1935, Brown obtained his law degree from Louisiana State University and established his law practice, which was interrupted after eight years by World War II. Brown was a United States Navy lieutenant aboard several aircraft carriers in the Pacific Theater. He was a radar control officer aboard the USS Natoma Bay when the escort carrier was struck by a Japanese kamikaze airplane during the Okinawa campaign in June 1945. Brown was discharged from active duty in 1946 and resumed his law practice.[6]
In 1947, Brown wed the former Hazel Turner (April 29, 1919-June 21, 1994).[1] In 1996, he married the former Elise Beaudreaux (December 20, 1923-October 1, 2003)[1] of Ruston, Louisiana. Brown died at his Shreveport home after a lengthy illness. Services were held in the Frost Chapel of the First Baptist Church of Shreveport, of which Brown had been a member for 75 years. Brown was buried beside wife Hazel at Forest Park Cemetery in Shreveport. He was survived by two sons, Curtis Brown of Shreveport and Bryan Brown, two grandsons, and three stepchildren.[6]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Social Security Death Index Interactive Search
- ^ Shreveport Journal, March 4, 1964
- ^ Jerry P. Shinley Archive: Origins of Louisiana Un-American Activities Committee (LUAC): JFK assassination investigation: Jim Garrison New Orleans investigation of the John F. Kennedy assassination
- ^ New Orleans Times-Picayune, May 19, 1960, Section 1, p. 4
- ^ New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 14, 1960; Section 3, p. 1
- ^ a b c "Algie D. Brown obituary", Shreveport Times, October 31, 2004
