Bruce Bennett: chartering a disaster

Bruce Bennett and family. Source: encyclopediaofarkansas.net

In a government career marked by corruption and harassment of civil rights groups, Bruce Bennett is somehow best remembered for his role in the debate over teaching evolution in schools.

The Arkansas state legislature crafted an anti-evolution law in 1928, making it unlawful for any teacher in the state's schools or colleges to include evolution in their courses. The law also banned textbooks featuring evolution and set a fine of $500 for anyone who violated the statute. Coming just three years after the fight over evolution in the Scopes Monkey Trial, backers of the bill said the legislation amounted to supporting the Bible over atheism and giving taxpayers control over what would be taught in schools. At the general election in November, voters overwhelmingly approved the measure with 108,991 in favor and 63,406 opposed.

The law was never strongly enforced, and attempts to repeal it were made in 1937 and 1959 as support for such fundamentalist measures waned. It wasn't until 1965 that the effort gained significant public attention. Susan Epperson, a high school teacher in Little Rock, became the plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the bill on the basis that evolution instruction was part of "the obligations of a responsible teacher of biology."

Bennett, the attorney general of Arkansas, was eager to take on the suit and even expressed his hope to disprove Darwin's theory during the proceedings. Maintaining the old argument that evolution promoted atheism and deprived the state's schools of choosing what they would teach, he asked, "Will our children be 'free' to choose their religion after their minds have been warped by anti-religious propaganda; or will they be forever captives of the Darwin theory, foisted upon them in their youth?"

Judge Murray O. Reed had no wish to see the state embarrassed by a Scopes-like circus more than four decades after that case. The case was scheduled to last only one day - April 1, 1966 - and the proceedings in the Pulaski County Chancery Court lasted only two-and-a-half hours. On May 27, Reed declared that the law was unconstitutional since it sought to "hinder the quest for knowledge, restrict the freedom to learn, and restrain the freedom to teach."

The ruling was subsequently overturned by the Arkansas Supreme Court, then appealed to the United States Supreme Court. The justices upheld Reed's ruling in a 7-2 decision, saying the Arkansas law was unconstitutional since it infringed upon the First Amendment. Justice Abe Fortas said in the majority report that the right of free speech "does not permit the state to require that teaching and learning must be tailored to the principles or prohibitions of any religious sect or dogma" and that the law essentially gave preference to the creationist view by "seeking to blot out" the conflicting scientific theory.

The case set a precedent for the legality of other anti-evolution laws, establishing that public schools could not be forbidden from teaching Darwin's theory as a way of upholding religious doctrine. Bennett's grandstanding and loss in the lower court also contributed to the loss of his office, which in turn led to revelations that he had used his office for corrupt purposes.

Bennett was born on October 31, 1917, in Helena, Arkansas. Four years later, he moved with his family to the small city of El Dorado and completed school. He studied pre-law at El Dorado Junior College and Third District Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Southern Arkansas) in the nearby community of Magnolia.

Bennett joined the Army in 1940 and remained in the military after the United States entered the Second World War. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1942 and served 14 months in Europe before returning to the U.S. for pilot training. For the remainder of the war, he would be a commander of a B-29 in the South Pacific. Bennett flew 30 missions over Japan, coming home with the Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, and Air Medal with three clusters. He resumed his studies and earned a degree from Vanderbilt Law School in 1949.

Three years later, Bennett began his political career. He was elected as a Democrat to be prosecuting attorney of the Thirteenth Judicial District in 1952 and 1954. He was elected as the state's attorney general in 1956 and re-elected in 1958.

The emerging civil rights movement would find that they had no friend in Bennett. Little Rock became the focal point of a standoff between Arkansas state officials and the federal government in September of 1957, when a federal court ordered the school district to integrate in compliance with the Supreme Court's "Brown v. Board of Education" decision. Governor Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Central High School. Stymied by his failed attempts to negotiate the issue with the recalcitrant governor, President Dwight D. Eisenhower responded by federalizing the Arkansas National Guard and ordering the Army's 101st Airborne Division in from Kentucky to provide protection for the students and ensure order during the integration.

Bennett subsequently crafted several bills to harass civil rights activists, especially the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The measures prevented the NAACP from providing legal counsel or funding for lawsuits in the state and prohibited NAACP members from becoming state employees. With Faubus's support, Bennett also had the Arkansas NAACP's nonprofit status revoked in 1958 and banned it for nonpayment of taxes.

Six months later, Bennett went farther by accusing civil rights protesters and NAACP members of being "enemies of America" in league with an international Communist conspiracy. He ordered the organization's membership lists and personnel records to be opened for scrutinizing by state officials, then organized public hearings on the issue before the Arkansas Legislative Council's Special Education Committee. Bennett was so convinced that the civil rights movement was "riddled with Communists" that he appeared as an expert witness on the allegation in Tennessee and ran unsuccessfully as a segregationist for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1960, accusing Faubus of being a secret ally of NAACP state leader Daisy Bates despite Faubus's open resistance to desegregation.

Bennett remained popular enough that he was re-elected as attorney general in 1962 and 1964. He lost the primary to Joe Purcell in 1966, soon after his failed attempt to uphold the anti-evolution law. Ten days after taking office, Purcell set his sights on his predecessor by filing a lawsuit charging that the Arkansas Loan and Thrift had been selling securities illegally.

Bennett had helped found the AL&T in 1964, using the attorney general's office for the purpose. Along with used car dealer Ernest A. Bartlett Jr. and others, he incorporated the institute using a 1937 industrial loan charter from a defunct financial institution. The AL&T solicited investors for industrial development projects, luring people in with promises of high interest rates and deposit guarantees. In truth, the AL&T put investors' money into questionable developments while padding the accounts of the institution's officers. During his time as attorney general, Bennett held several shares in AL&T in his wife's name and collected regular legal fees from them. He also bought an inactive insurance company and sold it to the AL&T for $64,000; this organization was redubbed the Savings Guarantor Corporation and used to guarantee investors' deposits even though it was backed by no equity other than worthless AL&T stock.

The fraud crossed state lines, with Bennett and Bartlett taking a part in setting up a similar scheme in Louisiana. He made a hefty profit off the Louisiana Loan and Thrift, set up with the cooperation of Louisiana Attorney General Jack P.F. Gremillion, by borrowing $160,000 from the institution before canceling the debt by transferring his stock to another man. Between AL&T and its Louisiana twin, Bennett made some $200,000. He also used his official position to protect the AL&T from state regulation, issuing five secret opinions to state officials stating that Arkansas's securities laws didn't apply to the institution since it was operating under an old industrial loan charter rather than as a bank or savings and loan.

Purcell's suit sought to order the AL&T to stop representing itself as either a bank trust company or a savings and loan. Tom Glaze, a trial attorney in Arkansas during this time, recalls that this filing went nowhere because of a blatant conflict of interest in the Pulaski County Chancery Court. Claude Carpenter Jr., the business and law partner of the court's Chancellor Kay Matthews, enjoyed insider dealings with AL&T. The institute's founder, Ernest A. Bartlett Jr., even visited Carpenter soon after the filing and paid him a $23,000 retainer. Carpenter, who would be named a co-conspirator in the case, denied doing anything with the money other than fly to Las Vegas with Bartlett to gamble and chat with him about Arkansas Razorbacks football.

The cozy relationship stalled the matter for several months, with Matthews granting plenty of extensions. The delay finally prompted state officials to go over the court's head. Governor Winthrop Rockefeller had become the first Republican elected to the office since 1872 with his victory in 1966; his securities commissioner, Don Smith, appealed for help from the Securities and Exchange Commission. On March 13, 1968, U.S. District Court Judge John E. Miller ordered AL&T to be shut down and placed into receivership.

More than 2,000 people and two churches had invested over $4 million in AL&T. The investors would only recoup about one-quarter of what they had put into the fraudulent institution when its assets were liquidated. In one amusing exchange, a representative from the Booneville Lutheran Mission asked that the churches be the first to receive any recovered assets so they would be able to replenish their building accounts; the man explained, "This is not the people's money, this is God's money." In denying the request, Miller replied, "God should have looked after it a little better then." The AL&T was denounced as the "Arkansas Loan & Theft."

Bennett insisted that his only connection to the AL&T was that his wife briefly owned some shares in the institution. He was confident enough in his own chances of acquittal that he ran once again for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1968, although he finished a distant fourth. The investigation of the AL&T records soon uncovered his close connection with the institution, including the secret opinions on regulation of the AL&T.

In 1969, Bennett was indicted on 28 counts of securities violations, mail fraud, and wire fraud. Three other officers - Bartlett and brothers Afton and Hoyce Borum - were charged with the same crimes. Several other people, including Carpenter and some members of the Arkansas General Assembly, were named as unindicted co-conspirators.

Bennett was able to escape punishment because of his poor health, namely throat cancer. Bartlett would be convicted of some of the charges against him and receive a sentence of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The Borum brothers would also be convicted, but receive shorter sentences. The charges against Bennett were dismissed on May 20, 1977, due to his ongoing health issues as well as difficulties in finding witnesses to testify against him. "I'd like to thank my friends and attorneys for their continued faith in me," he said after the court's decision.

Bennett died two years later on August 26, 1979.  

Sources: The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, Civil Rights Digital Library, National Parks Service, "Arkansas Battles to Save Ban on Darwin's Theory" in the Ellensburg Daily Record on Aug. 16 1966, Chronology of the Evolution-Creationism Controversy by Sehoya Cotner and Mark Decker and Randy Moore, Fulbright: A Biography by Randall Bennett Woods, The Arkansas Rockefeller by John L. Ward, Waiting for the Cemetery Vote: The Fight to Stop Election Fraud in Arkansas by Tom Glaze

Harry M. Daugherty

Image from britannica.com

The controversial existence of Harry Micajah Daugherty in the world of politics is probably best exemplified by the fact that his name is linked with a key phrase in underhanded wheeling and dealing: "the smoke-filled room." In 1920, Daugherty served as the campaign manager for longtime friend Warren G. Harding, a Republican senator from Ohio. Harding was not expected to be a favored choice, but sometime before the summer convention Daugherty made an odd declaration. "At the proper time after the Republican National Convention meets some 15 men, bleary-eyed with loss of sleep and perspiring profusely with the excessive heat, will sit down in seclusion around a big table," he said. "I will be with them and will present the name of Senator Harding to them, and before we get through they will put him over."

The prediction, which basically said Harding would be chosen out of frustration, may have cost Daugherty a seat at the convention as a delegate-at-large. After all, he was openly saying that he and other political bosses, likely men of the "Ohio Gang" of Harding backers, would wield more power at the convention than the delegates.

Daugherty proved rather clairvoyant in his statement, however. The convention at Chicago ground its way through several ballots, unable to reach a consensus on the Republican ticket for the year's presidential contest. Several political bosses met in a hotel room made hazy by the cigar smoke and decided that if the deadlock could not be broken, Harding would be an acceptable choice. Daugherty and other members of the Harding team helped by raining pro-Harding postcards down on the convention from the rafters. Finally, on the tenth ballot, Harding was selected with Governor Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts as his running mate.

Daugherty's prediction had come true, but it would hardly do him any favors. For the rest of his political career, he would be waylaid by enemies accusing him of incompetence or complicity in the corruption that emerged under Harding's presidency.

Daugherty was born in Washington Court House, Ohio in January of 1860. He pursued a legal career, which included a period serving as the Fayette County prosecuting attorney. This morphed into a political path, as he was elected a township clerk for the county, served two terms on the city council of Washington Court House in the late 1880s, and held a seat in the state house of representatives from 1890 and 1894.

From there, Daugherty sought to go on to bigger and better things, but never with any success. He made failed bids for the nominations for Ohio attorney general in 1895 and governor in 1899, and wasn't able to get the Republican nod for the Senate races in 1910 and 1916. In 1912, he contented himself with managing the Ohio campaign of Republican presidential candidate William Howard Taft. It marked yet another flop on Daugherty's record, as Taft not only failed to best Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson but also tallied fewer votes than former President Theodore Roosevelt's third party bid. During these dry years, Daugherty supported himself by representing corporate interests and acting as the vice president of the Columbus Savings and Trust Company.

After Harding was selected as the Republican presidential nominee in 1920, Daugherty continued to be a close compatriot. He accompanied the candidate on all of his speaking engagements and served on the campaign's legislative committee. Along with other bosses ushering Harding toward the election, Daugherty earned the scorn of Democratic presidential candidate James Cox, another Ohioan and governor of that state, when Harding declared himself "the freest man that was ever nominated by any party for the presidency." Cox fired back that Harding was essentially in the pocket of big business and asked, "What promise have you made to Harry M. Daugherty, corporation lobbyist, and what promises was he authorized to make in your behalf in order to secure your nomination at Chicago?"

Harding was nevertheless able to win the 1920 election, and in February of the next year Harding announced that he was appointing Daugherty to the post of Attorney General. The favor, along with Daugherty's character, continued to draw ire for some time after. When Harding reportedly cautioned newspapers against printing criticisms of Daugherty, Democratic Senator Augustus Stanley of Kentucky asked, "Will the President say in his desperation to shield his friend, Harry M. Daugherty, that senators and representatives who denounce the nefarious and crooked operations of a political broker are 'political blackguards?'"

The Attorney General did find some support amid the rash of accusations that befell him, however. In July of 1922, the Ohio bar passed a resolution proclaiming their support for Daugherty, charging that "certain propaganda has been made in Congress and in the press tending to discount and discredit the service and character of Mr. Daugherty."

Daugherty still took plenty of flak from opponents. One of the earliest things to come across his desk was the case of Eugene V. Debs, a Socialist leader charged under the Espionage Act for utterances made against World War I in Canton, Ohio. Debs had been convicted in June of 1917 and sentenced to 10 years in prison in September of 1918. Following an unsuccessful appeal, Debs began serving the sentence in April of 1919; he was eligible for parole in August of 1922, with the sentence scheduled to end in December of 1925 with good conduct.

Daugherty considered the original sentence too harsh, since it didn't take Debs' age (61 at the time of conviction) into account. He recommended in December of 1921 that the sentence be commuted at the end of the year. Daugherty suggested that Debs did not intentionally break the law, and that it would be a wise political move to commute the sentence due to Debs' considerable clout, but stressed that the decision shouldn't amount to a pardon. "No right-thinking man would set up a government, or a system of government advocated by Debs, as against the government founded by the wisdom of our forefathers and supported by every right-thinking American who has an understanding of the benefits and necessity of government and the security and opportunity it affords," he said. "I became satisfied while talking with Debs that his conviction and imprisonment in the penitentiary have had no effect upon his incorrect opinions."

Despite these explanations, Daugherty was still the chief recipient of opponents' anger when Harding commuted Debs' sentence. Another more serious pardon issue related to an earlier case. In May of 1922, Thaddeus H. Caraway, a Democratic senator from Arkansas, accused Daugherty of receiving $25,000 from New York shipbuilder Charles W. Morse to get him released from prison in 1912 following his conviction on charges of violating banking laws. Caraway said the money passed through Georgia attorney Thomas B. Felder into Daugherty's hands. The Justice Department responded that the Taft-era pardon only took Morse's health problems into consideration.

Caraway demanded Daugherty's resignation, but nothing came of it. Four months later, Republican Representative Oscar Keller of Minnesota proposed impeachment proceedings against the Attorney General on a different issue, namely injunction proceedings started by the Justice Department against striking railroad unions to keep the trains running. Keller charged violations of the First Amendment, specifically that Daugherty acted "in a manner arbitrary, oppressive, unjust, and illegal," threatened punishment against opponents, illegally used funds to prosecute individuals and corporations for lawful acts while failing to prosecute illegal acts, and recommended release of offenders of Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

Daugherty was unfazed. He grinned broadly when told of the resolution, which was referred to the House Judiciary Committee with little hope of progress. Later, he proposed an expansion of the injunction, including forbidding strikers from trying to stop people crossing the picket line, picketing near the entrances to rail sites, or using threats. The impeachment effort collapsed during committee hearings in December of 1922, when Keller tried to read a prepared statement and was told he could not "lecture" the representatives and needed to be under oath. Keller angrily tossed the statement before Andrew J. Volstead, committee chairman and another Minnesota Republican, saying he wouldn't cooperate if he could not read it. Keller then stormed out, accusing the committee of a "bare-faced attempt to whitewash Harry M. Daugherty." The committee later recommended exoneration for the Attorney General, and the House agreed in a 204-77 vote in January of 1923.

The blow that finally toppled Daugherty came in the form of the most famous of the scandals to rock the Harding Administration: the Teapot Dome Scandal. Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall leased naval oil fields in Wyoming and California to oil men Harry F. Sinclair and Edward L. Doheny in 1922, and the deal had been sweetened by $409,000 paid to Fall. The Secretary of the Interior ultimately had to serve a year in prison and pay a $100,000 fine after his conviction on bribery charges.

Daugherty was never implicated in the crimes, but his enemies were quick to question why he had not caught this misconduct earlier. Burton K. Wheeler, a Democratic Senator from Montana and one of Daugherty's most outspoken foes, asked President Coolidge (Harding died in August of 1923) to demand Daugherty's resignation. Wheeler later amended his request, asking for an inquiry into the Justice Department. He also accused Felder of being a former partner to Daugherty who collected money in exchange for selling appointments and dismissing cases related to Prohibition-era alcohol violations in New York. Felder responded that the two were associated with several of the same cases, but never partners; he also said such accusations had arisen before, with no result. Nevertheless, Felder was ultimately convicted of conspiracy in a scheme to bribe Daugherty to remove evidence from Justice Department files.

Daugherty came under even more fire when the committees investigating the corruption received a report in February of 1924 that he dealt in Sinclair oil stock. He refused to resign, asking, "Shall reputations be destroyed and public officials driven from office by clamor, insinuation, and falsehood?" The next month, Daugherty was blasted in testimony by Roxie Stinson, the divorced wife of Daugherty's friend and assistant, Jesse Smith. In 1923, Smith had been found dead of apparent suicide in the apartment he shared with Daugherty. Stinson said she remained friendly with Smith following their separation, and that he had told her Daugherty procured stock in companies such as White Motors and Pure Oil for nothing; she said Smith even gave her some small blocks of stock. She said the corruption put a great deal of stress on Smith, and that she tried without success to get him to break his loyalty to Daugherty. She agreed that Smith killed himself, but held that the Attorney General was "morally responsible" for the death.

One charge held that Sinclair turned over securities to Daugherty and Will H. Hays, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, to cover a deficit incurred by the party in the 1920 campaign. The committee also heard testimony that Daugherty and Hays each received $25,000 to secure Harding's nominations at the 1920 convention, while Senator Boies Penrose of Pennsylvania got a $50,000 payout. Amid the hubbub, Daugherty still refused to resign, proclaiming, "I wouldn't have given 30 cents for the office of Attorney General, but I won't surrender it for a million dollars."

When Daugherty refused to supply documents on various aspects of Harding corruption, Coolidge asked for the Attorney General's resignation. Daugherty agreed to do so, and left office at the end of March of 1924. "I have no personal feeling against the President," he insisted. "I am yet his dependable friend and supporter." Coolidge chose Harlan Fiske Stone, former dean of Columbia Law School and director of several corporations, as his successor.

The investigation into Daugherty continued, at least until his counsel abruptly announced in June of 1924 that he would not testify before the committee. The Senate voted 70-2 to pursue the matter anyway, and take it to the Supreme Court if need be. While out of office, Daugherty had to defend himself against numerous accusations. They included failure to actively pursue the collection of millions of dollars in war debts, failure to identify fraud within the Justice Department, collecting bribes via Smith to get the government to look the other way on Prohibition matters, and the appointment of anti-labor William J. Burns to the department's Bureau of Investigation (Burns also resigned under fire in 1924).

In May of 1926, Daugherty was indicted alongside former Alien Property Custodian Thomas Miller and former Republican national committeeman John T. King on charges of conspiracy to defraud the government. In this case, the men were charged with fraud in the $7 million sale of American Metal Company assets seized during World War I to German metal magnate Richard Merton. Smith was also implicated, but of course could not be charged due to his death; King died before he could go to trial. Daugherty was the first Attorney General indicted for crimes in office, and prosecutors charged that $49,335 in Liberty bonds could be traced to him, deposited via his brother's bank in a joint account with Smith. Altogether, the men were accused of receiving $441,000 in kickbacks in the sale.

The trial began in September of 1926. Merton testified that he had no dealings with Daugherty, and that the sale was conducted through a supposedly neutral Swiss corporation. The strongest evidence against Daugherty came from his brother, Mal S. Daugherty, though all he could do was say evidence was no longer available. Mal, the president of Midland National Bank in Washington Court House, said Harry told him he had burned three accounts of bank ledger sheets related to the American Metal Company transfer. Daugherty's attorney gave the rather awkward argument that he destroyed the documents "in a moment of madness," partially fueled by the constant attacks against him, and meant to burn records related to a Harding campaign fund instead. Prosecutors said the lost bank ledgers would have proved Daugherty's guilt.

After lengthy deliberations, the jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of convicting Miller and 7-5 in favor of convicting Daugherty. Another trial was scheduled, and in the interim Daugherty testified as part of the proceedings against Fall, saying the Justice Department was never asked for a formal opinion on the corrupt oil leases. At the next trial in February of 1927, the amount of Daugherty's alleged kickback increased to $140,000, while witnesses suggested that Miller got $40,000. The next month, this jury debated the question for even longer, about 70 hours, before convicting Miller. Only one person was against conviction of Daugherty, but it was enough to hang the jury. The federal prosecutor, Emory R. Buckner, asked for the indictment against Daugherty to be quashed. Teary-eyed, Daugherty said he would be returning home to practice law.

Though Harry Daugherty never served any jail time, Mal was found guilty of defrauding his bank in March of 1931 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Daugherty died in Columbus, Ohio in October of 1941 of congestive heart failure following his recovery from two heart attacks and pneumonia. He left an unfinished book defending his reputation, and an estate worth $175,000.

Sources: The Political Graveyard, "Ohio: Election Of Republican Candidate For Governor Probably By About 30,000" in the New York Times on Nov. 8 1899, "Wade Ellis To Lead Fight On Harmon" in the New York Times on Feb. 8 1910, "Prophesied How Harding Would Win" in the New York Times on Jun. 13 1920, "Harding Abandons Vacation To Hold Party Conferences" in the New York Times on Jun. 20 1920, "Cox Ridicules Assertions By Rival Nominee" in the Deseret News on Oct. 30 1920, "Democrats Concede The Election Of Sen. Harding" in the Lewiston Daily Sun on Nov. 3 1920, "Harding Picks Cabinet" in the Reading Eagle on Feb. 22 1921, "Daugherty A Storm Centre" in the New York Times on Feb. 22 1921, "Daugherty Report On Release Of Debs" in the New York Times on Dec. 31 1921, "Daugherty Charged Again With Getting Big Fee From Morse" in the Miami News on May 3 1922, "Caraway Asks That Daugherty Resign" in the Lewiston Daily Sun on May 22 1922, "Daugherty To Lead War Prosecutions" in the New York Times on May 26 1922, "Gives Out Data On Morse's Pardon To Aid Daugherty" in the New York Times on May 28 1922, "Harding Shields Daugherty, Is Senate Charge" in the Pittsburgh Press on Jun. 4 1922, "Ohio Bar Upholds Daugherty" in the New York Times on Jul. 8 1922, "Asks House To Impeach Daugherty" in the Southeast Missourian on Sep. 11 1922, "Asks Impeachment Against Daugherty" in the New York Times on Sep. 12 1922, "Daugherty Seeks Firmer Injunction" in the New York Times on Sep. 22 1922, "Keller Quits Probe Alleging Whitewash" in the Evening Independent on Dec. 15 1922, "Wheeler Again Plans Ousting Of Daugherty" in the Miami News on Feb. 15 1922, "Daugherty Remains Under Fire In Senate Oil Inquiry" in the Lewiston Evening Journal on Feb. 20 1924, "daugherty Threatens To Carry To People Battle To Retain Cabinet Seat" in the Lewiston Daily Sun on Feb. 22 1924, "Tells Of Deal With Daugherty" in the Gettysburg Times on Mar. 13 1924, "Oil Probers Get Setback" in the Evening Independent on Mar. 20 1924, "Thinks Smith Suicide And Harry Daugherty Morally Responsible" in the Lewiston Evening Journal on Mar. 27 1924, "Daugherty Is Not 'At Outs' With Coolidge" in the Southeastern Missourian on Mar. 31 1924, "News Review Of Current Events" in the Polk County News on Apr. 10 1924, "Daugherty Refuses Call Of Committee" in the New York Times on Jun. 5 1924, "Senate Votes 70-2 To Fight Daugherty" in the New York Times on Jun. 6 1924, "Asked To Grant Appeal" in the Herald-Journal on Jan. 24 1926, "Jury Indicts Daugherty In Alien Scandal" in the Milwaukee Sentinel on May 8 1926, "Mal Daugherty Admits Record Was Destroyed" in the Times Daily on Sept. 24 1926, "German Magnate Helps Daugherty" in the Ellensburg Daily Record on Sept. 14 1926, "Paper Burned By Daugherty When Hounded" in the Schenectady Gazette on Oct. 8 1926, "Daugherty Will Face New Trial" in the Sarasota Herald on Nov. 4 1926, "Fall Blamed For Leasing Of Oil Lands" in the Berkeley Daily Gazette on Nov. 30 1926, "Daugherty And Miller Again Facing Trial" in the Sarasota Herald on Feb. 9 1927, "Daugherty Man 'Friday' Figures In Court Trial" in the Lewiston Evening Journal on Feb. 9 1927, "Brother Deals Daugherty Rap" in the Prescott Evening Courier on Feb. 15 1927, "Ex-Alien Property Chief Convicted Of Conspiracy" in the Berkeley Daily Gazette on Mar. 3 1927, "Corruption: One Blind, One Coated" in Time on Mar. 14 1927, "Daugherty Is Found Guilty" in the Gettysburg Times on Mar. 5 1931, "Mal Daugherty Gets 10 Years In Prison" in the New York Times on Mar. 19 1931, "Harry Daugherty Succumbs At 81" in the Evening Independent on Oct. 13 1941, King of the Bootleggers: A Biography of George Remus by William A. Cook, The New Encyclopedia of American Scandal by George C. Kohn, New World Coming: The 1920s and the Making of Modern America by Nathan Miller

Jack P.F. Gremillion: the den of iniquity

Entertainer Jimmy Durante, at left, with Jack P.F. Gremillion. Image from sos.louisiana.gov.

First coming to trouble for criticizing a court proceedings as unjust, Lousiana's Attorney General, Jack Paul Faustin Gremillion, was to face justice twice during his 16 years in office.

Gremillion was born in 1914 in Donaldsville, Louisiana. He graduated from the law school at Louisiana State University in 1937 and worked in the local district attorney's office. Gremillion served in the Army during World War II, then returned to work as a prosecutor.

He was elected as a Democrat to serve as the state's Attorney General in 1956, and soon established himself as a staunch advocate of segregation. He led an effort to shut down the activities of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, forcing the organization to suspend its operations in the state for a time. Gremillion also helped draft a state statute allowing the state legislature to determine the racial demographics of the New Orleans schools rather than the Orleans Parish School Board. The move was a way of undermining a court order to desegregate the schools. It was upheld by a state court, as was a suit he filed to have the schools disregard the order. However, this victory came only a month before the first incident to throw the Attorney General into the national spotlight.

In the fall of 1960, Governor Jimmie Davis seized control of the New Orleans elementary schools to block a federal integration order. The move was contested by the NAACP and others, and the matter went before a hearing in federal court. During the testimony, Gremillion contested a decision to place some facts into the record by affidavit rather than by witness testimony. Saying he hadn't received the affidavits, Gremilion asked for a five day postponement in the hearing and was denied. Not long after that, he stormed out of the room, denouncing the proceedings as a "den of iniquity" and "kangaroo court."

The panel of three federal judges declared state laws state laws related to segregation unconstitutional, ordered state officials to cease interfering with integration, and returned control of the New Orleans schools to the school board, of which four of the five members supported integration. In addition, Gremillion was cited for contempt of court and later brought up on a criminal charge of the same. He was given a 60-day jail sentence, which was fully suspended, as well as 18 months of probation.

Gremillion was described as a colorful character. Among other things, he defended his right to not only bar convicted felons from voting but also the mothers of illegitimate children, whom he referred to as "bastardizing females." When two black men were freed from prison and escaped the death penalty after 13 years when they were found to have received an unfair trial on rape charges, Gremillion said he would appeal the decision and take it to the Supreme Court if necessary. "It looks like the court wants to give them a medal for staying in prison," he said. Protesting a Supreme Court ruling upholding the Voting Rights Act of 1965 after he and representatives from five other Southern states said that it was unconstitutional, Gremillion bemoaned it as "another step in the total destruction of the rights of states to regulate their internal affairs" that would "also will undoubtedly lead to universal suffrage." Governor Earl Long, who served from 1956 to 1960, declared, "If you want to hide something from Jack Gremillion, put it in a law book."

In 1969, Gremillion was indicted on charges of fraud and conspiracy along with four other men involved with the Louisiana Loan and Thrift Corporation. They were charged with issuing bond investment certificates and lying to potential investors to increase the sale of the certificates. The company went bankrupt in 1968, owing its depositors about $2.5 million.

Gremillion was also indicted in 1970 on perjury charges stating that he lied to a grand jury by denying having a financial involvement in the company, owned stock in the company, and granted a proxy for his shares at a 1967 shareholders' meeting. He was acquitted at trial in 1971 on the fraud and conspiracy charges. Later in the year, however, he was convicted of five counts of perjury.

Gremillion was still able to show a bit of bravado in the face of these troubles. After his conviction, Governor John McKeithen declared, "I'm awfully embarrassed by our Attorney General. I don't know of anything else to do but shoot him." Gremillion responded by heading over to the steps of the Capitol and offering himself up as a target.

In 1972, Gremillion was sentenced to a three-year prison sentence. Federal circuit court judge Fred J. Cassibry declared, "In the United States no man is so small as to be disregarded by the law. Neither is any man so great as to be above it." The conviction doomed Gremillion's chances of winning the Democratic nomination for Attorney General, which went to William Guste Jr. (who went on to serve the next 20 years in Gremillion's place).

Gremillion served 15 months of the sentence before being released. In 1976, he was pardoned by Governor Edwin W. Edwards. Returning to law work, he died in 2001.

Sources: The Political Graveyard, the Federal Judicial Center, Louisiana Knights of Columbus, "Judges Order Integration in New Orleans" in the St. Petersburg Times on Aug. 28 1960, "Desegregation Prospects" in Time on Sept. 5 1960, "Challenge from the South" in Time on Jan. 28 1966, "Some Needed Nudges" in Time on Mar. 18 1966, "In the Shadow of the Chair" in Time on Aug. 26 1966, "Louisiana's Attorney General is Indicted on Fraud Count" in the St. Petersburg Times on Feb. 15 1969, "Grand Jury Indicts La. Attorney General" in the St. Petersburg Times on Jul. 7 1970, "Louisiana Attorney General Convicted" in the New York Times on Sept. 26 1971, "'Shoot Away, Big John'" in the St. Petersburg Times on Nov. 25 1971, "Attorney General Gets Three Years - Lied to Jury" in the Desert News on Jan. 6 1972, "Jack P.F. Gremillion; Louisiana Attorney General, 86" in the New York Times on March 6 2001, Fifty-eight Lonely Men: Southern Federal Judges and School Desegregation by Jack Walter Peltason