Allen J. Ellender | |
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President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate | |
In office January 21, 1971 – July 27, 1972 |
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Preceded by | Richard Russell, Jr. |
Succeeded by | James Eastland |
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations | |
In office January 21, 1971 – July 27, 1972 |
|
Preceded by | Richard Russell, Jr. |
Succeeded by | John Little McClellan |
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture | |
In office January 3, 1951 – January 3, 1953 |
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Preceded by | Elmer Thomas |
Succeeded by | George Aiken |
In office January 3, 1955 – January 21, 1971 |
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Preceded by | George Aiken |
Succeeded by | Herman Talmadge |
United States Senator from Louisiana |
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In office January 3, 1937 – July 27, 1972 |
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Preceded by | Rose McConnell Long |
Succeeded by | Elaine Edwards |
54th Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives | |
In office 1932–1936 |
|
Governor |
Alvin Olin King Oscar K. Allen |
Preceded by | John B. Fournet |
Succeeded by | Lorris M. Wimberly |
Personal details | |
Born |
Allen Joseph Ellender September 24, 1890 Montegut, Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, United States |
Died | July 27, 1972 Bethesda Naval Hospital, Maryland |
(aged 81)
Political party | Democrat |
Spouse(s) | Helen Calhoun Donnelly Ellender (born 1895, died 1949) |
Children | Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Allen Ellender Jr. (1921-2014) |
Alma mater | Tulane University |
Profession | Lawyer |
Religion | Baptized as Roman Catholic; not a religious person |
Military service | |
Service/branch | United States Army |
Years of service | 1917-1918 |
Rank | Sergeant |
Battles/wars | World War I |
Allen Joseph Ellender (September 24, 1890 – July 27, 1972) was a U.S. senator from Houma in Terrebonne Parish in south Louisiana, who served from 1937 until 1972 when he died in office in Maryland at the age of eighty-one. He was a Democrat who was originally allied with Huey Long. As senator, he compiled a generally conservative record, voting 77 percent of the time with the Conservative Coalition on domestic issues. A staunch segregationist, he voted against the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Unlike many conservatives, he was not a "hawk" in foreign policy and opposed the Vietnam War.
Ellender was born in the town of Montegut in Terrebonne Parish, a center of Cajun culture. He was the son of Victoria Marie (Javeaux) and Wallace Richard Ellender, Sr. He attended public and private schools, and graduated in 1909 from the Roman Catholic St. Aloysius College in New Orleans. (It has been reorganized as Brother Martin High School). He studied law at Tulane University Law School in New Orleans. Admitted to the bar in 1913, he launched his practice in Houma when he was twenty-three.
Ellender was appointed as the city attorney of Houma from 1913 to 1915, and then district attorney of Terrebonne Parish from 1915 to 1916. He was a sergeant in the United States Army Artillery Corps during World War I, serving from 1917 to 1918.