Ruffin Pleasant | |
---|---|
36th Governor of Louisiana | |
In office May 9, 1916 – May 11, 1920 |
|
Lieutenant | Fernand Mouton |
Preceded by | Luther E. Hall |
Succeeded by | John M. Parker |
Attorney General of Louisiana | |
In office 1912–1916 |
|
Preceded by | Walter Guion |
Succeeded by | Adolphe V. Coco |
Personal details | |
Born |
Shiloh, Union Parish Louisiana, USA |
June 2, 1871
Died | September 12, 1937 Shreveport, Caddo Parish Louisiana |
(aged 66)
Resting place | Forest Park East Cemetery |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Anne Ector |
Alma mater | Louisiana State University |
Occupation | Attorney |
Religion | Presbyterian |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Service/branch | United States Army |
Battles/wars | Spanish–American War |
Ruffin Golson Pleasant (June 2, 1871 – September 12, 1937) was the 36th Governor of Louisiana from 1916 to 1920, who is remembered for having mobilized his state for World War I. Prior to his governorship, Pleasant was the Louisiana attorney general from 1912 to 1916 and the city attorney of Shreveport from 1902 to 1908.
Pleasant was born in the community of Shiloh in Union Parish in north Louisiana to Benjamin Franklin Pleasant and the former Martha Washington Duty. An earlier governor, William Wright Heard, who served from 1900 to 1904, was also born near Shiloh. His parents' names hence evoked the spirit of patriotism that Pleasant extolled in his public life. He was educated at the former Ruston College in Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish, from 1885 to 1886. He then attended Mount Lebanon College, the forerunner of Baptist-affiliated Louisiana College from 1887 to 1889. In 1890 he began school at the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where he became a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity. In 1893 he was chosen as Captain of the LSU football squad and played in LSU's first match against the Tulane Green Wave. He graduated in 1894. Thereafter, he studied law at both Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut. He was admitted to the bar in 1899.
Pleasant served in the Spanish–American War in 1898 as a lieutenant-colonel of the First Louisiana Regiment of Infantry. After the war, he launched his law practice in Shreveport, a large city by Louisiana standards which is the seat of Caddo Parish in the northwestern corner of the state. On Valentine's Day 1906, Pleasant married the former Anne Ector, the daughter of Matthew Duncan Ector and the former Sarah "Sallie" Parish Chew.