Leander Perez

Leander Perez
Perez in 1914 as Tulane Law School graduate
District Attorney of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana
In office
1924–1969
Personal details
Born(1891-07-16)July 16, 1891
Dalcour, Louisiana, U.S.
DiedMarch 19, 1969(1969-03-19) (aged 77)
Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, U.S.
PartyDemocratic
Other political
affiliations
States' Rights (1948)
American Independent (1968)
SpouseAgnes Octave Perez
RelationsLeander H. Perez, III (grandson who was a son-in-law of State Representative Edward S. Bopp)
Children4
ProfessionDistrict judge, district attorney, and president of the Plaquemines Parish Commission Council

Leander Henry Perez Sr. (July 16, 1891 – March 19, 1969) was an American Democratic Party political boss of Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes in southeastern Louisiana during the middle third of the 20th century. Officially, he served as a district judge, later as district attorney, and as president of the Plaquemines Parish Commission Council. He was known for leading efforts to enforce and preserve segregation.

Early life and education

Perez was born in the community of Dalcour, on the east bank of Plaquemines Parish, to Roselius E. "Fice" Perez (died 1939) and the former Gertrude Solis (died 1944). The Perez and Solis families were Isleños, an ethnic community descended from settlers from the Canary Islands, Spain. Perez attended Holy Cross School in New Orleans for his secondary education but he did not graduate from the school. He later enrolled at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge as a subfreshman and graduated from the university in 1912. In the fall of 1912, Perez was admitted to Tulane University Law School in New Orleans and after graduating in 1914, he began his law practice in New Orleans and in Plaquemines Parish.

Political career

In 1919, Judge Perez launched a reign[how?] of bought elections and strictly enforced segregation by ensuring laws were enacted on his fiat and rubber-stamped by the parish governing councils. Elections under Perez's reign were sometimes blatantly falsified, with voting records appearing in alphabetical order and names of national celebrities such as Babe Ruth, Charlie Chaplin, and Herbert Hoover appearing on the rolls. Perez-endorsed candidates often won with 90% or more of the ballots. Those who appeared to vote were intimidated by Perez's enforcers. He sent large tough men into the voting booths to "help" people vote. Many voters were bribed. Perez testified that he bribed voters $2, $5, and $10 to vote his way, depending on who they were.

Perez took action to suppress African Americans from voting within his domain, but most were already disenfranchised due to the state constitution passed at the turn of the century, which added requirements for payment of poll taxes and passing literacy tests in order to register to vote. Subjective and discriminatory treatment by white registrars prevented most blacks from registering.[citation needed]

Despite his conservative views, Perez became closely allied with left-wing governor Huey Long, and served as Long's defense attorney at his 1929 impeachment trial.

Segregationist

In the 1950s and 1960s, Perez gained attention as a nationally prominent opponent of desegregation, taking a leadership role in the southern Massive Resistance to change, particularly following the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which ruled that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional. Perez helped organize the White Citizens' Councils, white supremacist "front organizations for the Ku Klux Klan",: 93  among them the Citizens' Council of Greater New Orleans. Perez researched and wrote much of the legislation sponsored by Louisiana's Joint Legislative Committee on Segregation.[citation needed]

His legislative ally, E. W. Gravolet of Pointe à la Hache, tried without success to pass grants-in-aid bills to provide state assistance to private schools that were founded to avoid desegregation, known as segregation academies.

Excommunication

Leander Perez's tomb, in Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans

In 1962, the Archdiocese of New Orleans announced its plan to desegregate the New Orleans parochial school system for the 1962–1963 school year. Perez led a movement to pressure businesses into firing any whites who allowed their children to attend the newly desegregated Catholic schools. Catholics in St. Bernard Parish boycotted one school, which the archdiocese kept open without students for four months; it burned down in what was suspected as arson. In response, Archbishop Rummel excommunicated Perez and two other opponents of integration on April 16, 1962.[citation needed]

Perez described himself at one point as "a Catholic, but not an Archbishop's Catholic." He eventually reconciled with the Catholic Church and was readmitted before his death after issuing a retraction, and through political leverage exercised by Democratic senator James Eastland. Perez received a requiem Mass at Holy Name of Jesus Christ Church at Loyola University in New Orleans.

Personal life

In 1917, Perez married Agnes Octave Chalin. They had four children; two sons and two daughters.

Legacy

References

  1. ↑ Din, Gilbert C. (1988). The Canary Islanders of Louisiana. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press. pp. 133–135. ISBN 978-0-8071-1383-7. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 Jeansonne, Glen (2006). Leander Perez: Boss of the Delta. Univ. Press of Mississippi. pp. 6–11. ISBN 978-1-6047-3637-3. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  3. ↑ "Civil Rights: The Continuing Confrontation". Time. 1965-04-09. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  4. ↑ "Leander Perez - 64 Parishes". Archived from the original on 2023-06-05. Retrieved 2026-08-30.
  5. ↑ "Segregation Planner; Leander Henry Perez Sr". New York Times. 1960-11-28.
  6. ↑ Honigsberg, Peter Jan (2000). Crossing Border Street. A Civil Rights Memoir. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-22147-5.
  7. ↑ "A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography". lahistory.org. Louisiana Historical Association. [Scroll down to: "Gravolet, E. W."]. Archived from the original on November 23, 2009. Retrieved December 26, 2010.
  8. ↑ Havard, William C.; Heberle, Rudolf; Howard, Perry H. (1963). The Louisiana Elections of 1960. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Studies. pp. 70–71.
  9. ↑ Smestad, John Jr. (1994). "The Role of Archbishop Joseph F. Rummel in the Desegregation of Catholic Schools in New Orleans". Loyola University, New Orleans. Retrieved October 28, 2006.
  10. ↑ Minor, Bill (February 18, 2016). "Minor: Netherlands scholar pens James Eastland bio". The Clarion-Ledger. Retrieved June 20, 2019. he called in the apostolic delegate along with his top associates and threatened they had overstayed their visas, which would be revoked if Leander's excommunication was not lifted.
  11. ↑ Beck, Darnell Brunner. "Obits of the Perez Family of Plaquemines Parish Parish, Louisiana". Archived from the original on March 31, 2012. Retrieved May 29, 2011.

Further reading

Books

  • Boulard, Garry (2001). The Big Lie: Hale Boggs, Lucille May Grace and Leander Perez in 1951 (softcover). New Orleans, LA: Pelican Publishing. ISBN 978-1-56554-868-8.
  • Jeansonne, Glen (1977). Leander Perez: Boss of the Delta (hardcover). Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-0191-9.
  • Loewen, James W. (1999). "Chapter 47: Let Us Now Praise Famous Thieves". Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong (hardcover). New York: The New Press. ISBN 978-1-56584-344-8.
  • Conrad, Glenn R. (1988). A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography (hardcover). Vol. 2. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana Historical Association. ["Leander Henry Perez"]. ISBN 978-0-940984-37-0.

AV Media

Websites