Article by Joel Wm. Friedman
Identification and affiliation with any political party can be influenced by a variety of factors. Some individuals become Democrats or Republicans simply because their parents are members of that party, or because they grew up in an environment where one party was routinely praised and the other disparaged. For others, the choice may be based upon their affinity for the Democratic party platform or the Republicans' ideological orientation. Still others may be attracted by a charismatic leader or group of leaders associated with one party or the other. John Wisdom, however, did not align himself with the Republican Party for any of these reasons. He was motivated by an unshakeable conviction that a healthy democratic system demanded the existence of two vital, rival political parties. Wisdom had lived through the reign of the state's preeminent political leader of the 1920s and 30s, Huey Long. He believed that the absence of a legitimate two-party system had contributed to the political climate that permitted the emergence of demagogues, such as Long, who masked themselves as populists but whose professed desire to represent all the people of their state did not extend, for example, to providing voting and other basic civil rights to blacks. Beginning in the late 1940s, Wisdom dedicated himself to the resuscitation of the Republican Party as a means of bringing two-party politics back to Louisiana. What Wisdom already knew, and others would soon discover, however, was that his greatest challenge would come from within the very ranks of the party he sought to revive.
About the Author
Joel Wm. Friedman. Professor of Law, Tulane Law School.
Citation
69 Tul. L. Rev. 1439 (1995)