- Henson Moore
Infobox_Congressman
name= William Henson Moore, III
caption=Henson Moore
office=United States House of Representatives , Sixth District ofLouisiana
term_start=1975
term_end=1987
preceded=John Richard Rarick
succeeded=Richard Hugh Baker
birth_date= birth date |1939|10|04
birth_place= Lake Charles,Calcasieu Parish ,Louisiana , USA
death_date=
spouse= Carolyn Cherry Moore (born 1941)
children= William Henson Moore, IV (born 1964), Jennifer Lee Moore, and Cherry Ann Moore
party= Republican
religion=Episcopalian
occupation= RetiredAttorney ;Lobbyist William Henson Moore, III (born
October 4 ,1939 ), is a retiredattorney andbusinessman who is a former member of theU.S. House of Representatives , having represented theBaton Rouge -based Sixth Congressional District, from 1975-1987. He is only the second Republican to have represented Louisiana in the House since Reconstruction, the first having beenDavid C. Treen , then ofJefferson Parish .In 1986, Moore was the unsuccessful Republican candidate in the race to replace the retiring
U.S. Senator Russell B. Long . He lost to Democrat John B. Breaux of Crowley, the seat ofAcadia Parish in southwestern Louisiana.Early years, education
Moore was born in Lake Charles, the seat of
Calcasieu Parish in southwestern Louisiana, to W.H. Moore, II, anoil company executive, and the former Madge Pearce. The family moved to Baton Rouge, where Moore graduated in 1958 from Baton RougeHigh School . In 1961, he received hisbachelor of arts degree fromLouisiana State University in Baton Rouge. HisJuris Doctor degree from LSU followed in 1965. Moore was admitted to the bar in 1966. In 1967, he joined the Baton Rouge law firm Dale, Woen, Richardson, Taylor, and Mathews, first as an associate and then as a member. Moore also obtained amaster's degree from LSU in 1973.Moore served in the
U.S. Army from 1965-1967. In 1969, he switched party allegiance from Democrat to Republican after having supportedRichard M. Nixon in the 1968 general election. He served on the elected Louisiana Republican State Central Committee from 1971-1975, when he entered Congress. He was a delegate to the 1984Republican National Convention in Dallas, which renominated the Reagan-Bush ticket.In Congress
Moore was initially elected to Congress on
November 5 ,1974 , during mid-term elections which produced huge Democratic gains in both houses of Congress. He succeeded John Robert Rarick of St. Francisville inWest Feliciana Parish north of Baton Rouge. Rarick, a conservative at odds with his national party leadership, had lost the Democratic primary toJeff LaCaze , a young liberal broadcaster who declared himself a "national Democrat". Moore and LaCaze squared off in thegeneral election . Because Moore's margin over LaCaze was only 14 votes (61,034 to 61,020) and a voting machine had malfunctioned, aspecial election rematch was directed by the Louisiana courts.Moore won the special election held in January 1975 with a decisive 74,802 votes (54.1 percent) to LaCaze's 63,366 ballots (45.9 percent). Moore gained 13,768 votes in the second election, while LaCaze netted only an additional 2,346 ballots. Moore fared best in
Washington Parish and his parish of residence, East Baton Rouge. He also carried that part ofLivingston Parish within the district as well asTangipahoa Parish . He lost in East Feliciana, St. Helena, and West Feliciana parishes. West Feliciana had been the only parish to supportGeorge McGovern for president in 1972. Moore's share of the vote in West Feliciana, a heavilyAfrican-American region, was 32.4 percent.In 1976, Moore faced a spirited Democratic challenger in liberal State Senator
J.D. DeBlieux (1912-2005) of Baton Rouge, who had opposed the late SenatorAllen J. Ellender in the 1966 Democratic primary. Moore polled 99,780 (65.2 percent) to DeBlieux's 53,212 (34.8 percent). Moore won most of the traditionally Democratic parishes in the district despite the popularity of theJimmy Carter -Walter Mondale ticket. For the remainder of his tenure in the House, Moore did not face strong challenges from the Democrats.In Congress, Moore compiled a conservative voting record.
1986 U.S. Senate campaign
Moore gave up his House seat to enter the race to succeed Senator Long. In the jungle primary, Moore led Seventh District Democratic Congressman John Breaux, with 529,433 votes (44.2 percent) to 447,328 (37.3 percent). State Senator
Samuel B. Nunez polled another 73,504 votes (6.7 percent). Also on the ballot was the RepublicanRobert Max Ross (born 1933), a smallbusinessman from tiny Mangham inRichland Parish in northeast Louisiana, who had earlier opposed David Treen for governor in 1971 and 1983 and J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., for the U.S. Senate in 1984. During the 1986 campaign, Democrats accused the Louisiana GOP of attempting to establish schemes to depress black turnout in the general election. The Republicans replied that they were merely trying to remove names from the rolls of those who had not voted in four years, a procedure required by Louisiana law.In the general election, Breaux turned the tables on Moore: 723,586 (52.8 percent) to 646,311 (47.2 percent), a margin of 77,275 ballots. Nationally, the Democrats regained control of the Senate for the two remaining years of the Reagan administration. Breaux held the Senate seat for eighteen years. Moore's House seat was won in 1986 by a fellow Republican, state Representative
Richard H. Baker of Baker, a town north of Baton Rouge in East Baton Rouge Parish. Baker held the seat until 2008, when he resigned to become a lobbyist.Post-congressional years
After his House service,
U.S. President Reagan named Moore commissioner of thePanama Canal Consultative Committee (1987-1989). He became deputy secretary of theU.S. Department of Energy from 1989 to 1992. He was named deputy chief of staff for U.S. PresidentGeorge H.W. Bush during Bush's last year in office.From 1992 to 1995, he was a partner in the
Texas andNew York -based law firm of Bracewell & Giuliani (includes senior partner Rudolph W. Giuliani). Afterwards, he was the president and CEO of the AmericanForest & Paper Association and then the president of the International Council of Forest & Paper Associations. Both positions involved considerablelobbying . Moore retired in 2007, and he and his wife, the former Carolyn Cherry, built a new home in Baton Rouge. The couple has three children, W.H. Moore, IV, Jennifer Lee Moore, and Cherry Ann Moore.Moore serves on the boards of directors of the
American Council for Capital Formation and the United States - New Zealand Council. He is a member of theAmerican Legion andRotary International . He isEpiscopalian .In 2002, Moore was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.
References
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=M000923
http://www.cityofwinnfield.com/museum.html
"Who's Who in America", 41st edition, 1980-1981
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.