Henry L. Fuqua

Henry Luse Fuqua (November 8, 1865 - October 11, 1926) was a Baton Rouge businessman and the last Louisiana governor to have died in office. Fuqua defeated both Huey Pierce Long, Jr., and Lieutenant Governor (and former Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives) Hewitt Leonidas Bouanchaud in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in 1924 to succeed the term-limited John M. Parker. He died halfway into his term, and Lieutenant Governor Oramel H. Simpson succeeded to the top post.

Early years

Fuqua was born in Baton Rouge to James Overton Fuqua and the former Jeanette Fowles. He was educated at Magruder's Collegiate Institute and Louisiana State University, both in Baton Rouge. On June 4, 1890, Fuqua married the former Laura Matta (1866-1968), and they had two children, Matta Fuqua and Henry L. Fuqua, Jr.

Prior to his entry into politics, Fuqua was the assistant to construction engineers of the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad. He was later a clerk and traveling salesman. He owned and operated his Fuqua Hardware Company in Baton Rouge from 1883-1922.

Warden Fuqua

In 1916, Fuqua became the warden of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola in West Feliciana Parish (pronounced FA LEE SHE ANNA) north of Baton Rouge. He held the position until he became governor.

As warden, he terminated most of the security officers at the penitentiary and instead placed selected inmate trusty guards on duty, primarily as an economic measure but also to encourage cohesion among the inmates. Fuqua abolished stripes on convict uniforms. The former prison in Baton Rouge was sold to the city and dismantled.

In 1922, a flood ruined the crops of numerous plantations about Angola for the third time in nearly a decade. The owners thereafter agreed to sell land to expand the prison. In a series of eight purchases over some eighteen months, Fuqua arranged the purchase of 10,000 acres (40 km²) at approximately $13 per acre. The acquisitions brought the prison to its present size of 18,000 acres (73 km²).

Fuqua as governor

Governor Fuqua brought considerable managerial skill to the office, but his lack of political expertise hampered his efforts during his short term. He is remembered for his interest in levee and road construction and his fight against the resurgent Ku Klux Klan, whom the preceding governor, John M. Parker, had tried to counter as well. The KKK had initially appeared in the year of Fuqua's birth, not in Louisiana, but in Pulaski, Tennessee.

Louisiana's anti-Klan legislation secured harsh penalties to anyone wearing a mask or to anyone committing a crime while masked. An exception had to be made for the popular masked balls and masquerade parties popular during the celebration of Mardi Gras.

He worked to increase the budget for his "alma mater", LSU, and to construct more buildings on the new campus in southern Baton Rouge. In a segregated society, he also supported the expansion of the African American institution of higher education, Southern University in Baton Rouge.

He ran into trouble when he awarded the franchise to build a toll bridge from east New Orleans to Slidell across Lake Pontchartrain to a private firm, the Watson-Williams syndicate, represented by former Governor Jared Y. Sanders, Sr. Huey Long used this controversial decision in his successful campaign for governor in 1928, when he defeated both Fuqua's successor Simpson and U.S. Representative Riley J. Wilson from north Louisiana.

Fuqua was the last governor to have won the office on the strength of the New Orleans Choctaw Club political machine.

Fuqua's death

Fuqua was Episcopalian. He was initially interred in Magnolia Cemetery in Baton Rouge, but his remains were later relocated to Roselawn Cemetery in Baton Rouge. Some sources spell Fuqua's middle name as "Luce". However, the grave marker is spelled "Luse".

Family

The original Fuqua family traces it ancestry back to William Fouquet, a Huguenot, who settled in Virginia in the 17th century to escape religious persecution. "Fuqua" is the Anglicized version of the original French name, "Fouquet".

References

* "Henry L. Fuqua", "A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography", Vol. I (1988), p. 328
* [http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/tabid/395/Default.aspx State of Louisiana - Biography]
* Miriam G. Reeves, "The Governors of Louisiana" (1962)
* Fuqua's death and obituary, "New Orleans Times-Picayune", October 12-13, 1926
* Robert Sobel and John Raimo, eds., "Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978", Vol. II (1978)
* [http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/williams/abstracts/miscseries/fuqua.htm T. Harry Williams - Oral History Collection - Interview with Henry L. Fuqua, Jr.]
* [http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=389d224971c81010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD National Governors Association]
* [http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/LHP&CISOPTR=275 Louisiana Historical Photographs Collection of the State Library - Taking the Oath]
* [http://www.corrections.state.la.us/lsp/history.htm History of Angola]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5772260 Find a Grave]

External links

* [http://www.la-cemeteries.com/Governors/Fuqua,%20Henry%20Luse/Fuqua,%20Henry%20Luse.shtml Cemetery Memorial] by La-Cemeteries