Regular Democratic Organization

The Regular Democratic Organization (RDO), or Old Regulars, or the New Orleans Ring, is a conservative political organization based in New Orleans. It has existed for 130 years and as of 2006 is still active. [cite web|title=Regular Democrats Endorse Varrecchio for Clerk|accessdate=2008-05-16|url=http://varrecchio.com/2006/03/14/regular-democrats-endorse-varrecchio-for-clerk/] The symbol of the RDO is the rooster. [cite book
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=KWEMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA435&lpg=PA435&source=web&ots=Tnmi29kaCT&sig=7rOW2qANAHMgGd-1xH_C-_oz0e8&hl=en
accessdate=2008-05-16
title=New International Yearbook: A Compendium of the World's Progress|date=1911|publisher=Dodd, Mead, and Company|editor=Colby, Frank Moore|page=435] For many years the organization's headquarters was at the Choctaw Club. [cite web|url=http://nutrias.org/~nopl/monthly/dec98/dec982.htm|accessdate=2008-05-16|title=Headquarters of the Choctaw Club] The leaders of the RDO were John Fitzpatrick and Martin Behrman. [cite web|url=http://encartaencyclopedia.com/encyclopedia_761554180_3/New_Orleans.html|pub=MSN Encarta|title=New Orleans|accessdate=2008-05-16] , both of whom served terms as mayor during the organization's heyday.

The RDO became a powerful political force in New Orleans and throughout Louisiana around the turn of the 20th century. It appealed to working-class and immigrant voters. Like their political rivals the Citizen's League, the RDO had white supremacist leanings. [cite web|url=http://history.latech.edu/publications/plsc%20long%20desc.htm|title=Long description of "Political Leadership in a Southern City"|accessdate=2008-05-16]

The RDO spawned in the latter days of Reconstruction, after Republicans had exercised control of the city. In 1877, city power swung to the Democrats via the political machine of the RDO. The RDO leadership enacted Jim Crow laws such as segregated facilities and a poll tax.

The RDO machine maintained control over New Orleans well into the 20th century, effectively selecting officials throughout city government, from 1877 until 1934. With the exception of Joseph A. Shakspeare, every mayor of New Orleans from Edward Pilsbury to T. Semmes Walmsley was endorsed and supported by the RDO.

In the 1920s, a schism formed in the ranks of the RDO, with the renegade faction taking on the name "New Regulars" and leaving the RDO nicknamed the "Old Regulars". The New Regulars did not last long as an influential body, but the "Old Regulars" name stuck with the RDO. [cite book|author=Van Devander, Charles W.|title=The Big Bosses|page=194-5|publisher=Ayer Publishing|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=odzSdQBySUoC&pg=PA195&dq=%22new+orleans%22+%22old+regulars%22&ei=UPctSJzcOoz8tQPYi9T2Ag&sig=Uphs378rz_2eEadzlsSDhFqbCik#PPA194,M1|accessdate=2008-05-16]

Feud

The RDO was involved in a long feud with Louisiana politication Huey Long during the Walmsley period. Despite attempts at an alliance between the RDO and Long's statewide machine, the RDO tried to impeach Long in 1929. The sides reconciled afterwards, leading to good fortune for both camps until they broke alliance in 1934 and resumed heavy feuding which nearly reached armed confrontation. Long, with his statewide influence, managed to strip the RDO administration of New Orleans of most of its governing powers, eventually crippling the city. Walmsley rebuffed the RDO's request to step down to end the conflict, and the RDO (which also controlled the city council) abandoned him in return. Walmsley eventually resigned, leaving the RDO administration in turmoil.

After Long died in 1935, his allies in state government continued the siege on the RDO, which in turn opposed Long's candidate Robert Maestri's run for city mayor. Long's machine struck a deal which lead to Maestri becoming both mayor and head of the RDO. [cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=iUpH_NgVqHQC&pg=PA151&dq=%22new+orleans%22+%22old+regulars%22&ei=UPctSJzcOoz8tQPYi9T2Ag&sig=_dOHXrogpMEa0P4IPV5SZ-FYzsc|title=Victory at Home: Manpower and Race in the American South During World War II|author=Chamberlain, Charles D.|accessdate=2008-05-16|publisher=University of Georgia Press|page=151] With the power of both Long's machine and the RDO at his behest, Maestri's government became increasingly corrupt.

Reform

The election of Reform Democrat De Lesseps Story Morrison to Mayor in 1946 marked the end of RDO power in New Orleans. The defeat came in part by the workings of governor Jimmie Davis and the New Orleans elite, specifically seeking to end the machine that had run New Orleans for six decades. [cite book|author=Kurtz, Michael L. and Peoples, Morgan D.|title=Earl K. Long: The Saga of Uncle Earl and Louisiana Politics|page=121|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=TSQhjOpYTo4C&pg=PA85&dq=%22new+orleans%22+%22old+regulars%22&ei=UPctSJzcOoz8tQPYi9T2Ag&sig=njk9YQ1JfNhPDvZvv5BgWiCXWyw#PPA121,M1|accessdate=2008-05-16] The Democratic Party's switch to progressive principles in the late 1960s ended the conservative RDO's influence in government, with the victory of integrationist Democrat Moon Landrieu for mayor in 1970.

References