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'''William Joseph Dodd''', known as '''Bill Dodd''' (November 25, 1909 – November 16, 1991), was an [[attorney]] who held five significant positions in his adopted state of [[Louisiana]] between 1940 and 1972.

'''William Joseph Dodd''', known as '''Bill Dodd''' (November 25, 1909 – November 16, 1991), was an [[attorney]] who held five significant positions in his adopted state of [[Louisiana]] between 1940 and 1972.

His political career began as a [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] state representative and then as a one-term [[Lieutenant governor of Louisiana|lieutenant governor]] under [[Earl Long]], with whom he had a love-hate relationship over the years. From 1956 to 1960, he was the state auditor, an office no longer elected. He was the president and a member of the Louisiana Board of Education from 1960 to 1964, when he began the first of his two terms as the state education superintendent. Yet he never was [[governor]], a position which he unsuccessfully sought in 1952 and again in 1959. He never let the disappointment affect his optimistic spirit or his patriotism.

His political career began as a [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] state representative and then as a one-term lieutenant governor under [[Earl Long]], with whom he had a love-hate relationship over the years. From 1956 to 1960, he was the state auditor, an office no longer elected. He was the president and a member of the Louisiana Board of Education from 1960 to 1964, when he began the first of his two terms as the state education superintendent. Yet he never was [[governor]], a position which he unsuccessfully sought in 1952 and again in 1959. He never let the disappointment affect his optimistic spirit or his patriotism.

Dodd was born in Liberty in southeastern [[Texas]] but came to Louisiana as a child so that his father could work in the logging industry. He graduated from [[Northwestern State University]] in [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]] and the [[Louisiana State University]] Law Center in the capital city of [[Baton Rouge]]. After teaching in Allen Parish, he was elected to the legislature in 1940 but took time off for [[United States Army]] service in [[World War II]]. In 1948, he was elected lieutenant governor but grew estranged from his mentor, Earl Long. He lost out to fellow Democrat [[Robert F. Kennon]] in the gubernatorial race in 1952 and failed again in 1959, when [[Jimmie Davis]] won his second non-consecutive term as governor. In the meantime, he was state auditor for a term and education superintendent for two terms until he was unseated  in 1971 in the party [[primary]] by Louis Joseph Michot, Jr. (1922-2012), a wealthy [[business]]man from [[Lafayette]]. Dodd failed in a comeback bid for education superintendent in the first ever nonpartisan blanket primary in Louisiana held on November 1, 1975.

Dodd was born in Liberty in southeastern [[Texas]] but came to Louisiana as a child so that his father could work in the logging industry. He graduated from [[Northwestern State University]] in [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]] and the [[Louisiana State University]] Law Center in the capital city of [[Baton Rouge]]. After teaching in Allen Parish, he was elected to the legislature in 1940 but took time off for [[United States Army]] service in [[World War II]]. In 1948, he was elected lieutenant governor but grew estranged from his mentor, Earl Long. He lost out to fellow Democrat [[Robert F. Kennon]] in the gubernatorial race in 1952 and failed again in 1959, when [[Jimmie Davis]] won his second non-consecutive term as governor. In the meantime, he was state auditor for a term and education superintendent for two terms until he was unseated  in 1971 in the party [[primary]] by Louis Joseph Michot, Jr. (1922-2012), a wealthy [[business]]man from [[Lafayette]]. Dodd failed in a comeback bid for education superintendent in the first ever nonpartisan blanket primary in Louisiana held on November 1, 1975.