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Both Charlton and Hall Lyons were originally [[Democratic Party|Democrats]]. In 1966, having resided for nearly six years in Lafayette, Lyons entered the first of his two political races as a candidate. He challenged the reelection of the nine-term Democratic]] [[U.S. Representative]] Edwin Edward Willis (1904-1972) of St. Martinville Louisiana's 3rd congressional district seat, now held by the Republican [[Clay Higgins]]. Willis had first defeated two fellow Democrats in the 1966 party primary, State Representative Richard Guidry of Lafourche Parish and state Senator Dudley J. LeBlanc of Vermilion Parish, who had made a fortune in the patent medicine called Hadacol.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/1592776/|title=Everyone gets into state politics|publisher=''Lake Charles American Press''|date=August 12, 1966|location=[[Lake Charles]], [[Louisiana]]|page=15|accessdate=September 11, 2014}}</ref>​

Both Charlton and Hall Lyons were originally [[Democratic Party|Democrats]]. In 1966, having resided for nearly six years in Lafayette, Lyons entered the first of his two political races as a candidate. He challenged the reelection of the nine-term Democratic]] [[U.S. Representative]] Edwin Edward Willis (1904-1972) of St. Martinville Louisiana's 3rd congressional district seat, now held by the Republican [[Clay Higgins]]. Willis had first defeated two fellow Democrats in the 1966 party primary, State Representative Richard Guidry of Lafourche Parish and state Senator Dudley J. LeBlanc of Vermilion Parish, who had made a fortune in the patent medicine called Hadacol.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/1592776/|title=Everyone gets into state politics|publisher=''Lake Charles American Press''|date=August 12, 1966|location=[[Lake Charles]], [[Louisiana]]|page=15|accessdate=September 11, 2014}}</ref>​

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Lyons accused Willis of being too closely aligned with [[U.S. President]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] and the [[Great Society]] social policy.<ref>''The Lafayette Daily Advertiser'', November 9, 1966, p. 1.</ref> Republicans also claimed that Willis's health had diminished after he sustained in February 1966 a series of strokes which required surgery.<ref>''[[Shreveport Journal]]'', November 9, 1966, p. 2</ref>  Lyons polled 31,444 votes (40.3 percent) in a district in which no Republican had been elected since [[Reconstruction era in the United States|Reconstruction]]. Despite health issues, Willis received 46,533 votes (59.7 percent). Lyons obtained a slim majority in [[Iberia Parish, Louisiana|Iberia Parish]] and finished with 46 percent in [[Lafayette Parish, Louisiana|Lafayette Parish]].<ref>[[Louisiana Secretary of State]], Louisiana general election returns, November 8, 1966</ref> His defeat of Lyons marked Willis's last victory at the polls; he was unseated in the 1968 Democratic [[primary election]] by Patrick Thomson Caffery, Sr. (1932-2013), who retained the seat for two terms before retiring to return to his law practice in New Iberia, Louisiana.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=c000017|title=Caffery, Patrick Thomson (1932-2013)|publisher=bioguide.congress.gov|accessdate=August 15, 2014}}</ref> Charlton Lyons had waged a campaign in December 1961 for Louisiana's 4th congressional district seat against the incoming Democrat [[Joe Waggonnerr]] of Bossier Parish, who won the right to succeed Thomas Overton Brooks (1897-1961) of Shreveport, who had died in office three months earlier.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/1417765/|title=GOP Challenge Turned Back by Waggonner|publisher=''Lake Charles American Press''|date=December 20, 1961|accessdate=August 15, 2014}}</ref>​

Lyons accused Willis of being too closely aligned with [[U.S. President]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] and the [[Great Society]] social policy.<ref>''The Lafayette Daily Advertiser'', November 9, 1966, p. 1.</ref> Republicans also claimed that Willis's health had diminished after he sustained in February 1966 a series of strokes which required surgery.<ref>''[[Shreveport Journal]]'', November 9, 1966, p. 2</ref>  Lyons polled 31,444 votes (40.3 percent) in a district in which no Republican had been elected since [[Reconstruction]]. Despite health issues, Willis received 46,533 votes (59.7 percent). Lyons obtained a slim majority in [[Iberia Parish, Louisiana|Iberia Parish]] and finished with 46 percent in Lafayette Parish]<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Louisiana general election returns, November 8, 1966</ref>  

 

Willis' defeat of Lyons marked the veteran lawmaker's last victory at the polls, He was unseated in the 1968 Democratic [[primary]] election by Patrick Thomson Caffery, Sr. (1932-2013), who retained the seat for two terms before retiring to return to his law practice in New Iberia, Louisiana.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=c000017|title=Caffery, Patrick Thomson (1932-2013)|publisher=bioguide.congress.gov|accessdate=August 15, 2014}}</ref> Charlton Lyons had waged a campaign in December 1961 for Louisiana's 4th congressional district seat against the incoming Democrat [[Joe Waggonnerr]] of Bossier Parish, who won the right to succeed Thomas Overton Brooks (1897-1961) of Shreveport, who had died in office three months earlier.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/1417765/|title=GOP Challenge Turned Back by Waggonner|publisher=''Lake Charles American Press''|date=December 20, 1961|accessdate=August 15, 2014}}</ref>​

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Running with Lyons in the same Third Congressional District in 1966 was [[Charles and Virginia deGravelles|Charles deGravelles]], an oil landman from Lafayette and the successor of Charlton Lyons as state Republican chairman. DeGravelles failed to unseat Harvey Peltier, Sr. (1899-1977), in a race for the since reconfigured Louisiana State Board of Education, now the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.<ref>State of Louisiana: Secretary of State, ''Election Returns, 1965-1966'', p. 28.</ref>​

Running with Lyons in the same Third Congressional District in 1966 was [[Charles and Virginia de Gravelles|Charles de Gravelles]], an oil landman from Lafayette and the successor of Charlton Lyons as state Republican chairman. DeGravelles failed to unseat Harvey Peltier, Sr. (1899-1977), in a race for the since reconfigured Louisiana State Board of Education, now the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.<ref>State of Louisiana: Secretary of State, ''Election Returns, 1965-1966'', p. 28.</ref>​

===American Independent Party===

===American Independent Party===

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Unlike his father, who was a staunch supporter of [[U.S. President]] [[Richard M. Nixon]] in all three presidential campaigns and helped to deliver critical delegates to Nixon at the 1968 [[Republican National Convention]], Hall Lyons grew disillusioned with the [[liberal]] influence within the national Republican Party and the large number of [[Moderate Republicans]] in positions of leadership..<ref>Hall Lyons was particularly critical of such [[Moderate Republican]]s as [[Hugh Scott]] of [[Pennsylvania]], who led the Republican minority in the U.S. Senate from 1969 to 1977 and was usually at odds with party conservatives. Senators [[Jacob Javits]] of [[New York]], [[Clifford  Case]] of New Jersey, [[Edward Brooke]] of [[Massachusetts]], and [[Charles Mathias]] of [[Maryland]] and Governo [[Nelson Rockefeller]] of New York..</ref>  

Unlike his father, who was a staunch supporter of [[U.S. President]] [[Richard M. Nixon]] in all three presidential campaigns and helped to deliver critical delegates to Nixon at the 1968 [[Republican National Convention]], Hall Lyons grew disillusioned with the [[liberal]] influence within the national Republican Party and the large number of [[Moderate Republicans]] in positions of leadership.<ref>Hall Lyons was particularly critical of such [[Moderate Republican]]s as [[Hugh Scott]] of [[Pennsylvania]], who led the Republican minority in the U.S. Senate from 1969 to 1977, after the death of [[Everett Dirksen]], and was usually at odds with party conservatives. Other targets were Senators [[Jacob Javits]] of [[New York]], [[Clifford  Case]] of New Jersey, [[Edward Brooke]] of [[Massachusetts]], and [[Charles Mathias]] of [[Maryland]] and Governor [[Nelson Rockefeller]] of New York.</ref>  

Lyons hence left his father's Republican Party to join the American Independent Party, an organization founded by Bill Shearer in [[California]] in 1967 and known for its nomination of [[George Wallace]], the former governor of [[Alabama]] at the time, as its presidential candidate in 1968 against Nixon and the Democratic nominee, [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]]  [[Hubert Humphrey]]. Hall Lyons supported Wallace in 1968 and planned to run for governor himself in the Louisiana general election held on February 1, 1972. He faced the prospect of running on the American Party label without his father's support, as the elder Lyons was the finance chairman for  Republican nominee [[David C. Treen]],<ref>"Charlton Lyons Is Named Treen Finance Chairman," ''Minden Press-Herald,'' July 13, 1971, p. 1.</ref> then of Jefferson Parish, where Hall Lyons subsequently spent his later years.<ref>[[Grover Rees]], ''Dave Treen of Louisiana'' (Baton Rouge: Moran Publishing Company, 1979), p. 47.</ref> Lyons cited "corruption in high places in Louisiana ... a cancer that must be cut out in an emergency operation."<ref>"Hall M. Lyons Is Candidate," ''Minden Press-Herald," November 11, 1971, p. 1.</ref> However, a few weeks before the election, Lyons abandoned his candidacy and endorsed Treen, in his words, "so the cause of conservative unity might best be served."<ref>''Shreveport Journal'', January 3, 1972, p. 1.</ref><ref>"Lyons Says Conservatives Should Unite With Treen", ''Minden Press-Herald'', January 4, 1972, p. 1.</ref> Treen went on to lose the general election that year to Democrat [[Edwin Edwards]], then the U.S. Representative for the since defunct 7th congressional district. Treen nevertheless later became the first Louisiana Republican since 1891 to hold a seat in the [[United States House of Representatives]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000619|title=Coleman, Hamilton Dudley|publisher=bioguide.congress.gov|accessdate=August 17, 2014}}</ref> Treen  represented the same but revised Third District in which Lyons had run six years earlier against Edwin Willis.<ref>''New Orleans Times Picayune'', November 8, 1972, p. 1.</ref> In 1979, Treen was elected as his state's first Republican governor since 1877.<ref>Official election returns, December 1979", ''Baton Rouge State-Times,'' December 22, 1979, p. 16C.</ref>​

Lyons hence left his father's Republican Party to join the American Independent Party, an organization founded by Bill Shearer in [[California]] in 1967 and known for its nomination of [[George Wallace]], the former governor of [[Alabama]] at the time, as its presidential candidate in 1968 against Nixon and the Democratic nominee, [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]]  [[Hubert Humphrey]]. Hall Lyons supported Wallace in 1968 and planned to run for governor himself in the Louisiana general election held on February 1, 1972. He faced the prospect of running on the American Party label without his father's support, as the elder Lyons was the finance chairman for  Republican nominee [[David C. Treen]],<ref>"Charlton Lyons Is Named Treen Finance Chairman," ''Minden Press-Herald,'' July 13, 1971, p. 1.</ref> then of Jefferson Parish, where Hall Lyons subsequently spent his later years.<ref>[[Grover Rees]], ''Dave Treen of Louisiana'' (Baton Rouge: Moran Publishing Company, 1979), p. 47.</ref> Lyons cited "corruption in high places in Louisiana ... a cancer that must be cut out in an emergency operation."<ref>"Hall M. Lyons Is Candidate," ''Minden Press-Herald," November 11, 1971, p. 1.</ref> However, a few weeks before the election, Lyons abandoned his candidacy and endorsed Treen, in his words, "so the cause of conservative unity might best be served."<ref>''Shreveport Journal'', January 3, 1972, p. 1.</ref><ref>"Lyons Says Conservatives Should Unite With Treen", ''Minden Press-Herald'', January 4, 1972, p. 1.</ref> Treen went on to lose the general election that year to Democrat [[Edwin Edwards]], then the U.S. Representative for the since defunct 7th congressional district. Treen nevertheless later became the first Louisiana Republican since 1891 to hold a seat in the [[United States House of Representatives]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000619|title=Coleman, Hamilton Dudley|publisher=bioguide.congress.gov|accessdate=August 17, 2014}}</ref> Treen  represented the same but revised Third District in which Lyons had run six years earlier against Edwin Willis.<ref>''New Orleans Times Picayune'', November 8, 1972, p. 1.</ref> In 1979, Treen was elected as his state's first Republican governor since 1877.<ref>Official election returns, December 1979", ''Baton Rouge State-Times,'' December 22, 1979, p. 16C.</ref>​

Though the senior Lyons and his wife were [[Episcopalians]], Hall Lyons turned [[Mormon]]. Services were held at a Latter Day Saints meetinghouse in Shreveport.<ref name=obit/> Burial was in the Lyons family plot at Forest Park East Cemetery in Shreveport.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Lyons+&GSfn=Hall&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=64566884&df=all&|title=Hall McCord Lyons|author=John Andrew Prime|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=August 17, 2014}}</ref> Pallbearers included Lyons' boyhood friend, Republican former state Represenatives Benjamin F. "Ben" O'Neal, Jr. (1922-2004), of Shreveport and Lyons's son-in-law, Wayne Kent Despain (born 1953).<ref name=obit/>​

Though the senior Lyons and his wife were [[Episcopalians]], Hall Lyons turned [[Mormon]]. Services were held at a Latter Day Saints meetinghouse in Shreveport.<ref name=obit/> Burial was in the Lyons family plot at Forest Park East Cemetery in Shreveport.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Lyons+&GSfn=Hall&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=64566884&df=all&|title=Hall McCord Lyons|author=John Andrew Prime|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=August 17, 2014}}</ref> Pallbearers included Lyons' boyhood friend, Republican former state Represenatives Benjamin F. "Ben" O'Neal, Jr. (1922-2004), of Shreveport and Lyons's son-in-law, Wayne Kent Despain (born 1953).<ref name=obit/>​

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==References==

==References==

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