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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, 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>  

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>​

 

In 1972, Lyons ran as the American Party Senate candidate though the state GOP offered its own nominee, [[Ben Toledano]], a lawyer and conservative author from New Orleans who had run unsuccessfully for [[mayor]] early in 1970 against the Democrat [[Moon Landrieu]]. The Senate seat had been occupied since 1936 by the Democrat [[Allen J. Ellender]] of Houma in Terrebonne Parish,  who died during the primary campaign. Victory in the November 7 general election went to the regular Democratic candidate, [[J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.]], a former member of the Louisiana state Senate, a gubernatorial runoff candidate against Edwin Edwards in 1971, and an attorney from Lyons's native Shreveport.<ref>''The Shreveport Times'', November 8, 1972, p. 1.</ref> Former Governor [[John J. McKeithen]], who had defeated Charlton Lyons for governor in 1964, ran as an [[Independent voter||Independent]] but remained a registered Democrat in the general election because filing in the primary was not reopened after Ellender's death. With 250,161 votes (23.1 percent), McKeithen finished second to Johnston, who prevailed with 598,987 (55.2 percent).<ref>Coincidentally, both [[Charlton Lyons]] and Hall Lyons were ballot opponents of [[John J. McKeithen]] some eight years apart.</ref> Lyons drew 28,910 votes statewide (2.6 percent); Toledano, 206,846 (19.1 percent). Neither Lyons nor Toledano polled a plurality in a single parish, but Toledano's best showing was his 30 percent in Jefferson Parish. In his 49-state sweep that year, President Nixon secured Louisiana's then ten [[electoral vote]]s, having won all parishes except for West Feliciana.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electioninfo/1972election.pdf |title=Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 7, 1972 |author=Benjamin J. Guthrie & W. Pat Jennings |year=1973 |page=18 |accessdate=September 5, 2011}}</ref><ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, General election returns, November 7, 1972.</ref> Nixon was only the third Republican to have won in Louisiana since Reconstruction.<ref>The first Republicans to win in Louisiana for U.S. President since [[Reconstruction era in the United States|Reconstruction]] were [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] in 1956 and [[Barry Goldwater]] in 1964.</ref>​

In 1972, Lyons ran as the American Party Senate candidate though the state GOP offered its own nominee, [[Ben Toledano]], a lawyer and conservative author from New Orleans who had run unsuccessfully for [[mayor]] early in 1970 against the Democrat [[Moon Landrieu]]. The Senate seat had been occupied since 1936 by the Democrat [[Allen J. Ellender]] of Houma in Terrebonne Parish,  who died during the primary campaign. Victory in the November 7 general election went to the regular Democratic candidate, [[J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.]], a former member of the Louisiana state Senate, a gubernatorial runoff candidate against Edwin Edwards in 1971, and an attorney from Lyons's native Shreveport.<ref>''The Shreveport Times'', November 8, 1972, p. 1.</ref> Former Governor [[John J. McKeithen]], who had defeated Charlton Lyons for governor in 1964, ran as an [[Independent voter||Independent]] but remained a registered Democrat in the general election because filing in the primary was not reopened after Ellender's death. With 250,161 votes (23.1 percent), McKeithen finished second to Johnston, who prevailed with 598,987 (55.2 percent).<ref>Coincidentally, both [[Charlton Lyons]] and Hall Lyons were ballot opponents of [[John J. McKeithen]] some eight years apart.</ref> Lyons drew 28,910 votes statewide (2.6 percent); Toledano, 206,846 (19.1 percent). Neither Lyons nor Toledano polled a plurality in a single parish, but Toledano's best showing was his 30 percent in Jefferson Parish. In his 49-state sweep that year, President Nixon secured Louisiana's then ten [[electoral vote]]s, having won all parishes except for West Feliciana.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electioninfo/1972election.pdf |title=Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 7, 1972 |author=Benjamin J. Guthrie & W. Pat Jennings |year=1973 |page=18 |accessdate=September 5, 2011}}</ref><ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, General election returns, November 7, 1972.</ref> Nixon was only the third Republican to have won in Louisiana since Reconstruction.<ref>The first Republicans to win in Louisiana for U.S. President since [[Reconstruction era in the United States|Reconstruction]] were [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] in 1956 and [[Barry Goldwater]] in 1964.</ref>​

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