Changes

In 1972, Lyons ran as the American Party Senate candidate though the state GOP offered its own nominee, [[Ben C. Toledano]], a lawyer and conservative author from New Orleans who had run unsuccessfully for [[mayor]] early in 1970 against the Democrat [[Maurice Edwin Landrieu|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>  

In 1972, Lyons ran as the American Party Senate candidate though the state GOP offered its own nominee, [[Ben C. Toledano]], a lawyer and conservative author from New Orleans who had run unsuccessfully for [[mayor]] early in 1970 against the Democrat [[Maurice Edwin Landrieu|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]] were [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] in 1956 and [[Barry Goldwater]] in 1964.</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]] were [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] in 1956 and [[Barry Goldwater]] in 1964.</ref>

 

===With Lyndon LaRouche===​

Lyons's subsequent political activities are murky. In 1984, he did not return to the Republican Party to support [[Ronald W. Reagan]], who had campaigned for Lyons's father in the Louisiana governor's race in 1964,<ref>Perry H. Howard, ''Political Tendencies in Louisiana Revised and Expanded Edition'' ([[Baton Rouge]]: [[Louisiana State University]] Press, 1977), p. 392.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypv7etrd_lI|title=Gore Vidal wrecks Ronald Reagan|publisher=YouTube|date=Uploaded September 9, 2010|accessdate=August 24, 2014}}</ref>  Instead, Hall Lyons contributed $2,600 in four checks that summer to the National Democratic Policy Committee, a group backing political activist [[Lyndon LaRouche]], a former [[Leon Trotsky|Trotskyite]] who pursued the Democratic presidential nomination that year against [[Walter Mondale]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.city-data.com/elec2/84/elec-LAFAYETTE-LA-84.html|title=Lafayette, LA Political Contributions by Individuals: Hall M. Lyons|publisher=city-data.com|accessdate=August 24, 2014}}</ref> In June 1985, Lyons made a small contribution to LaRouche, the fifth donation in less than a year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.city-data.com/elec2/86/elec-LAFAYETTE-LA-86.html|title=Lafayette, LA Political Contributions by Individuals: Hall M. Lyons|publisher=city-data.com|accessdate=August 24, 2014}}</ref>

Lyons's subsequent political activities are murky. In 1984, he did not return to the Republican Party to support [[Ronald W. Reagan]], who had campaigned for Lyons's father in the Louisiana governor's race in 1964,<ref>Perry H. Howard, ''Political Tendencies in Louisiana Revised and Expanded Edition'' ([[Baton Rouge]]: [[Louisiana State University]] Press, 1977), p. 392.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypv7etrd_lI|title=Gore Vidal wrecks Ronald Reagan|publisher=YouTube|date=Uploaded September 9, 2010|accessdate=August 24, 2014}}</ref>  Instead, Hall Lyons contributed $2,600 in four checks that summer to the National Democratic Policy Committee, a group backing political activist [[Lyndon LaRouche]], a former [[Leon Trotsky|Trotskyite]] who pursued the Democratic presidential nomination that year against [[Walter Mondale]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.city-data.com/elec2/84/elec-LAFAYETTE-LA-84.html|title=Lafayette, LA Political Contributions by Individuals: Hall M. Lyons|publisher=city-data.com|accessdate=August 24, 2014}}</ref> In June 1985, Lyons made a small contribution to LaRouche, the fifth donation in less than a year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.city-data.com/elec2/86/elec-LAFAYETTE-LA-86.html|title=Lafayette, LA Political Contributions by Individuals: Hall M. Lyons|publisher=city-data.com|accessdate=August 24, 2014}}</ref>

==Family and death==​

==Family and death==

​

Lyons died at the age of seventy-four after a brief illness in Jefferson, a census-designated place in Jefferson Parish. He had been in semi-retirement at nearby Grand Isle in the [[Gulf of Mexico]] for a number of years.<ref name=obit/>​

Lyons died at the age of seventy-four after a brief illness in Jefferson, a census-designated place in Jefferson Parish. He had been in semi-retirement at nearby Grand Isle in the [[Gulf of Mexico]] for a number of years.<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/>​

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/>​

​

​

==References==

==References==

{{reflist}}​

{{reflist}}​