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→Gubernatorial race
Opponent [[Earl Long|Earl Kemp Long]] belittled Preaus, who had the reputation as a scrupulously honest, small-town car dealer and church [[deacon]]:
Opponent [[Earl Long|Earl Kemp Long]] belittled Preaus, who had the reputation as a scrupulously honest, small-town car dealer and church [[deacon]]:
<blockquote>Fred Preaus is an honest man. If I were buying a Ford car, I'd buy it from Fred Preaus. He would give me a good deal. If I had trouble with the car, he'd give me a loaner while he got it fixed — that's just the kind of man he is. But if I was buying two Fords — well, he's just not big enough to handle a deal that size.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://prorev.com/quotes4.htm|title=Free Thoughts|publisher=prorev.com|accessdate=September 5, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TSQhjOpYTo4C&pg=PA182 |author=Michael L. Kurtz and Morgan D. Peoples|title=The Saga of Uncle Earl and Louisiana Politics|page= 182|publisher=[[Louisiana State University]] Press|location=[[Baton Rouge]], Louisiana]]|date=1990|isbn=0-8071-1577-0|accessdate=January 29, 2015}}</ref></blockquote>
<blockquote>Fred Preaus is an honest man. If I were buying a Ford car, I'd buy it from Fred Preaus. He would give me a good deal. If I had trouble with the car, he'd give me a loaner while he got it fixed — that's just the kind of man he is. But if I was buying two Fords — well, he's just not big enough to handle a deal that size.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://prorev.com/quotes4.htm|title=Free Thoughts|publisher=prorev.com|accessdate=September 5, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TSQhjOpYTo4C&pg=PA182 |author=Michael L. Kurtz and Morgan D. Peoples|title=The Saga of Uncle Earl and Louisiana Politics|page= 182|publisher=[[Louisiana State University]] Press|location=[[Baton Rouge]], Louisiana]]|date=1990|isbn=0-8071-1577-0|accessdate=January 29, 2015}}</ref></blockquote>
Long's remarks about Preaus were still being recalled as recently as 2011. Long inadvertently turned Preaus into something of a celebrity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.revolution21.org/2011/01/ghost-of-fred-preaus.html|title=The Ghost of Fred Preaus|publisher=revolution21.org|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref>
Long's remarks about Preaus were still being recalled as recently as 2011. Long inadvertently turned Preaus into something of a celebrity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.revolution21.org/2011/01/ghost-of-fred-preaus.html|title=The Ghost of Fred Preaus|publisher=revolution21.org|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref>
Late in 1955, Preaus said that if he were elected governor he would want the Democratic presidential nominee in 1956 to run under the [[rooster]] emblem, unlike in 1948 when President [[Harry Truman]] was placed under the national donkey emblem and lost Louisiana's [[electoral vote]]s to [[Dixiecrat]] [[Strom Thurmond]] of [[South Carolina]], who was named the official Democratic nominee in Louisiana. Preaus said that he had ruled out supporting at least one potential Democratic candidate, Governor G. Mennen "Soapy" Williams of [[Michigan]], who announced that he favored stripping all federal aid to those states that maintained racial segregation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/mississippi/biloxi/biloxi-daily-herald/1955/12-24/page-9|title=''Biloxi Daily Herald''|location=Biloxi, Mississippi|date=December 24, 1955|page=9|accessdate=February 18, 2015}}</ref>
Late in 1955, Preaus said that if he were elected governor he would want the Democratic presidential nominee in 1956 to run under the [[rooster]] emblem, unlike in 1948 when President [[Harry Truman]] was placed under the national donkey emblem and lost Louisiana's [[electoral vote]]s to [[Dixiecrat]] [[Strom Thurmond]] of [[South Carolina]], who was named the official Democratic nominee in Louisiana. Preaus said that he had ruled out supporting at least one potential Democratic candidate, Governor G. Mennen "Soapy" Williams of [[Michigan]], who announced that he favored stripping all federal aid to those states that maintained racial segregation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/mississippi/biloxi/biloxi-daily-herald/1955/12-24/page-9|title=''Biloxi Daily Herald''|location=Biloxi, Mississippi|date=December 24, 1955|page=9|accessdate=February 18, 2015}}</ref>
In a January 1956 speech carried by [[radio]] and [[television]], Kennon minimized the chances of any of the "other anti-Long candidates" to defeat former Governor Earl Long in a potential runoff election]. "The only man who can beat Earl Long in the runoff [which was not required, as it developed] is Fred Preaus, and the only man Earl is afraid of in this race is Fred Preaus," Kennon quipped.<ref name=lcap>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/2460219/|title=Kennon says it'll be Long or Preaus|publisher=''Lake Charles American-Press''|page=32|date=January 12, 1956|accessdate=February 17, 2015}}</ref> Kennon gave a running prediction of how he expected to vote to divide throughout the state, but he badly misjudged the forthcoming election results in which Long won without need for a second primary.<ref name=lcap/>
In a January 1956 speech carried by [[radio]] and [[television]], Kennon minimized the chances of any of the "other anti-Long candidates" to defeat former Governor Earl Long in a potential runoff election]. "The only man who can beat Earl Long in the runoff [which was not required, as it developed] is Fred Preaus, and the only man Earl is afraid of in this race is Fred Preaus," Kennon quipped.<ref name=lcap>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/2460219/|title=Kennon says it'll be Long or Preaus|publisher=''Lake Charles American-Press''|page=32|date=January 12, 1956|accessdate=February 17, 2015}}</ref> Kennon gave a running prediction of how he expected to vote to divide throughout the state, but he badly misjudged the forthcoming election results in which Long won without need for a second primary.<ref name=lcap/>
Considered a [[dark horse]] candidate from the start,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1893&dat=19560118&id=-60fAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B9cEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2840,926230|title=Landslide Vote for Earl Long: Louisiana Supports Former Governor|publisher=''Southeast Missourian''|location=[[Cape Girardeau]], [[Missouri]]|page=1|date=January 18, 1956|accessdate=February 18, 2015}}</ref> Preaus was unable to make much headway in the race against Long but carried one parish — not his own Union Parish, but Plaquemines Parish, then dominated by the segregationist political boss Leander H. Perez, a Dixiecrat in 1948 and one of Preaus' most determined backers.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A2ZXz67oSdAC&pg=PA162 |title=Leander Perez: Boss of the Delta|author=Glen Jeansonne|date=1995|edition=2|publisher=University of Louisiana at [[Lafayette]]|location=Lafayette, Louisiana|page=162|isbn=157806-917-3|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref>
Considered a [[dark horse]] candidate from the start,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1893&dat=19560118&id=-60fAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B9cEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2840,926230|title=Landslide Vote for Earl Long: Louisiana Supports Former Governor|publisher=''Southeast Missourian''|location=[[Cape Girardeau]], [[Missouri]]|page=1|date=January 18, 1956|accessdate=February 18, 2015}}</ref> Preaus was unable to make much headway in the race against Long but carried one parish — not his own Union Parish, but Plaquemines Parish, then dominated by the segregationist political boss Leander H. Perez, a Dixiecrat in 1948 and one of Preaus' most determined backers.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A2ZXz67oSdAC&pg=PA162 |title=Leander Perez: Boss of the Delta|author=Glen Jeansonne|date=1995|edition=2|publisher=University of Louisiana at [[Lafayette]]|location=Lafayette, Louisiana|page=162|isbn=157806-917-3|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref>
Preaus finished in third place in the race with 95,955 votes (11.7 percent), trailing Mayor Morrison, who made the first of his three unsuccessful gubernatorial races, and Earl Long, who won the second of his three non-consecutive terms as Louisiana governor. Lagging behind Preaus were former state police superintendent Francis Carroll Grevemberg, and James M. McLemore, an [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] landowner and [[cattle]]man who made a second bid for governor, once again as a particularly avowed segregationist candidate.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Gubernatorial first primary returns, January 17, 1956</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Bm5yc8Pdc8C&pg=PA549&lpg=PA549&dq=Fred+Preaus+of+Louisiana&source=bl&ots=R3VSZz9V9x&sig=PPb87mIwEK1fOdVM00txbpnEJ2w&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JjLgVKO2M4mjgwT_lILwAQ&ved=0CEAQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=Fred%20Preaus%20of%20Louisiana&f=false|title=Louisiana Almanac|date=2006|author=[[Milburn E. Calhoun]]|publisher=Pelican Publishing Company|location=Gretna, Louisiana|page=549|isbn=9781589803060|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref> Meanwhile, A. Brown Moore lost to Long's choice for lieutenant governor, Lether Frazar, a prominent educator from [[Lake Charles]].
Preaus finished in third place in the race with 95,955 votes (11.7 percent), trailing Mayor Morrison, who made the first of his three unsuccessful gubernatorial races, and Earl Long, who won the second of his three non-consecutive terms as Louisiana governor. Lagging behind Preaus were former state police superintendent Francis Carroll Grevemberg, and James M. McLemore, an [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] landowner and [[cattle]]man who made a second bid for governor, once again as a particularly avowed segregationist candidate.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Gubernatorial first primary returns, January 17, 1956</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Bm5yc8Pdc8C&pg=PA549&lpg=PA549&dq=Fred+Preaus+of+Louisiana&source=bl&ots=R3VSZz9V9x&sig=PPb87mIwEK1fOdVM00txbpnEJ2w&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JjLgVKO2M4mjgwT_lILwAQ&ved=0CEAQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=Fred%20Preaus%20of%20Louisiana&f=false|title=Louisiana Almanac|date=2006|author=[[Milburn E. Calhoun]]|publisher=Pelican Publishing Company|location=Gretna, Louisiana|page=549|isbn=9781589803060|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref> Meanwhile, A. Brown Moore lost to Long's choice for lieutenant governor, Lether Frazar, a prominent educator from [[Lake Charles]].