Changes

Resting place:<br>

Resting place:<br>

Bayou Rouge Baptist Cemetery in Evergreen in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana

Bayou Rouge Baptist Cemetery in Evergreen in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana

| death_date=Augus t 12, 1997 (aged 78)​

| death_date=August 12, 1997 (aged 78)​

| nationality=[[United States|American]]​

| nationality=[[United States|American]]​

| spouse=(1) Phoebe Carolyn Greene Courtney (divorced)<br>

| spouse=(1) Phoebe Carolyn Greene Courtney (divorced)<br>

==Background==

==Background==

Courtney was born in the capital city of [[St. Paul (city)|St. Paul] in Ramsey County, [[Minnesota]]. His family relocated to [[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]]; they were listed in the 1940 [[census]] as residing at 59 Fontainebleau Drive in the Uptown section of the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.com/search/?name=Claire_Courtney&event=_new+orleans-orleans-louisiana-usa_34322|title=Claire Courtney|publisher=Ancestry.com|accesdate=August 15, 2019}}</ref><ref name=ourcampaigns/>

Courtney was born in the capital city of [[St. Paul (city)|St. Paul] in Ramsey County, [[Minnesota]]. His parents, Joseph Frank and Zella Edana Smith Courtney relocated their family to [[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]]; they were listed in the 1940 [[census]] as residing at 59 Fontainebleau Drive in the Uptown section of the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.com/search/?name=Claire_Courtney&event=_new+orleans-orleans-louisiana-usa_34322|title=Claire Courtney|publisher=Ancestry.com|accesdate=August 15, 2019}}</ref><ref name=ourcampaigns/>

​

​

Courtney graduated from Alcée Fortier High School in New Orleans. He served in the [[U.S. Navy]] in [[World War II]] and then worked as a pilot for Pan American Airlines. Later, he was a commercial officer with the British consulate in New Orleans. For a time, he was a public relations spokesman for a fruit shipping company. In 1950, he received a degree in [[business administration]] from [[Tulane University]] in New Orleans, at which he later taught [[economics]], [[banking]], and [[marketing]] for three years.​<ref name=ourcampaigns>{{cite web|url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=17740|title=Lur Campaigns: Kent Courtney|publisher=Ourcampaigns.com|accessdate=August 17, 2019}}</ref> His sister, Claire J. Courtney (born c. 1927), also graduated from Tulane.  

Courtney graduated from Alcée Fortier High School in New Orleans. He served in the [[U.S. Navy]] in [[World War II]] and then worked as a pilot for Pan American Airlines. Later, he was a commercial officer with the British consulate in New Orleans. For a time, he was a public relations spokesman for a fruit shipping company. In 1950, he received a degree in [[business administration]] from [[Tulane University]] in New Orleans, at which he later taught [[economics]], [[banking]], and [[marketing]] for three years.​<ref name=ourcampaigns>{{cite web|url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=17740|title=Lur Campaigns: Kent Courtney|publisher=Ourcampaigns.com|accessdate=August 17, 2019}}</ref> His sister, Claire J. Courtney (born c. 1927), also graduated from Tulane.  

Courtney was an assistant to a president of a banana-importing firm. He was active in the American Legion veterans organization and served on its "Americanism" committee. He was also a member of the New Orleans [[Chamber of Commerce]] and the [[John Birch Society]].<ref name=ourcampaigns/>

Courtney was an assistant to a president of a banana-importing firm. He was active in the American Legion veterans organization and served on its "Americanism" committee. He was also a member of the New Orleans [[Chamber of Commerce]] and the [[John Birch Society]].<ref name=ourcampaigns/>

==Political organizing==

==Political organizing==

In October 1959, Kent and Phoebe Courtney sponsored a two-day meeting in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], which included a banquet to honor [[Robert Welch]] of [[Massachusetts]], the founder of the [[anti-communism|anticommunist]] [[John Birch Society]]. [[William F. Buckley, Jr.]], columnist and publisher of ''[[National Review]]'' [[magazine]] attended the meeting and for a time was a confidant of Welch.<ref name=ourcampaigns/> Three years later, Buckley was one of the founders of the Conservative Party of New York under whose label he ran in 1965 for mayor of [[New York City]] but lost out to the liberal Republican U.S. Representative (and later Democrat) John Vliet Lindsay (1921-2000). By the middle 1960s, Buckley had become a critic of the JBS and those espousing "conspiracies" which he said marginalize conservatives in the electorate as a whole.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1995/12/the-conservative-1960s/376506/|title=The Conservative 1960s: From the perspective of the 1990s, it's the big political story of the era|publisher=''Atlantic Monthly'' magazine|author=Matthew Dallek|date=December 1995|accessdate=August  15, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/06/william-f-buckley-john-birch-society-history-conflict-robert-welch/|title=William F. Buckley and John Birch Society: History of Conflict with Robert Welch|publisher=''[[National Review]]''|author= Alvin Felzenberg|date=June 20, 2017|accessdate=August 17, 2019}}</ref>

In October 1959, Kent and Phoebe Courtney sponsored a two-day meeting in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], which included a banquet to honor [[Robert Welch]] of [[Massachusetts]], the founder of the [[anti-communism|anticommunist]] [[John Birch Society]]. [[William F. Buckley, Jr.]], columnist and publisher of ''[[National Review]]'' [[magazine]] attended the meeting and for a time was a confidant of Welch.<ref name=ourcampaigns/> Three years later, Buckley was one of the founders of the Conservative Party of New York under whose label he ran in 1965 for mayor of [[New York City]] but lost out to the liberal Republican U.S. Representative (and later Democrat) John Vliet Lindsay (1921-2000). By the middle 1960s, Buckley had become a critic of the JBS and those espousing "conspiracies" which he said marginalize conservatives in the electorate as a whole.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1995/12/the-conservative-1960s/376506/|title=The Conservative 1960s: From the perspective of the 1990s, it's the big political story of the era|publisher=''Atlantic Monthly'' magazine|author=Matthew Dallek|date=December 1995|accessdate=August  15, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/06/william-f-buckley-john-birch-society-history-conflict-robert-welch/|title=William F. Buckley and John Birch Society: History of Conflict with Robert Welch|publisher=''[[National Review]]''|author= Alvin Felzenberg|date=June 20, 2017|accessdate=August 17, 2019}}</ref>

The 1959 gathering proposed the creation of a new party on grounds that establishment [[Republican Party|Republicans]] were unwilling to oppose Democratic policies with sufficient vigor to make a difference and hence would not offer [[conservative]] voters sufficient choices in [[general election]]s. The rally for a new party was further promoted by columnists Thomas J. Anderson (1910-2002) of Pigeon Forge,  [[Tennessee]],  Medford Bryan Evans (1907-1989), a professor at [[Northwestern State University]] in [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]], Louisiana; Republican Governor  J. Bracken Lee (1999-1996) of [[Utah]], and [[Dan Smoot]], a native of [[Missouri]] and an investigative conservative journalist and former [[FBI]] agent.​

The 1959 gathering proposed the creation of a new party on grounds that establishment [[Republican Party|Republicans]] were unwilling to oppose Democratic policies with sufficient vigor to make a difference and hence would not offer [[conservative]] voters sufficient choices in [[general election]]s. The rally for a new party was further promoted by columnists Thomas J. Anderson (1910-2002) of Pigeon Forge,  [[Tennessee]],  Medford Bryan Evans (1907-1989), a professor at [[Northwestern State University]] in [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]], Louisiana; Republican Governor  J. Bracken Lee (1999-1996) of [[Utah]], and [[Dan Smoot]], a native of [[Missouri]] and an investigative conservative journalist and former [[FBI]] agent.​