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'''Lucille May Grace''', a.k.a. '''Mrs. Fred Columbus Dent Sr.''', (October 3, 1900 – December 22, 1957), was the first woman to attain statewide elected office in [[Louisiana]]. A [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], "Miss Grace," as she preferred to be called, became Register of the State Land Office in 1931 on appointment of Governor [[Huey Long|Huey Pierce Long Jr.]]<ref>''Minden Herald,'' April 28, 1955, p. 1.</ref> She succeeded her father, who died in office, for whom she had previously worked. She was elected register in her own right in 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, 1948, and 1956.<ref name=dict>"Lucille May Grace," ''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography.''</ref>
'''Lucille May Grace''', a.k.a. '''Mrs. Fred Columbus Dent Sr.''', (October 3, 1900 – December 22, 1957), was the first woman to attain statewide elected office in [[Louisiana]]. A [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], "Miss Grace," as she preferred to be called, became Register of the State Land Office in 1931 on appointment of Governor [[Huey Long|Huey Pierce Long Jr.]]<ref>''Minden Herald,'' April 28, 1955, p. 1.</ref> She succeeded her father, who died in office, for whom she had previously worked. She was elected register in her own right in 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, 1948, and 1956.<ref name=dict>"Lucille May Grace," ''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography.''</ref>
==Background==
Lucille Grace was born in Plaquemine in Iberville Parish, located south of the capital city of [[Baton Rouge]], to Fred J. Grace and the former May Dardenne. She graduated in 1919 from the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau, near Opelousas in St. Landry Parish. She thereafter received a bachelor's degree from [[Louisiana State University]] in Baton Rouge. She was secretary-treasurer of her LSU freshman class, the first woman to have attained that distinction. She was also a member of Phi Kappa Phi honor society, the [[Daughters of the American Revolution]], and the United Daughters of the Confederacy.<ref name=dict/>
Lucille Grace was born in Plaquemine in Iberville Parish, located south of the capital city of [[Baton Rouge]], to Fred J. Grace and the former May Dardenne. She graduated in 1919 from the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau, near Opelousas in St. Landry Parish. She thereafter received a bachelor's degree from [[Louisiana State University]] in Baton Rouge. She was secretary-treasurer of her LSU freshman class, the first woman to have attained that distinction. She was also a member of Phi Kappa Phi honor society, the [[Daughters of the American Revolution]], and the United Daughters of the Confederacy.<ref name=dict/>
==Miss Grace targets Hale Boggs==
==Miss Grace targets Hale Boggs==
Miss Grace accused a gubernatorial rival, Congressman Thomas Hale Boggs, Sr. (1914–1972) of [[New Orleans]] of either being a communist or having been a communist in his youth. At the instigation of Leander Henry Perez, Sr., the political boss of Plaquemines Parish (not to to be confused with Miss Grace's hometown of Plaquemine), Miss Grace sued Boggs in an unsuccessful effort to force him from the race. She charged that his ties to the "red menace" or "sympathy" with communism rendered him ineligible to be governor under the provisions of the then Louisiana Constitution of 1921, since superseded in 1974.<ref name=boulard/>
Miss Grace accused a gubernatorial rival, Congressman Thomas Hale Boggs, Sr. (1914–1972) of [[New Orleans]] of either being a communist or having been a communist in his youth. At the instigation of Leander Henry Perez, Sr., the political boss of Plaquemines Parish (not to to be confused with Miss Grace's hometown of Plaquemine), Miss Grace sued Boggs in an unsuccessful effort to force him from the race. She charged that his ties to the "red menace" or "sympathy" with communism rendered him ineligible to be governor under the provisions of the then Louisiana Constitution of 1921, since superseded in 1974.<ref name=boulard/>
Garry Boulard's ''The Big Lie: Hale Boggs, Lucille May Grace, and Leander Perez in 1951'' (2001) is the definitive work on the Boggs-Perez-Grace rivalry. According to a brochure advertising Boulard's book: Boggs and Perez had quarreled for two decades even before the 1951 -52 gubernatorial race in which Perez talked Miss Grace into accusing one of her opponents, specifically, Hale Boggs of being a communist. Through interviews with many key players in the incident, Boulard blends oral history with material from over a dozen archives to create an incisive survey of three Louisiana politicians and how the 1951-1952 elections forever changed their lives."<ref name=boulard>Garry Boulard, ''The Big Lie: Hale Boggs, Lucille May Grace and Leander Perez in 1951'' (Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing, 2001.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ralphmag.org/BA/briefs.html|title=The Big Lie: Hale Boggs, Lucille May Grace, and Leander Perez in 1951|publisher=RALPH Magazine|accessdate=September 2, 2019}}</ref>
Garry Boulard's ''The Big Lie: Hale Boggs, Lucille May Grace, and Leander Perez in 1951'' (2001) is the definitive work on the Boggs-Perez-Grace rivalry. According to a brochure advertising Boulard's book: Boggs and Perez had quarreled for two decades even before the 1951 -52 gubernatorial race in which Perez talked Miss Grace into accusing one of her opponents, specifically, Hale Boggs of being a communist. Through interviews with many key players in the incident, Boulard blends oral history with material from over a dozen archives to create an incisive survey of three Louisiana politicians and how the 1951-1952 elections forever changed their lives."<ref name=boulard>Garry Boulard, ''The Big Lie: Hale Boggs, Lucille May Grace and Leander Perez in 1951'' (Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing, 2001.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ralphmag.org/BA/briefs.html|title=The Big Lie: Hale Boggs, Lucille May Grace, and Leander Perez in 1951|publisher=RALPH Magazine|accessdate=September 2, 2019}}</ref>
The Dents are interred at St. John's Cemetery in Plaquemine.<ref name=fcdobit/>
The Dents are interred at St. John's Cemetery in Plaquemine.<ref name=fcdobit/>
==References==
==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Grace, Lucille May}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grace, Lucille May}}