Changes

Stagg's most avid hobby was photographing wildflowers. Tom Arceneaux, a former member of the Shreveport City Council who clerked for Judge Stagg for two years, recalled that while Stagg was riding with Arceneaux, he would tell him to stop the car so that Stagg could get out to photograph some special flower that only he had seen.<ref name=staggbio/>​

Stagg's most avid hobby was photographing wildflowers. Tom Arceneaux, a former member of the Shreveport City Council who clerked for Judge Stagg for two years, recalled that while Stagg was riding with Arceneaux, he would tell him to stop the car so that Stagg could get out to photograph some special flower that only he had seen.<ref name=staggbio/>​

==Political activities==

==Political life==

A [[Republican Party|Republican]] since 1949, Stagg as the GOP chairman for Louisiana's 4th congressional district, with then included seven parishes,  became involved in 1959 in an intra-party feud with the national committeeman, [[George Reese]], of [[New Orleans]], the party's U. S. Senate nominee in 1960 against [[Allen J. Ellender]], and [[LeRoy Smallenberger]], the Shreveport lawyer, party functionary, and subsequent state chairman from 1960 to 1964. Stagg objected when Reese endorsed, with Smallenberger in agreement, a slate of candidates for party position on both the state and parish committees. Stagg, backed by [[Charles T. Beaird]], the then chairman of the Caddo Parish Republican Executive Committee, described Reese as having attempted to assemble a group of "yes-men" and had hence "earned the enmity of a large number of fair-minded Republicans." Stagg compared such activities to those in the 1930s of former state party chairman John Ellett Jackson, Sr. (1892-1989), a New Orleans lawyer.<ref>"GOP Faction Fight Erupts Over Primary: 4th District Head Charges Attempt to Pack Committee", ''The Shreveport Times,'' December 2, 1959, p. 1.</ref> Reese, however, defended his endorsements, most of whom won their primary races, on the premise that he as a statewide party leader was obligated to recommend suitable candidates to rank-and-file voters.<ref>"Endorsements Defended by GOP Leader: Reese answers attack by Stagg as Faction Fight," ''The Shreveport Times,'' December 3, 1959, pp. 1, 4.</ref>

A [[Republican Party|Republican]] since 1949, Stagg as the GOP chairman for Louisiana's 4th congressional district, with then included seven parishes,  became involved in 1959 in an intra-party feud with the national committeeman, [[George Reese]], of [[New Orleans]], the party's U. S. Senate nominee in 1960 against [[Allen J. Ellender]], and [[LeRoy Smallenberger]], the Shreveport lawyer, party functionary, and subsequent state chairman from 1960 to 1964. Stagg objected when Reese endorsed, with Smallenberger in agreement, a slate of candidates for party position on both the state and parish committees. Stagg, backed by [[Charles T. Beaird]], the then chairman of the Caddo Parish Republican Executive Committee, described Reese as having attempted to assemble a group of "yes-men" and had hence "earned the enmity of a large number of fair-minded Republicans." Stagg compared such activities to those in the 1930s of former state party chairman John Ellett Jackson, Sr. (1892-1989), a New Orleans lawyer.<ref>"GOP Faction Fight Erupts Over Primary: 4th District Head Charges Attempt to Pack Committee", ''The Shreveport Times,'' December 2, 1959, p. 1.</ref> Reese, however, defended his endorsements, most of whom won their primary races, on the premise that he as a statewide party leader was obligated to recommend suitable candidates to rank-and-file voters.<ref>"Endorsements Defended by GOP Leader: Reese answers attack by Stagg as Faction Fight," ''The Shreveport Times,'' December 3, 1959, pp. 1, 4.</ref>