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In May 1960, outgoing Governor Long attended the inauguration of his successor, [[Jimmie Davis]], in the company of a 23-year-old stripper and burlesque dancer named Blaze Starr, whom he had first met in 1958. Apparently, Mrs. Long believed that the mental hospital confinement would compel Earl to recognize his troubles and cause him to end his affair with Starr. Dodd, however, discounts the importance of Starr in Long's last months of life and was particularly critical of the 1989 film ''Blaze,'' which he dismissed as "fiction."​

In May 1960, outgoing Governor Long attended the inauguration of his successor, [[Jimmie Davis]], in the company of a 23-year-old stripper and burlesque dancer named Blaze Starr, whom he had first met in 1958. Apparently, Mrs. Long believed that the mental hospital confinement would compel Earl to recognize his troubles and cause him to end his affair with Starr. Dodd, however, discounts the importance of Starr in Long's last months of life and was particularly critical of the 1989 film ''Blaze,'' which he dismissed as "fiction."​

Dodd also relates in his memoirs that Mrs. Long hired the prominent Baton Rouge attorney Theodore  F. "Theo" Cangelosi to represent her in a separation suit against Earl Long. Cangelosi was a state legislator from 1940 to 1944, having served with Dodd in the Louisiana House. "He [Earl Long] cussed Theo and then bragged on how smart and slick Theo was and how he could suck up $100 bills like an anteater takes his dinner. He even accused his wife of having an affair with Theo and then said he didn't mean it, for she could do better and besides that the long-footed (He had very long feet.) Cangelosi had fifteen or twenty children, and Miss Blanche didn't like children. And Earl raved and talked bad for a few minutes, he got sweet again and signed off by wishing Miss Blanche well and promising to beat the hell out of Harold McSween [in the pending congressional campaign]."​

Dodd also relates in his memoirs that Mrs. Long hired the prominent Baton Rouge attorney Theodore  F. "Theo" Cangelosi (1911-1992) to represent her in a separation suit against Earl Long. Cangelosi was a state legislator from 1940 to 1944, having served with Dodd in the Louisiana House. "He [Earl Long] cussed Theo and then bragged on how smart and slick Theo was and how he could suck up $100 bills like an anteater takes his dinner. He even accused his wife of having an affair with Theo and then said he didn't mean it, for she could do better and besides that the long-footed (Cangelosi had very long feet.) Cangelosi had fifteen or twenty children, and Miss Blanche didn't like children. And Earl raved and talked bad for a few minutes, he got sweet again and signed off by wishing Miss Blanche well and promising to beat the hell out of Harold McSween [in the pending congressional campaign]."​

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Cangelosi in fact tried to get Earl and Blanche reconciled, but the clock ran out on Earl Long. Dodd viewed Cangelosi "one of the finest gentlemen and ablest lawyers in Louisiana."​

Cangelosi in fact tried to get Earl and Blanche reconciled, but the clock ran out on Earl Long. Dodd viewed Cangelosi "one of the finest gentlemen and ablest lawyers in Louisiana."​

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==1960 congressional race==

==1960 congressional race==

After he left the governorship in 1960, Earl Long decided to challenge freshman [[U.S. Representative]] Harold Barrett McSween of [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] for renomination. In a hard-fought runoff election, Long defeated McSween though he had trailed him in the first primary. There had been a third primary candidate, former State Representative Ben F. Holt of Rapides Parish, considered a [[conservative]] Democrat. Long scored a pyrrhic victory, for he was dead a few days later, and the Democratic State Central Committee returned McSween to the ballot as the unopposed Democratic nominee in the [[general election]]. In a way, one may say that the committee nullified the results of Long's last campaign.

After he left the governorship in 1960, Earl Long decided to challenge freshman [[U.S. Representative]] Harold Barrett McSween of [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] for renomination. In a hard-fought runoff election, Long defeated McSween though he had trailed him in the first primary. There had been a third primary candidate, former State Representative Ben F. Holt of Rapides Parish, considered a [[conservative]] Democrat. Long scored a pyrrhic victory, for he was dead a few days later, and the Democratic State Central Committee returned McSween to the ballot as the unopposed Democratic nominee in the [[general election]]. In a way, one may say that the committee nullified the results of Long's last campaign.