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In 1951, LeBlanc had considered running for lieutenant governor, which was then the presiding officer of the state senate, on Dodd's gubernatorial ticket. However, Earl Long, when he heard of LeBlanc's plans, had a friend tell an untruth about Dodd to LeBlanc. Long split the two old friends, as was his forte, but the breach was temporary. So LeBlanc and Dodd both ran unsuccessfully for governor.​

In 1951, LeBlanc had considered running for lieutenant governor, which was then the presiding officer of the state senate, on Dodd's gubernatorial ticket. However, Earl Long, when he heard of LeBlanc's plans, had a friend tell an untruth about Dodd to LeBlanc. Long split the two old friends, as was his forte, but the breach was temporary. So LeBlanc and Dodd both ran unsuccessfully for governor.​

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==Defender of Cajun culture and author==​

==Defender of Cajun culture==​

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In addition to his determined political activities, LeBlanc was a staunch defender of preserving Cajun culture in Louisiana. He formed the Association of Louisiana Acadians and served as its President, working tirelessly to promote unions between Louisiana and Canada and France.  LeBlanc devised and led three Official Pilgrimages of Louisiana Cajuns to [[Nova Scotia]], [[Canada]], and France, including [[Paris]] and Belle-Ile-en-Mer, the French island where many Acadians from Nova Scotia were exiled in the  Acadian Deportation of 1755.  He encouraged and arranged exchanges of students.

In addition to his determined political activities, LeBlanc was a staunch defender of preserving Cajun culture in Louisiana. He formed the Association of Louisiana Acadians and served as its President, working tirelessly to promote unions between Louisiana and Canada and France.  LeBlanc devised and led three Official Pilgrimages of Louisiana Cajuns to [[Nova Scotia]], [[Canada]], and France, including [[Paris]] and Belle-Ile-en-Mer, the French island where many Acadians from Nova Scotia were exiled in the  Acadian Deportation of 1755.  He encouraged and arranged exchanges of students.

| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hGE3CwAAQBAJ​| title= Where These Memories Grow: History, Memory, and Southern Identity| author=W. Fitzhugh Brundage​

| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hGE3CwAAQBAJ​| title= Where These Memories Grow: History, Memory, and Southern Identity| author=W. Fitzhugh Brundage​

| date=December 12, 2015| publisher=[[University of North Carolina]] Press| isbn = 9781469624327|accessdate=January 10, 2020​}}</ref>​

| date=December 12, 2015| publisher=[[University of North Carolina]] Press| isbn = 9781469624327|accessdate=January 10, 2020​}}</ref>​

 

LeBlanc obtained $10,000 from the Louisiana State Legislature as a legislator for the creation of the Evangeline State Park, named after Evangeline, the heroine in the poem by [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]] entitled "Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie."​

LeBlanc obtained $10,000 from the Louisiana State Legislature as a legislator for the creation of the Evangeline State Park, named after Evangeline, the heroine in the poem by [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]] entitled "Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie."​

 

LeBlanc spent years researching his genealogy. He traveled to Canada, France, and [[England]], and succeeded in obtaining records which had formerly been sealed about his French ancestors who had migrated to Nova Scotia, Canada (formerly Acadia, French territory in the New World) then were exiled by the British in 1755.  As a result of his research, LeBlanc wrote and published three books. ''The True Story of the Acadians'' in 1927. A revised "improved version" of the book was published in 1932, and ''The Acadian Miracle'' in 1966. The books are considered to be seminal works in Acadian history and culture. In 2016, LeBlanc's granddaughter, award-winning author M. M. Le Blanc, revised, enhanced and edited his 1927 book as the 90th Anniversary Edition and subsequently as the 93rd Anniversary Edition with Index, and his 1966 book as the 50th Anniversary Edition and subsequently as the 53rd Anniversary Edition with Index.​

LeBlanc spent years researching his genealogy. He traveled to Canada, France, and [[England]], and succeeded in obtaining records which had formerly been sealed about his French ancestors who had migrated to Nova Scotia, Canada (formerly Acadia, French territory in the New World) then were exiled by the British in 1755.  As a result of his research, LeBlanc wrote and published three books. ''The True Story of the Acadians'' in 1927. A revised "improved version" of the book was published in 1932, and ''The Acadian Miracle'' in 1966. The books are considered to be seminal works in Acadian history and culture. In 2016, LeBlanc's granddaughter, award-winning author M. M. Le Blanc, revised, enhanced and edited his 1927 book as the 90th Anniversary Edition and subsequently as the 93rd Anniversary Edition with Index, and his 1966 book as the 50th Anniversary Edition and subsequently as the 53rd Anniversary Edition with Index.​

 

LeBlanc created and organized three official pilgrimages of Louisiana Acadians to Grand Pre, Nova Scotia in which a delegation included Evangeline Girls from various towns and cities in Louisiana traveled to the ancestral home of their Acadian ancestors in Canada. They stopped off at the White House along the way for official meetings with Presidents [[Herbert Hoover]] in 1930, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in 1936 and [[John F. Kennedy]] in 1963.  The Evangeline Girls were young women dressed alike in Acadian garb chosen by Acadian communities in Southwest Louisiana, each girl wearing a sash indicating the town she represented, and were named after the heroine of the poem by Longfellow.​

LeBlanc created and organized three official pilgrimages of Louisiana Acadians to Grand Pre, Nova Scotia in which a delegation included Evangeline Girls from various towns and cities in Louisiana traveled to the ancestral home of their Acadian ancestors in Canada. They stopped off at the White House along the way for official meetings with Presidents [[Herbert Hoover]] in 1930, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in 1936 and [[John F. Kennedy]] in 1963.  The Evangeline Girls were young women dressed alike in Acadian garb chosen by Acadian communities in Southwest Louisiana, each girl wearing a sash indicating the town she represented, and were named after the heroine of the poem by Longfellow.​

 

LeBlanc helped to make Louisiana the only English-French bilingual state in the nation through legislation to promote the speaking of French in school. LeBlanc's motivation was remembering his youth when he only spoke French and when school children in Southwest Louisiana were punished by teachers for speaking French in schools. Some children were made to kneel on corn kernels or raw rice, and others were slapped if they spoke French in school.  LeBlanc wanted children to be proud, not ashamed, of their Cajun heritage, culture and language.  LeBlanc was Cajun before Cajun was "cool."​

LeBlanc helped to make Louisiana the only English-French bilingual state in the nation through legislation to promote the speaking of French in school. LeBlanc's motivation was remembering his youth when he only spoke French and when school children in Southwest Louisiana were punished by teachers for speaking French in schools. Some children were made to kneel on corn kernels or raw rice, and others were slapped if they spoke French in school.  LeBlanc wanted children to be proud, not ashamed, of their Cajun heritage, culture and language.  LeBlanc was Cajun before Cajun was "cool."​

 

LeBlanc's contributions to Cajun culture and southwestern Louisiana  were deemed so important that his birth home, a small two-roomed Acadian-style wooden house built between 1821 and 1856, was relocated from his home in the LeBlanc community to Lafayette, Louisiana to the Acadian Village. This authentic re-creation of 19th-century life in Southwest Louisiana is an open living museum featuring homes like Dudley LeBlanc's on a bayou in a 32-acre park, with exhibits, demonstrations and even a chapel where weddings are held.<ref>{{cite web​

LeBlanc's contributions to Cajun culture and southwestern Louisiana  were deemed so important that his birth home, a small two-roomed Acadian-style wooden house built between 1821 and 1856, was relocated from his home in the LeBlanc community to Lafayette, Louisiana to the Acadian Village. This authentic re-creation of 19th-century life in Southwest Louisiana is an open living museum featuring homes like Dudley LeBlanc's on a bayou in a 32-acre park, with exhibits, demonstrations and even a chapel where weddings are held.<ref>{{cite web​

| url = http://www.acadianvillage.org/#!house-around-the-village/c1hjd​

| url = http://www.acadianvillage.org/#!house-around-the-village/c1hjd​