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→The Republican/Southern Democrat coalition
Waggonner said that he spent much of his time in Congress trying to convince liberals of the error of their politics. "The trend to socialism is not accidental, but reflects the attitude of the majority, or it would not be the prevailing trend. I spend all of my time talking to the liberals in Congress, doing all I can to persuade them of the rightness of our views, not to conservatives who already share our philosophy."<ref>"Says Waggonner, Missionary Work Among Liberals Is Necessary", ''Minden Press'', June 3, 1963, p. 1</ref>
Waggonner said that he spent much of his time in Congress trying to convince liberals of the error of their politics. "The trend to socialism is not accidental, but reflects the attitude of the majority, or it would not be the prevailing trend. I spend all of my time talking to the liberals in Congress, doing all I can to persuade them of the rightness of our views, not to conservatives who already share our philosophy."<ref>"Says Waggonner, Missionary Work Among Liberals Is Necessary", ''Minden Press'', June 3, 1963, p. 1</ref>
Waggonner opposed the efforts to [[Impeachment|impeach]] President Nixon prior to the resignation over [[Watergate]]-related matters. While leading southern conservatives in the U. S. House, he wielded power with Nixon that was often reserved for the Speaker or a key committee chairman. He was an influential member of the House Ways and Means Committee and a key player the Republican president needed to get legislation passed in the House. Waggonner later revealed that he also had close contacts with Democratic Presidents Kennedy and [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], neither of whom was particularly popular in the 4th District.
Waggonner opposed the efforts to [[Impeachment|impeach]] President Nixon prior to the resignation over [[Watergate]]-related matters. While leading southern conservatives in the U. S. House, he wielded power with Nixon that was often reserved for the Speaker or a key committee chairman. He was an influential member of the House Ways and Means Committee and a key player the Republican president needed to get legislation passed in the House. Waggonner later revealed that he also had close contacts with Democratic Presidents Kennedy and [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], neither of whom had carried the 4th congressional district.
On August 8, 1974, Waggonner prepared a special list of House and Senate lawmakers who were among a shrinking band of Nixon supporters. The lawmakers met that night with a "visibly distraught" Nixon, who told the group that he would resign on Friday, August 9, at noon. "'I am sorry I have let you down,'" Waggonner recalled Nixon having said.
Waggonner flew to Yorba Linda, [[California]], in April 1994 to attend Nixon's funeral. Indeed, he had maintained communication with Nixon long after both had left Washington. Nixon's first outing after his resignation was a trip to Shreveport for an event the Waggonners hosted at their home, remembered Rene Gibson, a former Waggonner staffer, as reported in ''The Shreveport Times'' on the occasion of Waggonner's death.
Though friendly with Nixon, he quarreled with Nixon's successor [[Gerald Ford]] when Ford, as a former president, came into the 4th District in 1978 to support a Republican candidate, [[Jimmy Wilson|James H. "Jimmy" Wilson]] of Vivian in northern Caddo Parish), a former state representative who narrowly lost the general election race to Waggonner's choice, Buddy Leach.
In the 1964 gubernatorial second primary and general election, Waggonner endorsed Democrat [[John J. McKeithen]] who, like Waggonner in 1961, was opposed by the Republican Charlton Lyons. Waggonner objected to the strengthening of the Republican Party in Louisiana. He once said that Louisiana, unlike other southern states, already had a two-party system through its "[[Earl Long|Long]] and anti-Long factions. Nevertheless, in his later years, Waggonner occasionally endorsed Republicans, including the 1996 presidential nominee, [[Bob Dole]] of [[Kansas]], who had been Ford's vice-presidential running mate in the 1976 loss to [[Jimmy Carter]] and [[Walter Mondale]].
In 1981, President [[Ronald W. Reagan]], who had campaigned for Charlton Lyons for governor of Louisiana in 1964, appointed Waggonner to the 15-member National Commission on Social Security Reform, headed by [[Alan Greenspan]].
==His chosen successor, "Buddy" Leach==
Several candidates ran for the seat that Waggonner vacated, including two state representatives, [[Buddy Leach|Claude "Buddy" Leach, Jr.]], of [[Leesville, Louisiana|Leesville]] in [[Vernon Parish, Louisiana|Vernon Parish]] and [[Loy F. Weaver]] of [[Homer, Louisiana|Homer]] in [[Claiborne Parish, Louisiana|Claiborne Parish]]. [[Buddy Roemer|Charles E. "Buddy" Roemer, III]], son of Governor Edwin Edwards's commissioner of administration, entered the race, as did a lone Republican, Jimmy Wilson, a former state legislator and former mayor of [[Vivian, Louisiana|Vivian]] in north [[Caddo Parish, Louisiana|Caddo Parish]], who had recently switched parties. Waggonner endorsed Leach, who ultimately defeated Wilson in the general election by a margin of 266 disputed votes. However, Leach was unable to cement his hold on the district and was unseated in the [[United States House elections, 1980|1980]] [[general election]] after a single term by Roemer. That 1980 House election was sometimes called the "battle of the Buddys" waged between the wealthy Democrats Leach and Roemer. Waggonner's seat remained Democratic for nine years after his retirement, when a Democrat-turned-Republican, [[Jim McCrery|James Otis McCrery, Jr.]], then of Leesville but a Shreveport native, won it in another special election held on March 8, 1988. (McCrery retired in January 2009 and was succeeded by the Republican [[John C. Fleming]], a [[physician]] from [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]] in [[Webster Parish, Louisiana|Webster Parish]].)
In 1976, Waggonner was arrested for soliciting an undercover police decoy in [[Washington, D.C.]], for purposes of [[prostitution]]. He was released because at that time lawmakers enjoyed immunity from prosecution for [[misdemeanor]] offenses. After the Waggonner case, the law was changed to allow congressional members to face misdemeanor charges with the exception of parking violations.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ppIIbWkftv4C&pg=PA194&lpg=PA194&dq=Joe+D.+Waggonner+arrest&source=bl&ots=WgR2ondm8i&sig=bD9XbjT4DrFQF3ut8Yby-bzeNco&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Y8VCT7aBNISq2QWg6qjdBg&sqi=2&ved=0CEcQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Joe%20D.%20Waggonner%20arrest&f=false|author=Jeffrey M. Eliot et al|title=The Congressional-Presidential Political Dictionary|date=1984|page= 194|publisher=Google Books||accessdate=June 28, 2020}}</ref>
In 1976, Waggonner was arrested for soliciting an undercover police decoy in [[Washington, D.C.]], for purposes of [[prostitution]]. He was released because at that time lawmakers enjoyed immunity from prosecution for [[misdemeanor]] offenses. After the Waggonner case, the law was changed to allow congressional members to face misdemeanor charges with the exception of parking violations.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ppIIbWkftv4C&pg=PA194&lpg=PA194&dq=Joe+D.+Waggonner+arrest&source=bl&ots=WgR2ondm8i&sig=bD9XbjT4DrFQF3ut8Yby-bzeNco&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Y8VCT7aBNISq2QWg6qjdBg&sqi=2&ved=0CEcQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Joe%20D.%20Waggonner%20arrest&f=false|author=Jeffrey M. Eliot et al|title=The Congressional-Presidential Political Dictionary|date=1984|page= 194|publisher=Google Books||accessdate=June 28, 2020}}</ref>