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→His chosen successor, "Buddy" Leach
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]].
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==
===His chosen successor, "Buddy" Leach===
Several candidates ran for the seat that Waggonner vacated, including two state representatives, Claude "Buddy" Leach, Jr., then of Leesville]] in Vernon Parish and [[Loy Weaver]] of Homer in Claiborne Parish.
Several candidates ran for the seat that Waggonner vacated, including two state representatives, Claude "Buddy" Leach, Jr., then of Leesville]] in Vernon Parish and [[Loy F. Weaver]] of Homer in Claiborne Parish.
[[Buddy Roemer|Charles E. "Buddy" Roemer, III]], son of Governor [[Edwin Edwards]]' commissioner of administration, entered the race, as did a lone Republican, [[Jimmy Wilson]], a former state legislator and former mayor of Vivian in northernmost 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 1980 [[general election]] after a single term by Buddy 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-Moderate Republican, James Otis "Jim" McCrery, III, 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 Fleming]], a [[physician]] from Minden. When Fleming stepped down in 2017, the seat went to still another Republican, [[Mike Johnson]] of Benton in Waggonner's Bossier Parish.
[[Buddy Roemer|Charles E. "Buddy" Roemer, III]], son of Governor [[Edwin Edwards]]' commissioner of administration, entered the race, as did a lone Republican, [[Jimmy Wilson]], a former state legislator and former mayor of Vivian in northernmost 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 1980 [[general election]] after a single term by Buddy 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-Moderate Republican, James Otis "Jim" McCrery, III, 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 Fleming]], a [[physician]] from Minden. When Fleming stepped down in 2017, the seat went to still another Republican, [[Mike Johnson]] of Benton in Waggonner's Bossier Parish.