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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder |name= Wellborn Jack, Sr. |office=Louisiana State Representative<br>for Caddo Parish (at-large] |term_start=1940 |term_end=1964 |preceded=At-large d..."
{{Infobox officeholder
|name= Wellborn Jack, Sr.
|office=[[Louisiana]] State Representative<br>for Caddo Parish (at-large]
|term_start=1940
|term_end=1964
|preceded=At-large delegation:<br>
Dr. P. T. Alexander<br>
William J. B. Chandler<br>
John Jolley, Jr.<br>
Ben R. Simpson
|succeeded=[[J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.]]
|office2=Member of the Caddo Parish Police Jury
|term_start2=1976
|term_end2=1984
|birth_date=November 27, 1907
|birth_place=[[Shreveport]], Louisiana
|death_date=June 1, 1991 (aged 83)
|death_place=Shreveport, Louisiana
|death_cause=Congestive heart failure
|resting_place=Forest Park East Cemetery in Shreveport
|spouse=Martha Elizabeth DeWitt Jack (married 1935-1991, his death)
|children=Wellborn Jack, Jr.<br>
Savannah Elizabeth Jack Walker<br>
Patricia Jack Morgan<br>
'''Parents''':<br>
Judge George Whitfield Jack, Sr.<br>
Emily Roberta Pegues Jack
|relations=[[Whitfield Jack|George Whitfield Jack, Jr.]] (brother)<br>
[[William Pike Hall, Sr.]] (first cousin)<br>
[[Pike Hall, Jr.]] (first cousin once removed)
|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]
|occupation=[[Attorney]]
|alma_mater=Law school missing
}}
'''Wellborn Jack, Sr.''' (November 27, 1907 – June 1, 1991),<ref name=fagrave>Wellborn Jack Sr. (1907-1991) - Find a Grave Memorial, accessed June 5, 2023.</ref> was an [[attorney]] from his native [[Shreveport]], [[Louisiana]], who was a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] state representative for Caddo Parish, having served from 1940 to 1964.<ref name=house>{{cite web|url=http://www.legis.la.gov/legisdocs/members/h1812-2012.pdf|title=Membership of the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2012|publisher=legis.la.gov|accessdate=June 5, 2023}}</ref> He finished in sixth place for five at-large seats in the [[general election]] held on March 3, 1964. Winning the fifth position was [[J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.]], a fellow Democrat who subsequently served in the [[U. S. Senate]] from 1972 to 1997.
==Background==
Jack was descended within the United States from an [[Irish people|Irish]]man, Patrick Jack, who operated a tavern in [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]], [[North Carolina]], prior to the [[American Revolution]]. Jack's father, George Whitfield Jack, Sr., a native of [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]], Louisiana, and a graduate of [[Tulane University]] Law School in [[New Orleans]], was an educator-turned-lawyer who served in Shreveport from 1917 until his death in 1924 as a judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. He was appointed to the federal bench by then [[U.S. President]] [[Woodrow Wilson]].<ref name=jackgen>{{cite web|url=http://genforum.genealogy.com/jack/messages/915.html|title=Jack 1730, Ireland to North Carolina|March 29, 2003|publisher=genforum.genealogy.com|accessdate=July 29, 2013}}</ref>
Wellborn Jack practiced law with his brother, [[Whitfield Jack|George Whitfield Jack, Jr.]], who served as a [[colonel]] under [[General]] [[Matthew B. Ridgeway]] in [[World War II]]. His later law partner was his son, Wellborn Jack, Jr. (1936-2023), a specialist in employment and labor law.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lawyer-map.com/Wellborn_Jack_Jr_Employment_and_Labor_Law_in_Shreveport_Louisiana_78051|title=Wellborn Jack, Jr.|publisher=lawyer-map.com|accessdate=July 29, 2013}}</ref> The junior Jack recalled that his father had little interest in genealogy and said, "What matters most is not what you sprang from but what you sprang at." <ref name=jackgen/>
==Political career==
Like virtually all of the Shreveport-area politicians during the 1950s, Jack was known for his fervent support of racial [[segregation]]. He supported a bill to require the labeling of blood by race of the donor. The raising of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] flag at the Caddo Parish Courthouse embodied the sentiments of white segregationists of Jack's era.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aclu.org/files/assets/ACLU_amicus_brief_in_support_of_new_trail_for_Felton_D._Dorsey_0.pdf|title=State of Louisiana, Plaintiff-Appelee v. Felton D. Dorsey, Defendant-Appellant, p. 10 |publisher=aclu.org/files|accessdate=July 29, 2013}}</ref> That flag no longer flies at the courthouse, and a Confederate monument was removed.
In 1962, Jack joined his House colleague, Representative [[Parey Branton]] of Shongaloo in Webster Parish, in calling for a change in the method by which Louisiana allocates its [[electoral votes]]. The two urged adoption of the framework used by [[Maine]] and [[Nebraska]] under which one elector is allotted for each congressional district to the winner by [[plurality]] in that district, and two at-large electoral votes are assigned to the top vote-getter statewide, plurality or majority. The plan was not adopted. It could have enabled Louisiana to choose split electors, as [[Alabama]] did in 1960 and [[New Jersey]] in 1860.<ref>"Branton Predicts Finances, Integration Will Top Legislative Session," ''Minden Press,'' May 14, 1962, p. 1.</ref><ref>"Rep. Branton Has the Answer," ''Minden Herald,'' editorial, February 1, 1962, p. 2.</ref>
Jack's House tenure extended from the administrations of Governors [[Sam Houston Jones]] to the second term of [[Jimmie Davis]]. During his long career in the House, Jack served alongside numerous colleagues who reached the highest point in state politics, including Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock (1915-1987), [[Bill Dodd]], [[C. H. "Sammy" Downs]], [[John J. McKeithen]], [[Louis J. Michot]], [[Chep Morrison|deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, Sr.]], [[Dave L. Pearce]], and [[William Rainach]], along with his Caddo colleagues [[Algie D. Brown]], [[Frank Fulco]], and [[James C. Gardner]].<ref name=house/>
Jack lost his House seat after twenty-four years because two [[Republican Party|Republicans]], [[Morley Hudson]] and [[Taylor W. O'Hearn]], led the field of legislative candidates in 1964. Hudson and O'Hearn, the first two Republicans to serve in the Louisiana legislature since [[Reconstruction]]
benefited from Shreveport Republican [[Charlton Lyons]], who carried the [[Republican Party|GOP]] [[governor|gubernatorial]] banner in a ground-breaking but unsuccessful race against the Democrat John McKeithen of rural Caldwell Paris] south of [[Monroe, Louisiana|Monroe]]. In addition to Jack, the other Democrat eliminated in the 1964 election was [[Jasper K. Smith]], a lawyer from Vivian in northern Caddo Parish.
Days after [[U.S. President]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] signed into law the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]], Jack wrote a letter to the former ''[[Shreveport Journal]]'' by which he reaffirmed his own belief in segregation: "The white man and the Negro man are happy with their lot here in this area ..."<ref>''[[Shreveport Journal]]," Letter to the Editor, July 8, 1964.</ref>
In 1966, Jack was a candidate for the Louisiana Public Service Commission, a utility regulatory agency. He was part of a multiple-candidate field which sought to win the the seat held by the appointed [[John S. Hunt, III]], of Monroe, a nephew of Governors [[Huey Long|Huey Pierce Long, Sr.]], and [[Earl Long|Earl Kemp Long]]. In that campaign Jack declared himself as one opposed to all kinds of "federal encroachment." He was joined in the race against Hunt by two of his former legislative colleagues, Parey Branton and [[John Sidney Garrett]] of Haynesville in Claiborne Parish. Though Branton finished in sixth place in the contest, he led by a plurality in his own Webster Parish.<ref>''[[Minden Press-Herald]],'' August 15, 1966, p. 1.</ref> Hunt and Garrett, the two leading candidates, met in a runoff election on September 24. Hunt had enjoyed a considerable plurality in the first primary round of balloting<ref>''Minden Press-Herald,'' August 15, 1966, p. 1.</ref> and then defeated Garrett to hold on to the position.<ref>''Minden Press-Herald," September 26, 1966, p. 1.</ref> John McKeithen was the previous public service commissioner from the district, and as governor had named Hunt as his own successor in 1964.
In 1972, Jack was an unsuccessful candidate in the nonpartisan race for delegate to the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1973, ratified in 1974.<ref name=fagrave/>
From 1976 to 1984, Jack was an elected member of the final two terms of the former Caddo Parish Police Jury. He left the police jury, the parish governing body, when it was reorganized in 1984 as the Caddo Parish Commission.<ref>Veta Samuels, ''History of Caddo Parish Police Jury - Caddo parish Commission'' (government document.)</ref>
Jack died of congestive heart failure and is interred, along with his wife, the former Martha Elizabeth DeWitt (1913-1995), in Forest Park East Cemetery in Shreveport.<ref name=fagrave/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jack, Wellborn}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Attorneys]]
[[Category:State Representatives]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
|name= Wellborn Jack, Sr.
|office=[[Louisiana]] State Representative<br>for Caddo Parish (at-large]
|term_start=1940
|term_end=1964
|preceded=At-large delegation:<br>
Dr. P. T. Alexander<br>
William J. B. Chandler<br>
John Jolley, Jr.<br>
Ben R. Simpson
|succeeded=[[J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.]]
|office2=Member of the Caddo Parish Police Jury
|term_start2=1976
|term_end2=1984
|birth_date=November 27, 1907
|birth_place=[[Shreveport]], Louisiana
|death_date=June 1, 1991 (aged 83)
|death_place=Shreveport, Louisiana
|death_cause=Congestive heart failure
|resting_place=Forest Park East Cemetery in Shreveport
|spouse=Martha Elizabeth DeWitt Jack (married 1935-1991, his death)
|children=Wellborn Jack, Jr.<br>
Savannah Elizabeth Jack Walker<br>
Patricia Jack Morgan<br>
'''Parents''':<br>
Judge George Whitfield Jack, Sr.<br>
Emily Roberta Pegues Jack
|relations=[[Whitfield Jack|George Whitfield Jack, Jr.]] (brother)<br>
[[William Pike Hall, Sr.]] (first cousin)<br>
[[Pike Hall, Jr.]] (first cousin once removed)
|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]
|occupation=[[Attorney]]
|alma_mater=Law school missing
}}
'''Wellborn Jack, Sr.''' (November 27, 1907 – June 1, 1991),<ref name=fagrave>Wellborn Jack Sr. (1907-1991) - Find a Grave Memorial, accessed June 5, 2023.</ref> was an [[attorney]] from his native [[Shreveport]], [[Louisiana]], who was a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] state representative for Caddo Parish, having served from 1940 to 1964.<ref name=house>{{cite web|url=http://www.legis.la.gov/legisdocs/members/h1812-2012.pdf|title=Membership of the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2012|publisher=legis.la.gov|accessdate=June 5, 2023}}</ref> He finished in sixth place for five at-large seats in the [[general election]] held on March 3, 1964. Winning the fifth position was [[J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.]], a fellow Democrat who subsequently served in the [[U. S. Senate]] from 1972 to 1997.
==Background==
Jack was descended within the United States from an [[Irish people|Irish]]man, Patrick Jack, who operated a tavern in [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]], [[North Carolina]], prior to the [[American Revolution]]. Jack's father, George Whitfield Jack, Sr., a native of [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]], Louisiana, and a graduate of [[Tulane University]] Law School in [[New Orleans]], was an educator-turned-lawyer who served in Shreveport from 1917 until his death in 1924 as a judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. He was appointed to the federal bench by then [[U.S. President]] [[Woodrow Wilson]].<ref name=jackgen>{{cite web|url=http://genforum.genealogy.com/jack/messages/915.html|title=Jack 1730, Ireland to North Carolina|March 29, 2003|publisher=genforum.genealogy.com|accessdate=July 29, 2013}}</ref>
Wellborn Jack practiced law with his brother, [[Whitfield Jack|George Whitfield Jack, Jr.]], who served as a [[colonel]] under [[General]] [[Matthew B. Ridgeway]] in [[World War II]]. His later law partner was his son, Wellborn Jack, Jr. (1936-2023), a specialist in employment and labor law.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lawyer-map.com/Wellborn_Jack_Jr_Employment_and_Labor_Law_in_Shreveport_Louisiana_78051|title=Wellborn Jack, Jr.|publisher=lawyer-map.com|accessdate=July 29, 2013}}</ref> The junior Jack recalled that his father had little interest in genealogy and said, "What matters most is not what you sprang from but what you sprang at." <ref name=jackgen/>
==Political career==
Like virtually all of the Shreveport-area politicians during the 1950s, Jack was known for his fervent support of racial [[segregation]]. He supported a bill to require the labeling of blood by race of the donor. The raising of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] flag at the Caddo Parish Courthouse embodied the sentiments of white segregationists of Jack's era.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aclu.org/files/assets/ACLU_amicus_brief_in_support_of_new_trail_for_Felton_D._Dorsey_0.pdf|title=State of Louisiana, Plaintiff-Appelee v. Felton D. Dorsey, Defendant-Appellant, p. 10 |publisher=aclu.org/files|accessdate=July 29, 2013}}</ref> That flag no longer flies at the courthouse, and a Confederate monument was removed.
In 1962, Jack joined his House colleague, Representative [[Parey Branton]] of Shongaloo in Webster Parish, in calling for a change in the method by which Louisiana allocates its [[electoral votes]]. The two urged adoption of the framework used by [[Maine]] and [[Nebraska]] under which one elector is allotted for each congressional district to the winner by [[plurality]] in that district, and two at-large electoral votes are assigned to the top vote-getter statewide, plurality or majority. The plan was not adopted. It could have enabled Louisiana to choose split electors, as [[Alabama]] did in 1960 and [[New Jersey]] in 1860.<ref>"Branton Predicts Finances, Integration Will Top Legislative Session," ''Minden Press,'' May 14, 1962, p. 1.</ref><ref>"Rep. Branton Has the Answer," ''Minden Herald,'' editorial, February 1, 1962, p. 2.</ref>
Jack's House tenure extended from the administrations of Governors [[Sam Houston Jones]] to the second term of [[Jimmie Davis]]. During his long career in the House, Jack served alongside numerous colleagues who reached the highest point in state politics, including Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock (1915-1987), [[Bill Dodd]], [[C. H. "Sammy" Downs]], [[John J. McKeithen]], [[Louis J. Michot]], [[Chep Morrison|deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, Sr.]], [[Dave L. Pearce]], and [[William Rainach]], along with his Caddo colleagues [[Algie D. Brown]], [[Frank Fulco]], and [[James C. Gardner]].<ref name=house/>
Jack lost his House seat after twenty-four years because two [[Republican Party|Republicans]], [[Morley Hudson]] and [[Taylor W. O'Hearn]], led the field of legislative candidates in 1964. Hudson and O'Hearn, the first two Republicans to serve in the Louisiana legislature since [[Reconstruction]]
benefited from Shreveport Republican [[Charlton Lyons]], who carried the [[Republican Party|GOP]] [[governor|gubernatorial]] banner in a ground-breaking but unsuccessful race against the Democrat John McKeithen of rural Caldwell Paris] south of [[Monroe, Louisiana|Monroe]]. In addition to Jack, the other Democrat eliminated in the 1964 election was [[Jasper K. Smith]], a lawyer from Vivian in northern Caddo Parish.
Days after [[U.S. President]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] signed into law the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]], Jack wrote a letter to the former ''[[Shreveport Journal]]'' by which he reaffirmed his own belief in segregation: "The white man and the Negro man are happy with their lot here in this area ..."<ref>''[[Shreveport Journal]]," Letter to the Editor, July 8, 1964.</ref>
In 1966, Jack was a candidate for the Louisiana Public Service Commission, a utility regulatory agency. He was part of a multiple-candidate field which sought to win the the seat held by the appointed [[John S. Hunt, III]], of Monroe, a nephew of Governors [[Huey Long|Huey Pierce Long, Sr.]], and [[Earl Long|Earl Kemp Long]]. In that campaign Jack declared himself as one opposed to all kinds of "federal encroachment." He was joined in the race against Hunt by two of his former legislative colleagues, Parey Branton and [[John Sidney Garrett]] of Haynesville in Claiborne Parish. Though Branton finished in sixth place in the contest, he led by a plurality in his own Webster Parish.<ref>''[[Minden Press-Herald]],'' August 15, 1966, p. 1.</ref> Hunt and Garrett, the two leading candidates, met in a runoff election on September 24. Hunt had enjoyed a considerable plurality in the first primary round of balloting<ref>''Minden Press-Herald,'' August 15, 1966, p. 1.</ref> and then defeated Garrett to hold on to the position.<ref>''Minden Press-Herald," September 26, 1966, p. 1.</ref> John McKeithen was the previous public service commissioner from the district, and as governor had named Hunt as his own successor in 1964.
In 1972, Jack was an unsuccessful candidate in the nonpartisan race for delegate to the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1973, ratified in 1974.<ref name=fagrave/>
From 1976 to 1984, Jack was an elected member of the final two terms of the former Caddo Parish Police Jury. He left the police jury, the parish governing body, when it was reorganized in 1984 as the Caddo Parish Commission.<ref>Veta Samuels, ''History of Caddo Parish Police Jury - Caddo parish Commission'' (government document.)</ref>
Jack died of congestive heart failure and is interred, along with his wife, the former Martha Elizabeth DeWitt (1913-1995), in Forest Park East Cemetery in Shreveport.<ref name=fagrave/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jack, Wellborn}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Attorneys]]
[[Category:State Representatives]]
[[Category:Democrats]]