Wendell P. Harris, Sr.

Wendell Preston Harris, Sr. (March 13, 1917 – February 5, 1994), was a Baton Rouge businessman who served a single term from 1960 to 1964 as a Democrat in the Louisiana State Senate. His term was sandwiched between the first and second nonconsecutive terms of another Democrat, J. D. DeBlieux, a civil rights attorney whom Harris unseated in the 1959 party primary but four years later then lost to DeBlieux in the 1963 primary.^[1]

Harris was partner with his father, Sulcer Allen Harris, Sr. (1892-1945), in a family business, the S.A. Harris Transfer and Storage Company. His mother was the former Rita Aleman (1892-1969).^[2][3] Harris, Sr., married the former Sylvia Nolan Driggers (1919-2006), a native of the rural community of Frisco City in Monroe County in southwestern Alabama.^[4]

Their son, Wendell, Jr. (1940-2024), was a former American football player for Louisiana State University, the former Baltimore Colts, and the New York Giants.^[5] The junior Harris was first married to the late Freddie Deblieux; it is not likely that this wife was related to Senator J. D. DeBlieux, who had only one son. Freddie's maiden name is spelled without the capital "B." Harris, Jr., then wed the former Mary Kilber, and the couple had a blended family of seven children. Wendell and Sylvia Harris also had a daughter, Pam Harris Cavin Thompson and her second husband, Mike Thompson.^[6]

After unseating DeBlieux in the Democratic primary in 1959, Harris won the seat in the April 1960 general election, having handily defeated the Republican nominee, Dr. Roger E. Peak, of whom nothing is now known.^[7]

At the start of the 1960 legislative session, Harris introduced two bills to alter the election process in the state. One would have prohibited anyone from soliciting the vote or handing out literature to those waiting in line to cast ballots. The second would have required candidate placement on the ballot by lots, instead of the then process of automatic alphabetization of candidates by last names.^[8] Harris was known for his strong support of the segregated system of race then practiced across the South.^[9] Senator Harris was also involved with the work of the former Louisiana Un-American Activities Committee and the former Louisiana Sovereignty Commission.^[10]

In 1961, Harris was indicted along with two others for allegedly wire-tapping ministers who advocated for the civil rights of African Americans.^[11]The charges were dismissed in 1964 by a district judge; federal charges were filed a few days later.^[12] The case was dropped in December 1966.^[13]

Harris died at the age of seventy-six at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge. He is interred at Roselawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Baton Rouge.^[14]