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He thereafter graduated from [[Tulane University]] and the Tulane Law School of Law in New Orleans. He was a member of Phi Delta Phi.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.phideltaphi.org/person/4615943/-George-Reese.htm|title=George Wilson Reese, Jr.|publisher=Phideltaphi.org|accessdate=January 6, 2015}}</ref>

He thereafter graduated from [[Tulane University]] and the Tulane Law School of Law in New Orleans. He was a member of Phi Delta Phi.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.phideltaphi.org/person/4615943/-George-Reese.htm|title=George Wilson Reese, Jr.|publisher=Phideltaphi.org|accessdate=January 6, 2015}}</ref>

==Political life==​

==Political life==​

In the 1952 U.S. House election, Reese polled a third of the vote against Representative Hébert; he ran with [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] at the top of the Republican ticket. In 1954, a  mid-term election year, Reese again challenged Hébert but polled only one-sixth of the votes cast, with no presidential contest on the ballot.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, General election returns, November 4, 1952 and November 2, 1954.</ref>​

In the 1952 U.S. House election, Reese polled a third of the vote against Representative Hébert; he ran with [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] at the top of the Republican ticket. In 1954, a  mid-term election year, Reese again challenged Hébert but polled only one-sixth of the votes cast, with no presidential contest on the ballot.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, General election returns, November 4, 1952 and November 2, 1954.</ref>​

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In 1959, Reese, as the Louisiana Republican national committeeman, and LeRoy Charles Smallenberger (1912-2002), an attorney in [[Shreveport]] who was elected the state party chairman in 1960, became involved in an intra-party feud with Thomas Eaton Stagg, Jr. (1923-2015), another Shreveport lawyer and subsequent judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, and Charles Thomas Beaird (1922-2006), the later publisher of the defunct ''[[Shreveport Journal]]'' and a then Republican member of the  Caddo Parish Police Jury. Stagg and Beaird objected when Reese endorsed, with Smallenberger in agreement, a slate of candidates for party position on both the state and parish committees. Stagg argued that Reese had attempted to assemble a group of "yes-men" and had hence "earned the enmity of a large number of fair-minded Republicans".<ref>"GOP Faction Fight Erupts Over Primary: 4th District Head Charges Attempt to Pack Committee", ''The Shreveport Times'', December 2, 1959, p. 1.</ref> Reese, however, defended his endorsements, most of whom won their primary races, on the premise that he as a statewide party leader was obligated to recommend suitable candidates to the rank-and-file.<ref>"Endorsements Defended by GOP Leader: Reese answers attack by Stagg as Faction Fight", ''The Shreveport Times'', December 3, 1959, pp. 1, 4.</ref> At the time, Reese appointed Smallenberger as the "assistant national committeeman for North Louisiana".<ref>"Attorney Here Appointed to GOP Position", ''The Shreveport Times'', December 2, 1959, p. 4-A.</ref>​

In 1959, Reese, as the Louisiana Republican national committeeman, and LeRoy Charles Smallenberger (1912-2002), an attorney in [[Shreveport]] who was elected the state party chairman in 1960, became involved in an intra-party feud with Thomas Eaton "Tom" Stagg, Jr. (1923-2015), another Shreveport lawyer and subsequent judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, and Charles Thomas Beaird (1922-2006), the later publisher of the defunct ''[[Shreveport Journal]]'' and a then Republican member of the  Caddo Parish Police Jury. Stagg and Beaird objected when Reese endorsed, with Smallenberger in agreement, a slate of candidates for party position on both the state and parish committees. Stagg argued that Reese had attempted to assemble a group of "yes-men" and had hence "earned the enmity of a large number of fair-minded Republicans".<ref>"GOP Faction Fight Erupts Over Primary: 4th District Head Charges Attempt to Pack Committee", ''The Shreveport Times'', December 2, 1959, p. 1.</ref> Reese, however, defended his endorsements, most of whom won their primary races, on the premise that he as a statewide party leader was obligated to recommend suitable candidates to the rank-and-file.<ref>"Endorsements Defended by GOP Leader: Reese answers attack by Stagg as Faction Fight", ''The Shreveport Times'', December 3, 1959, pp. 1, 4.</ref> At the time, Reese appointed Smallenberger as the "assistant national committeeman for North Louisiana".<ref>"Attorney Here Appointed to GOP Position", ''The Shreveport Times'', December 2, 1959, p. 4-A.</ref>​

 

Reese, along with his senatorial campaign manager Richard Lowrie Hagy (1921-1992), also of New Orleans,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Hagy&GSfn=Richard&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=20&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=8014723&df=all&|title=Richard Lowrie Hagy|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=January 6, 2015}}</ref> and Tom Stagg were among the Louisiana delegation to the 1960 [[Republican National Convention]] in [[Chicago]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/reese.html|title=George W. Reese Jr.|publisher=[[The Political Graveyard]]|accessdate=January 6, 2015}}</ref> Smallenberger and Harrison Bagwell, the Baton Rouge lawyer who was the Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1952 against [[Robert F. Kennon]], were alternate delegates to the Chicago conclave.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/R/1960/LA.html|title=Louisiana delegation to the 1960 Republican National Convention|publisher=The Political Graveyard|accessdate=January 6, 2015}}</ref>​

Along with his senatorial campaign manager Richard Lowrie Hagy (1921-1992), also of New Orleans,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Hagy&GSfn=Richard&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=20&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=8014723&df=all&|title=Richard Lowrie Hagy|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=January 6, 2015}}</ref> Reese and Tom Stagg were among the Louisiana delegation to the 1960 [[Republican National Convention]] in [[Chicago]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/reese.html|title=George W. Reese Jr.|publisher=[[The Political Graveyard]]|accessdate=January 6, 2015}}</ref> Smallenberger and Harrison Bagwell, the Baton Rouge lawyer who was the Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1952 against [[Robert F. Kennon]], were alternate delegates to the Chicago conclave.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/R/1960/LA.html|title=Louisiana delegation to the 1960 Republican National Convention|publisher=The Political Graveyard|accessdate=January 6, 2015}}</ref>​

The party  nominated Vice President [[Richard M. Nixon]] to run in the presidential election]] against U.S. Senator [[John F. Kennedy]], who subsequently handily won all of Louisiana's then ten [[electoral vote]]s.​

The party  nominated Vice President [[Richard M. Nixon]] to run in the presidential election against U.S. Senator [[John F. Kennedy]], who subsequently handily won all of Louisiana's then ten [[electoral vote]]s.​

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Two days before the Republican convention in Chicago began its proceedings, Reese won a low-turnout senatorial closed primary victory over William Dane (1893-1966) of New Orleans.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Dane&GSfn=William+&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=20&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=119327828&df=all&|title=William Dane|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=January 7, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/7995658/|title=Primary election preview|publisher=''Lake Charles American-Press''|date=July 21, 1960|page=3|accessdate=January 6, 2015}}</ref> With just over 1,000 votes cast, Reese received 762; Dane, 278.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Republican primary returns, July 23, 1960.</ref> Reese then attended the convention and thereafter campaigned across the state in the fall. In [[Lake Charles]], he claimed that Senator Ellender had been lax in protecting military installations in Louisiana from being downsized or dismantled, with the impacted military services sent to bases in other states. "There has been inadequate representation of the state in these matters," Reese said.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/8302195/|title=The election of a Republican senator from Louisiana can reverse the trend of removal of federal installations from the state ...|publisher=''Lake Charles American-Press''|date=October 26, 1960|page=37|accessdate=January 6, 2015}}</ref> Ellender had been critical of the investigations into communist infiltration of the U.S. government waged in the 1950s by U.S. Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] of [[Wisconsin]]. Reese even accused Ellender of being "soft on communism". The Democrat retorted that Reese's allegation came with "ill grace for the spokesman for the member of a party (the Eisenhower administration) which has permitted the establishment of a Red-dominated beach head ([[Cuba]]) only ninety miles from our shores to attack my record against the spread of communism."<ref>''The Alexandria Daily Town Talk'', November 5, 1960, p. 19.</ref>​

Two days before the Republican convention in Chicago began its proceedings, Reese won a low-turnout senatorial closed primary victory over William Dane (1893-1966) of New Orleans.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Dane&GSfn=William+&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=20&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=119327828&df=all&|title=William Dane|publisher=Findagrave.com|accessdate=January 7, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/7995658/|title=Primary election preview|publisher=''Lake Charles American-Press''|date=July 21, 1960|page=3|accessdate=January 6, 2015}}</ref> With just over 1,000 votes cast, Reese received 762; Dane, 278.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Republican primary returns, July 23, 1960.</ref> Reese then attended the convention and thereafter campaigned across the state in the fall. In [[Lake Charles]], he claimed that Senator Ellender had been lax in protecting military installations in Louisiana from being downsized or dismantled, with the impacted military services sent to bases in other states. "There has been inadequate representation of the state in these matters," Reese said.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/8302195/|title=The election of a Republican senator from Louisiana can reverse the trend of removal of federal installations from the state ...|publisher=''Lake Charles American-Press''|date=October 26, 1960|page=37|accessdate=January 6, 2015}}</ref> Ellender had been critical of the investigations into communist infiltration of the U.S. government waged in the 1950s by U.S. Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] of [[Wisconsin]]. Reese even accused Ellender of being "soft on communism". The Democrat retorted that Reese's allegation came with "ill grace for the spokesman for the member of a party (the Eisenhower administration) which has permitted the establishment of a Red-dominated beach head ([[Cuba]]) only ninety miles from our shores to attack my record against the spread of communism."<ref>''The Alexandria Daily Town Talk'', November 5, 1960, p. 19.</ref>​

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In a Republican campaign rally in [[Lafayette]], national party nominee Richard Nixon claimed that "those who adopted the Democratic platform in the  [[Los Angeles]]convention  forfeited the right to ask millions of Democrats to be loyal to their party." Yet Nixon failed even to  introduce Reese as Ellender's opponent before the Lafayette gathering.<ref name=gopinla>Billy Hathorn, ''The Republican Party in Louisiana, 1920-1980'',  ([[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]]: [[Northwestern State University]], 1980), pp. 102-103.</ref>​

In a Republican campaign rally in [[Lafayette]], national party nominee Richard Nixon claimed that "those who adopted the Democratic platform in the  [[Los Angeles]]convention  forfeited the right to ask millions of Democrats to be loyal to their party." Yet Nixon failed even to  introduce Reese as Ellender's opponent before the Lafayette gathering.<ref name=gopinla>Billy Hathorn, ''The Republican Party in Louisiana, 1920-1980'',  ([[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]]: [[Northwestern State University]], 1980), pp. 102-103.</ref>​