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Descended from a pioneer Union Parish family of [[France|French]], [[Germany|German]], and [[England|English]] origins, Fred Preaus was the older of wo sons of Harry Preaus, Sr. (1887-1951), and the former Sallie Tidwell (1887-1951), the daughter of David C Tidwell, a prominent planter from Sterlington in Ouachita Parish, who died in 1921, and the former Mary Etta Daniel (1859-1956), a native of Mer Rouge in Morehouse Parish.<ref name=medt/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Preaus&GSiman=1&GScty=55263&GRid=38119921&|title=Harry Preaus, Sr.|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=February 14, 2015}}</ref>

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Sallie Preaus was the first woman to register to vote in Union Parish with ratification in 1920 of the [[19th Amendment]] to the [[United States Constitution]].<ref name=mhwr>''Minden Herald and Webster Review'', December 8, 1955, p. 9.</ref> Preaus's maternal uncle was Charles Ruffin Tidwell (1894-1967), a former streets and parks commissioner for [[Monroe, Louisiana|Monroe]], Louisiana, when that city operated under the city commission form of government.<ref name=medt>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/72021298|title=Obituary of Mary Etta Daniel Tidwell (grandmother of Fred Preaus)|date=October 10, 1956|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref>

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Sallie Preaus was the first woman to register to vote in Union Parish with ratification in 1920 of the [[19th Amendment]] to the [[United States Constitution]].<ref name=mhwr>''Minden Herald and Webster Review,'' December 8, 1955, p. 9.</ref> Preaus's maternal uncle was Charles Ruffin Tidwell (1894-1967), a former streets and parks commissioner for [[Monroe, Louisiana|Monroe]], Louisiana, when that city operated under the city commission form of government.<ref name=medt>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/72021298|title=Obituary of Mary Etta Daniel Tidwell (grandmother of Fred Preaus)|date=October 10, 1956|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref>

In 1933, Preaus graduated from [[Louisiana Tech University]] in nearby [[Ruston, Louisiana|Ruston]] in Lincoln Parish.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/lincoln/history/schools/tech1933.txt|title=Louisiana Tech, 1933|publisher=usgwarchives.net|accessdate=September 5, 2010}}</ref> In 1953, Preaus was named the president of the Louisiana Tech Alumni Association.

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Right out of college, Preaus purchased Mitchell [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]], the company dealership in Farmerville, which also sold Mercury [[automobile]]s. In 1946, he opened a new building for the company, and his brother, Harry Preaus, Jr. (1915-1998), joined him as a partner. After their retirements, Joe and John Preaus took over the company.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u6tICgUupecC&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=Fred+Preaus+of+Farmerville&source=bl&ots=9FRdE_n5l-&sig=DT4aRxCoARANwf2M74zA6LlFxQQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=EebgVJ6TCca1ggS-84GoDQ&ved=0CDwQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Fred%20Preaus%20of%20Farmerville&f=false|title=Union Parish|page=19|author=W. Gene Barron|date=2012|publisher=Arcadia Publishing Company|location=[[Charleston]], [[South Carolina]]|isbn=978-0-7-3859167-4|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref>

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Preaus was elected to the five-member Farmerville Town Council in 1949<ref>{{cite web|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/louisiana/monroe/monroe-morning-world/1949/03-13/page-21|publisher=''The Monroe Morning World''|title=Candidates file in Farmerville|page=21|date=March 13, 1949|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref> and was active in the [[Chamber of Commerce]]. In 1952, incoming [[Governor]] [[Robert F. Kennon]] appointed Preaus as the state highway director.<ref name=mhwr/> Preaus worked to make Lake D'Arbonne in Farmerville a reality. Popular with fisherman and boaters, the waterway opened in 1963.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lakedarbonnelife.com/2013/01/18/in-the-beginning/|title=In the Beginning|publisher=''Lake D'Arbonne Life''|date=January 18, 2013|accessdate=February 14, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://bab.stparchive.com/Archive/BAB/BAB11072013P05.php|title=Lake D'Arbonne Celebrating 50th Year|publisher=''The Bernice Banner''|location=Bernice, Louisiana|date=November 7, 2013|page=5|author=Kinny Haddox|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref> In 1947, Preaus was president of the Union Parish Fair.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nQwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT69&lpg=PT69&dq=Fred+T.+Preaus+of+Farmerville,+LA&source=bl&ots=rJw5aXf2KD&sig=Yn-MunAShn5MO-KYqED0LZ1PR7k&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NQXhVMXbEMyXNs6OgcAG&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAzge#v=onepage&q=Fred%20T.%20Preaus%20of%20Farmerville%2C%20LA&f=false|title=''Billboard''|date=May 31, 1947|page=70|publisher=Nelson Business Media|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref>

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Preaus was elected to the five-member Farmerville Town Council in 1949<ref>{{cite web|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/louisiana/monroe/monroe-morning-world/1949/03-13/page-21|publisher=''[[Monroe News Star|The Monroe Morning World]]''|title=Candidates file in Farmerville|page=21|date=March 13, 1949|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref> and was active in the [[Chamber of Commerce]]. In 1952, incoming [[Governor]] [[Robert F. Kennon]] appointed Preaus as the state highway director.<ref name=mhwr/> Preaus worked to make Lake D'Arbonne in Farmerville a reality. Popular with fisherman and boaters, the waterway opened in 1963.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lakedarbonnelife.com/2013/01/18/in-the-beginning/|title=In the Beginning|publisher=''Lake D'Arbonne Life''|date=January 18, 2013|accessdate=February 14, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://bab.stparchive.com/Archive/BAB/BAB11072013P05.php|title=Lake D'Arbonne Celebrating 50th Year|publisher=''The Bernice Banner''|location=Bernice, Louisiana|date=November 7, 2013|page=5|author=Kinny Haddox|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref> In 1947, Preaus was president of the Union Parish Fair.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nQwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT69&lpg=PT69&dq=Fred+T.+Preaus+of+Farmerville,+LA&source=bl&ots=rJw5aXf2KD&sig=Yn-MunAShn5MO-KYqED0LZ1PR7k&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NQXhVMXbEMyXNs6OgcAG&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAzge#v=onepage&q=Fred%20T.%20Preaus%20of%20Farmerville%2C%20LA&f=false|title=''Billboard''|date=May 31, 1947|page=70|publisher=Nelson Business Media|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref>

Preaus was also engaged in the timber business. Preaus and J. A. Auger (1911–2010), an inductee of the Loggers Hall of Fame,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thepineywoods.com/HallFameSep12.htm|title=Loggers Hall of Fame Sept. 14: Dodson museum underway for Hall, and regional history|author=Tom Kelly|publisher=''The Piney Woods Journal''|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref> together developed the first chip mill in Farmerville.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fgazette.com/news.php?id=1169|title=Mary Nash-Wood, "Augers Leave Behind Rich Legacy"|publisher=''Farmerville Gazette''|date=February 3, 2010|accessdate=September 5, 2010}}</ref>

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==Gubernatorial race==

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With the backing of Governor Kennon, who was ineligible to seek a second consecutive four-year term, Preaus declared his candidacy for governor in 1955.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dIhZxpoZVIQC&pg=PA378 |title=The Eisenhower Years|author=Michael S. Mayer|date=2010|page=378|publisher=~~|location=~~|isbn=978-0-8160-5387-2|accessdate=February 17, 2015}}</ref> Preaus's platform stressed law enforcement with use of the Louisiana National Guard as needed,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/3909247/|title=~~Pre3aus~~ will use Guard to enforce law|publisher=''Lake Charles American-Press''|date=January 5, 1956|page=1|accessdate=February 18, 2015}}</ref> industrial development, tidelands oil revenues, long-range highway planning, no state tax increases, greater independence for local governments, expanded facilities for mental and tuberculosis patients, $65 per month welfare payments to the elderly or needy, the dredging of twenty new lakes,<ref name=mhwr/> and the maintenance of racial [[segregation]], the opposition to which he blamed on "outside agitators."<ref name=segregation>"Preaus Takes Strong Stand on Segregation," ''Minden Herald,'' December 8, 1955, p. 1.</ref> Preaus claimed that the [[NAACP]] [[civil rights]] organization was upsetting the "goodwill" that existed in Louisiana between the races.<ref name=segregation/>

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With the backing of Governor Kennon, who was ineligible to seek a second consecutive four-year term, Preaus declared his candidacy for governor in 1955.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dIhZxpoZVIQC&pg=PA378 |title=The Eisenhower Years|author=Michael S. Mayer|date=2010|page=378|publisher=Google Books|isbn=978-0-8160-5387-2|accessdate=February 17, 2015}}</ref> Preaus's platform stressed law enforcement with use of the Louisiana National Guard as needed,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/3909247/|title=Preaus will use Guard to enforce law|publisher=''Lake Charles American-Press''|date=January 5, 1956|page=1|accessdate=February 18, 2015}}</ref> industrial development, tidelands oil revenues, long-range highway planning, no state tax increases, greater independence for local governments, expanded facilities for mental and tuberculosis patients, $65 per month welfare payments to the elderly or needy, the dredging of twenty new lakes,<ref name=mhwr/> and the maintenance of racial [[segregation]], the opposition to which he blamed on "outside agitators."<ref name=segregation>"Preaus Takes Strong Stand on Segregation," ''Minden Herald,'' December 8, 1955, p. 1.</ref> Preaus claimed that the [[NAACP]] [[civil rights]] organization was upsetting the "goodwill" that existed in Louisiana between the races.<ref name=segregation/>

For lieutenant governor, Preaus allied with [[New Orleans]] City Council member [[A. Brown Moore]], a 1934 graduate of the [[Tulane University]] Law School who had served in the Judge Advocate General's Corps under [[General]] [[George S. Patton]]'s Third Army during [[World War II]]. Prior to the formation of the mayor-council form of government, Moore was from 1950 to 1954 the New Orleans public utilities commissioner. Then from 1954 to 1957, he was a city councilman. [[Chep Morrison|deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, Sr.]], was the [[mayor]] throughout the decade and a first-time gubernatorial candidate against Preaus in 1956. Previously, Brown had carried the support of all Democratic political factions and daily newspapers in New Orleans.<ref name=mhwr/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://specialcollections.tulane.edu/archon/index.php?p=collections/findingaid&id=573&q=Slavery+documents+collection.|title=Andre Brown Moore papers|publisher=[[Tulane University]]|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref>

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In a January 1956 speech carried by [[radio]] and [[television]], Kennon minimized the chances of any of the "other anti-Long candidates" to defeat former Governor Earl Long in a potential runoff election]. "The only man who can beat Earl Long in the runoff [which was not required, as it developed] is Fred Preaus, and the only man Earl is afraid of in this race is Fred Preaus," Kennon quipped.<ref name=lcap>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/2460219/|title=Kennon says it'll be Long or Preaus|publisher=''Lake Charles American-Press''|page=32|date=January 12, 1956|accessdate=February 17, 2015}}</ref> Kennon gave a running prediction of how he expected to vote to divide throughout the state, but he badly misjudged the forthcoming election results in which Long won without need for a second primary.<ref name=lcap/>

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Considered a [[dark horse]] candidate from the start,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1893&dat=19560118&id=-60fAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B9cEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2840,926230|title=Landslide Vote for Earl Long: Louisiana Supports Former Governor|publisher=''Southeast Missourian''in [[Cape Girardeau]], [[Missouri]]|page=1|date=January 18, 1956|accessdate=February 18, 2015}}</ref> Preaus was unable to make much headway in the race against Long but carried one parish — not his own Union Parish, but Plaquemines Parish, then dominated by the segregationist political boss Leander H. Perez, a Dixiecrat in 1948 and one of Preaus' most determined backers.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A2ZXz67oSdAC&pg=PA162 |title=Leander Perez: Boss of the Delta|author=Glen Jeansonne|date=1995|edition=2|publisher=University of Louisiana at [[Lafayette]]~~|location=Lafayette~~, Louisiana|page=162|isbn=157806-917-3|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref>

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Considered a [[dark horse]] candidate from the start,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1893&dat=19560118&id=-60fAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B9cEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2840,926230|title=Landslide Vote for Earl Long: Louisiana Supports Former Governor|publisher=''Southeast Missourian''in Cape Girardeau, [[Missouri]]|page=1|date=January 18, 1956|accessdate=February 18, 2015}}</ref> Preaus was unable to make much headway in the race against Long but carried one parish — not his own Union Parish, but Plaquemines Parish, then dominated by the segregationist political boss [[Leander Perez]], a Dixiecrat in 1948 and one of Preaus' most determined backers.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A2ZXz67oSdAC&pg=PA162 |title=Leander Perez: Boss of the Delta|author=Glen Jeansonne|date=1995|edition=2|publisher=University of Louisiana at Lafayette|location=[[Lafayette]], Louisiana|page=162|isbn=157806-917-3|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref>

Preaus finished in third place in the race with 95,955 votes (11.7 percent), trailing Mayor Morrison, who made the first of his three unsuccessful gubernatorial races, and Earl Long, who won the second of his three non-consecutive terms as Louisiana governor. Lagging behind Preaus were former state police superintendent [[Francis Grevemberg]], and [[James M. McLemore]], an [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] landowner and [[cattle]]man who made a second bid for governor, once again as a particularly avowed segregationist candidate.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Gubernatorial first primary returns, January 17, 1956</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Bm5yc8Pdc8C&pg=PA549&lpg=PA549&dq=Fred+Preaus+of+Louisiana&source=bl&ots=R3VSZz9V9x&sig=PPb87mIwEK1fOdVM00txbpnEJ2w&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JjLgVKO2M4mjgwT_lILwAQ&ved=0CEAQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=Fred%20Preaus%20of%20Louisiana&f=false|title=Louisiana Almanac|date=2006|author=[[Milburn E. Calhoun]]|publisher=Pelican Publishing Company|location=Gretna, Louisiana|page=549|isbn=9781589803060|accessdate=February 15, 2015}}</ref> Meanwhile, A. Brown Moore lost to Long's choice for lieutenant governor, [[Lether Frazar]], a prominent educator from [[Lake Charles]].

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