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→‎Legal practice and business activities

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|party=[[Republican Party|Republican]] nominee for Louisiana state attorney general in 1972 against [[William J. Guste]]

|religion=[[Episcopalian]]

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|alma_mater=Clifton Ellis Byrd High School

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|alma_mater=[[Clifton Ellis Byrd]] High School

Marion ([[Alabama]]) Military Institute

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[[Louisiana State University]]

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[[Louisiana State University]] ([[Baton Rouge]])

LSU Law Center}}

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Stagg's father, Thomas Stagg, Sr. (1892-1960), was a native of [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]], [[Virginia]], descended from colonial American ancestors. He relocated to Shreveport in 1919 and entered into the [[real estate]] business.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=146896138|title=Funeral Rites Set Today for Thomas Stagg: Prominent Local Real Estate Man Succumbs at Home|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=June 16, 1960|accessdate=June 24, 2015}}</ref> At the age of sixteen, Stagg found his mother, the former Beulah Meyer (1891-1939), dead of [[suicide]] by strangulation in the family home. She had shot herself in a failed suicide attempt earlier on March 9, 1938, and previously had a nervous breakdown.<ref name=mrsstagg>{{cite web|url=http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Stagg&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=20&GScnty=1117&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=146896270&df=all&|title=Mrs. T. E. Stagg Is Found Dead at Home Here: Despondency, Ill Health Cause of Death; Funeral Today|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=May 3, 1939|page=5|accessdate=June 24, 2015}}</ref>

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Stagg relocated to Shreveport in 1919 and entered into the [[real estate]] business.<ref>"Rites Set Today for Thomas Stagg: Prominent Local Real Estate Man Succumbs at Home|~~publisher=~~''The Shreveport Times''~~|date=~~June 16, 1960}}</ref> At the time of his mother's death, Stagg was about to graduate at the age of sixteen from Clifton Ellis Byrd High School in Shreveport. Stagg had a sister, Betty Jane Stagg (1921-1990).

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Stagg relocated to Shreveport in 1919 and entered into the [[real estate]] business.<ref>"Rites Set Today for Thomas Stagg: Prominent Local Real Estate Man Succumbs at Home|, ''The Shreveport Times,'' June 16, 1960.</ref> At the time of his mother's death, Stagg was about to graduate at the age of sixteen from [[Clifton Ellis Byrd]] High School in Shreveport. Stagg had a sister, Betty Jane Stagg (1921-1990).

Stagg attended Marion Military Institute in Marion, [[Alabama]], and [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge]], from which he completed his [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in 1943.<ref name=fedjudgesdirectory/> During [[World War II]], Stagg was elevated from 1943 to 1946 from second lieutenant]to captain in the [[United States Army]]. He was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge, the [[Bronze Star]] for Valor, a second Bronze Star for meritorious service and the [[Purple Heart]] with Oak leaf cluster for wounds received in battle. In the war, Stagg escaped death when a [[Germany|German]] bullet struck a [[Bible]] that he carried in a pocket. Over the years, he often showed colleagues and friends the bullet scars in his Bible.<ref name=staggbio>{{cite web|url=http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/local/2015/06/24/tom-stagg-top-area-us-judge-dies/29201877/|title=Tom Stagg, top area U.S. judge, dies|author=John Andrew Prime|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|accessdate=June 24, 2015}}</ref>

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On August 21, 1946, Stagg wed the former Mary Margaret O'Brien, who survives him. They have two daughters, Julie Stagg Harrington (born c. 1949) and husband, Martin, of [[Denver]], [[Colorado]], and Margaret Mary Sour (born December 1951) of Shreveport.<ref name=staggbio/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.shreveporttimes.com/article/20130127/LIVING11/301240306/Scene-Heard-Happy-90th-birthday-Judge-Tom-Stagg|title=Scene & Heard: Happy 90th birthday, Judge Tom Stagg|publisher=''The Shreveport Times'' |author=Margaret Martin|date=January 23, 2013|accessdate=June 24, 2015}}</ref> Margaret Sour was formerly married to Edwin William Sour (born December 1950), a son of the late four-term Louisiana State Representative Arthur William Sour, Jr. (1924-2000), of Shreveport.

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==Legal practice and business activities==

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While he maintained his law practice, Stagg was vice-president of King Hardware Company from 1955 to 1974. He was also the president of the Abe Meyer Corporation in Shreveport from 1960 to 1974, a firm found by his [[Jewish]] maternal grandfather, Abe Meyer (1852-1930), who had also been a vice president of City Savings Bank and Trust Company.<ref name=mrsstagg/> Stagg established local tire and rubber franchises in the Shreveport area and was a managing partner of the Pierremont Mall Shopping Center from 1963 to 1974. He was president of Stagg Investments, Inc., from 1964 to 1974. He has been a managing partner of Camellia Trading Company. He divested himself of most of his business dealings when he was sworn in as a judge.<ref name=fedjudgesdirectory>{{cite web|url=http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/nGetInfo?jid=2265&cid=999&ctype=na&instate=na|title=Thomas E. Stagg, Jr.|publisher=Biographical Directory of Federal Judges|accessdate=June 24, 2015}}</ref>

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Stagg's most avid hobby was photographing wildflowers. Tom Arceneaux, a former member of the Shreveport City Council who clerked for Judge Stagg for two years, recalled that while Stagg was riding with ~~Arceneaux~~, he would tell him to stop the car so that ~~Stagg~~ could get out to photograph some special flower that only he had seen.<ref name=staggbio/>

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Stagg's most avid hobby was photographing wildflowers. [[Tom Arceneaux]], a former member of the Shreveport City Council who was elected [[mayor]] on December 10, 2022, clerked for Judge Stagg for two years. Arceneaux recalled that while Stagg was riding with him, Stagg would tell him to stop the car so that he could get out to photograph some special flower that only he had seen.<ref name=staggbio/>

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==Political ~~activities~~==

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==Political life==

A [[Republican Party|Republican]] since 1949, Stagg as the GOP chairman for Louisiana's 4th congressional district, with then included seven parishes, became involved in 1959 in an intra-party feud with the national committeeman, [[George Reese]], of [[New Orleans]], the party's U. S. Senate nominee in 1960 against [[Allen J. Ellender]], and [[LeRoy Smallenberger]], the Shreveport lawyer, party functionary, and subsequent state chairman from 1960 to 1964. Stagg objected when Reese endorsed, with Smallenberger in agreement, a slate of candidates for party position on both the state and parish committees. Stagg, backed by [[Charles T. Beaird]], the then chairman of the Caddo Parish Republican Executive Committee, described Reese as having attempted to assemble a group of "yes-men" and had hence "earned the enmity of a large number of fair-minded Republicans." Stagg compared such activities to those in the 1930s of former state party chairman John Ellett Jackson, Sr. (1892-1989), a New Orleans lawyer.<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 rank-and-file voters.<ref>"Endorsements Defended by GOP Leader: Reese answers attack by Stagg as Faction Fight," ''The Shreveport Times,'' December 3, 1959, pp. 1, 4.</ref>

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On February 6, 1968, Stagg ran unsuccessfully for the Louisiana State Senate when he sought one of three at-large seats from Caddo Parish. He polled 16,341 votes in the [[general election]], but he fell 6,536 votes behind the bottom-ranked [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] in the race, [[conservative]] incumbent Jackson Beauregard Davis (1918-2016), a Shreveport attorney who, like Stagg, had supported Republican [[Barry Goldwater]] for president in 1964. Joining Davis in the Caddo Senate delegation were Democrats [[J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.]], later a long-term U.S. Senator, and Joseph Carnahan LeSage, Jr. (1928-2015).

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At the 1968 Republican convention meeting in Miami Beach, [[Florida]], Stagg supported Nixon's second bid for the party's presidential nomination. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time'' magazine]] quoted national committeeman Stagg: We've had our shot at a candidate who totally met our qualifications [Goldwater in 1964], and that candidate got six states. We've had our druthers. Now shall we win one?" Stagg described as "not viable" last-minute efforts by some party conservatives, including Louisiana Republican leader [[David C. Treen]], to draft then freshman [[Governor]] [[Ronald W. Reagan]] of [[California]] for the presidential nomination.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/analysis/back.time/9608/19/|title=A Chance to Lead|publisher=''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''|date=August 16, 1968|accessdate=June 24, 2015}}</ref>

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At the 1968 Republican convention meeting in Miami Beach, [[Florida]], Stagg supported Nixon's second bid for the party's presidential nomination. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time magazine]]'' quoted national committeeman Stagg: We've had our shot at a candidate who totally met our qualifications [Goldwater in 1964], and that candidate got six states. We've had our druthers. Now shall we win one?" Stagg described as "not viable" last-minute efforts by some party conservatives, including Louisiana Republican leader [[David C. Treen]], to draft then freshman [[Governor]] [[Ronald W. Reagan]] of [[California]] for the presidential nomination.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/analysis/back.time/9608/19/|title=A Chance to Lead|publisher=''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''|date=August 16, 1968|accessdate=June 24, 2015}}</ref>

In 1969, Stagg continued to challenge political corruption and asked: "Government improprieties are a feature of our daily newspapers. ... Will it require revelation of further scandals, corruption, misgovernment, [[nepotism]], and just plain crookedness to gain reform in government?" His remarks came when the 28,000-member Louisiana GOP was seeking to increase membership to 200,000 in time for the 1972 election cycle.<ref>"Louisiana Republicans Push for 200,000 State Members," ''Minden Press-Herald,'' March 4, 1969, p. 2.</ref>

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==Candidacy for Louisiana attorney general, 1972==

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===Candidacy for Louisiana attorney general, 1972===

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In 1972, Stagg was the Republican nominee for state attorney general on a ticket headed by [[Governor|gubernatorial]] candidate David Treen. Stagg was seeking to fill the seat being vacated by long-term Democratic [[incumbent]] Jack Paul; Faustin Gremillion (1914-2001), a protégé of the late [[Earl Kemp Long]]. Gremillion had been eliminated in the 1971 party primary because of corrupt practices in office.

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In 1972, Stagg was the Republican nominee for state attorney general on a ticket headed by [[Governor|gubernatorial]] candidate David Treen. Stagg was seeking to fill the seat being vacated by long-term Democratic [[incumbent]] Jack Paul; Faustin Gremillion (1914-2001), a protégé of the late [[Earl Long|Earl Kemp Long]]. Gremillion had been eliminated in the 1971 party primary because of corrupt practices in office.

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Stagg faced the Democratic primary winner, one-term State Senator [[William J. Guste]], of [[New Orleans]], but party affiliation worked heavily to Guste's advantage. Guste and Stagg were virtually the same age. Stagg won the endorsement of the since defunct ''[[Shreveport Journal]]'': an editorial hailed him as "a man of considerable force ... considered by his colleagues in the law fraternity to be a man of brilliance." The ''Shreveport Journal'' also noted that for years Stagg had "fought for the southern viewpoint in national Republican party conventions."<ref>''[[Shreveport Journal]],'' January 22, 1972.</ref>

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Guste prevailed in the race with 763,276 votes (74.1 percent) to Stagg's 270,038 (25.9 percent). Stagg won only his native Caddo Parish with 54 percent of the ballots cast, and he finished with at least 43 percent in six other north Louisiana parishes. Two other statewide Republican nominees also won in Caddo Parish, Treen for governor and [[Robert Frye]], a native of Webster Parish who was then a professor at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, who challenged the Democrat [[Louis J. Michot]], a businessman from [[Lafayette]] for the position of state education superintendent.<ref>''Shreveport Journal,'' February 2, 1972.</ref> Guste went on to serve twenty years as attorney general.

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After this campaign, Stagg vacated the position of Republican national committeeman in favor of David Treen. Stagg also announced that he was considering running for the U.S. Senate in 1972 for the seat held by Democrat [[Allen J. Ellender]], who died during the primary campaign. Stagg said that he would need "money, support, and possibilities of success, rather than just running as an exercise."<ref>"Treen Named State GOP Committeeman," ''Minden Press-Herald,'' March 6, 1972, p. 1.</ref> Stagg never ran for the Senate; the Republican nominee was [[Ben C. Toledano]], a lawyer and author, who had carried the party's banner in 1970 in a race for [[mayor]] of [[New Orleans]]. Victory in the Senate race, however, went to Stagg's former rival for the state Senate, J. Bennett Johnston, Jr. Stagg did win one election, a [[nonpartisan]] contest in the summer of 1972 for delegate to the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1973. He served as chairman of both the Temporary Rules and the Executive Department committees.

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After this campaign, Stagg vacated the position of Republican national committeeman in favor of David Treen. Stagg also announced that he was considering running for the U.S. Senate in 1972 for the seat held by Democrat [[Allen J. Ellender]], who died during the primary campaign. Stagg said that he would need "money, support, and possibilities of success, rather than just running as an exercise."<ref>"Treen Named State GOP Committeeman," ''Minden Press-Herald,'' March 6, 1972, p. 1.</ref> Stagg never ran for the Senate; the Republican nominee was [[Ben C. Toledano]], a lawyer and author, who had carried the party's banner in 1970 in a race for [[mayor]] of [[New Orleans]]. Victory in the Senate race, however, went to Stagg's former rival for the state Senate, J. Bennett Johnston, Jr. Stagg did win one election, a nonpartisan contest in the summer of 1972 for delegate to the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1973. He served as chairman of both the Temporary Rules and the Executive Department committees.

==Federal judicial service==

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Federal Judge Maury Hicks called his mentor, Stagg, "the finest trial judge I had ever met. Without ever knowing it, he had served as my silent mentor, a role model. I told him of his role as a teacher and role model after joining him on the bench, and he volunteered to serve as my judicial mentor, always available to discuss an evidence problem, or judicial philosophy, or the world in general. He became a close friend. To have served with Judge Tom Stagg on the federal bench for twelve years is a singular honor."<ref name=staggbio/>

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===Defending a 1993 "junket"===

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===Defending a 1993 "junket"===

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Stagg came under fire from ''[[The Washington Post]]'' for his attendance at a Law and Economics Center seminar in 1993, when he was in his second year of senior status. The judge defied his critics, dismissed complaints about propriety, and declared that he would be eager for a second stay at the resort, Hilton Head Island, [[South Carolina]]. "The food was wonderful; the teachers were wonderful. If somebody doesn't like it, I'm sorry."<ref name=junkets>{{cite web|url=

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http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/judiciary/hju76383.000/hju76383_0f.htm|title=Junkets for Judges Undermine Public Confidence in the Judiciary ... Judge Tom Stagg of Louisiana responded...|publisher=commdocs.house.gov|accessdate=June 24, 2015}}</ref> ''The Washington Post'' had revealed something which many citizens did not know: that federal judges, like congressmen, take "junkets", which are often never reported and that are sometimes of questionable value to the taxpayers who underwrite their salaries and benefits.<ref name=junkets/>

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Stagg came under fire from ''[[The Washington Post]]'' for his attendance at a Law and Economics Center seminar in 1993, when he was in his second year of senior status. The judge defied his critics, dismissed complaints about propriety, and declared that he would be eager for a second stay at the resort, Hilton Head Island, [[South Carolina]]. "The food was wonderful; the teachers were wonderful. If somebody doesn't like it, I'm sorry."<ref name=junkets>{{cite web|url= http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/judiciary/hju76383.000/hju76383_0f.htm|title=Junkets for Judges Undermine Public Confidence in the Judiciary ... Judge Tom Stagg of Louisiana responded...|publisher=commdocs.house.gov|accessdate=June 24, 2015}}</ref> ''The Washington Post'' had revealed something which many citizens did not know: that federal judges, like congressmen, take "junkets", which are often never reported and that are sometimes of questionable value to the taxpayers who underwrite their salaries and benefits.<ref name=junkets/>

==Recognition==

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In 1990, Stagg was named to the Byrd High School Hall of Fame. In 2004, he received the LSU [[Paul M. Hebert]] Law Center's Distinguished Alumnus award, which came on the 30th anniversary of his judicial service. A fellow Shreveporter, [[Robert Pugh]], who had served with Stagg at the Constitutional Convention, received the honor in 2003. Therefore, a joint recognition service was held at the Shreveport Petroleum Club on October 14, 2004. Stagg expressed surprise upon his selection: "Upon considering the merit of those recipients who have preceded me, I am very proud to be named the distinguished alumnus for 2004."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.law.lsu.edu/globals/onthemove/OnTheMove_v04n02.pdf|title=Pugh and Stagg Named Distinguished Alumni|publisher=law.lsu.edu|date=Fall 2004|accessdate=June 24, 2015}}</ref>

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In 1990, Stagg was named to the Byrd High School Hall of Fame. In 2004, he received the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center's Distinguished Alumnus award, which came on the 30th anniversary of his judicial service. A fellow Shreveporter, [[Robert Pugh]], who had served with Stagg at the Constitutional Convention, received the honor in 2003. Therefore, a joint recognition service was held at the Shreveport Petroleum Club on October 14, 2004. Stagg expressed surprise upon his selection: "Upon considering the merit of those recipients who have preceded me, I am very proud to be named the distinguished alumnus for 2004."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.law.lsu.edu/globals/onthemove/OnTheMove_v04n02.pdf|title=Pugh and Stagg Named Distinguished Alumni|publisher=law.lsu.edu|date=Fall 2004|accessdate=June 24, 2015}}</ref>

==Legacy==

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His papers, including his constitutional convention activities, are filed in the archives section of Noel Memorial Library at Louisiana State University in Shreveport.<ref name=staggbio/> The collection includes working papers, committee proposals, resolutions and memoranda, files of newspaper clippings, correspondence, pamphlets, and published notes and studies on developing the Louisiana Constitution of 1974.

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Judge Roy S. Payne of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, a former law clerk for Judge Stagg, and a former [[U.S. Magistrate Judge]] working with ~~Judge~~ Stagg ~~stated that~~ <blockquote>~~forty~~ years ago, Tom Stagg took me into his circle for what I expected would just be a two-year job. But he shaped me in ways I didn't then understand, and forever altered the path of my life. His nurture and wise counsel are always in the back of my mind and the minds of the two generations of lawyers who have worked in his chambers. Put simply, he is the greatest man I have ever known.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/local/2015/06/24/tom-stagg-top-area-us-judge-dies/29201877/|title=Tom Stagg top area U.S. judge, dies|author=John Andrew Prime|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''}}</ref></blockquote>

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Judge Roy S. Payne of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, a former law clerk for Judge Stagg, and a former U.S. Magistrate Judge working with Tom Stagg, expressed a recollection:<blockquote>Forty years ago, Tom Stagg took me into his circle for what I expected would just be a two-year job. But he shaped me in ways I didn't then understand, and forever altered the path of my life. His nurture and wise counsel are always in the back of my mind and the minds of the two generations of lawyers who have worked in his chambers. Put simply, he is the greatest man I have ever known.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/local/2015/06/24/tom-stagg-top-area-us-judge-dies/29201877/|title=Tom Stagg top area U.S. judge, dies|author=John Andrew Prime|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''}}</ref></blockquote>

Judge Dee Dodson Drell of the federal court in [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]], called Stagg <blockquote>one of the finest people I have ever known. He had it all: Intelligence, spirit, patriotism, wisdom and wit! When he taught you a lesson in the law, you never forgot it, and neither did he. He and the life he lived made me a better lawyer, a better judge and, most importantly, a better person. I shall miss his Friday, late afternoon, call just to see who was still in the office.<ref name=staggbio/></blockquote>

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[[Category:Photographers]]

[[Category:Politicians]]

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[[Category:United States Appointed Officials]]

[[Category:Judges]]

[[Category:Republicans]]

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[[Category:United States Army]]

[[Category:World War II]]

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~~[[Category:Bronze Star]]~~

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