Date of Award
6-1-1958
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Divinity (B.Div)
Department
Historical Theology
First Advisor
Carl Meyer
Abstract
This paper attempts to discover the existence, if any, of religious influences in Louisiana elections since 1924. Several reasons bear upon both the selection of the state and the period. The author chose the State of Louisiana because it occupies a rather peculiar place in American politics. Typically a Southern state, Louisiana lacks, at least on the surface, a two-party system. Hence the complication of conflict between party loyalty and religious affiliation is removed. Louisiana is typical or the states of the South in that it contains a considerable Roman Catholic population. Indeed, the National Council of Churches has listed Louisiana as a state where the Roman Catholic Church predominates. In addition, the religious dichotomy or the state makes it relatively easy to isolate religious influences, if any exist. In south Louisiana, Roman Catholicism is found in the preponderance, while in the north the Protestant churches maintain a strong majority. The year 1924 marks the beginning of the rise of Longism in Louisiana. Huey P. Long and his disciples (for better or for worse) have left an indelible mark upon the state’s history. Any consideration of recent Louisiana politics that ignores the transformation of the state wrought by Longism would be no history at all.
Recommended Citation
Veit, Benjamin Franklin, "Religious Influences in Louisiana Elections (1924-1956)" (1958). Bachelor of Divinity. 944.
https://scholar.csl.edu/bdiv/944
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
