Samuel D. McEnery

Samuel Douglas McEnery
United States Senator
from Louisiana
In office
March 4, 1897  June 28, 1910
Preceded by Newton C. Blanchard
Succeeded by John Thornton
30th Governor of Louisiana
In office
October 16, 1881  May 20, 1888
Lieutenant W.A. Robertson
George L. Walton
Clay Knobloch
Preceded by Louis A. Wiltz
Succeeded by Francis T. Nicholls
16th Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana
In office
January 14, 1880  October 16, 1881
Governor Louis A. Wiltz
Preceded by Louis A. Wiltz
Succeeded by W. A. Robertson
Personal details
Born (1837-05-28)May 28, 1837
Monroe, Louisiana
Died June 28, 1910(1910-06-28) (aged 73)
New Orleans, Louisiana
Political party Democratic
Alma mater Spring Hill College
United States Naval Academy
University of Virginia
State and National Law School (New York)
Religion Roman Catholic

Samuel Douglas McEnery (May 28, 1837  June 28, 1910) served as the 30th Governor of Louisiana from 1881 until 1888, and as a United States Senator from 1897 until 1910. He was the brother of John McEnery, one of the candidates in the contested 1872 election for Louisiana Governor.

McEnery was born in Monroe, Louisiana. He attended Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. In 1859, McEnery graduated from the State and National Law School in Poughkeepsie, New York. McEnery served as a lieutenant in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War.

In 1866, McEnery began practicing law in Monroe. He was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1879, and became Governor of Louisiana in 1881 after the death of Louis A. Wiltz. McEnery was elected to a full term as governor in 1884, but failed to be re-elected in 1888. McEnery's administration was weak because of the power wielded by the State Treasurer Edward A. Burke and the corrupt Louisiana State Lottery Company. Despite Louisiana's Roman Catholic plurality (and majority in Acadiana and many of the southern parishes of the state), McEnery was the last Catholic to be elected governor prior to Edwin Edwards (nominated 1971, elected and inaugurated 1972).[1]

After losing the 1888 election, McEnery was appointed to serve as an associate justice in the Louisiana Supreme Court. He was elected to serve in the United States Senate in 1896, serving there until his death in 1910. While in the Senate, McEnery served on the Committee of Corporations formed in the District of Columbia and the Committee of Transportation and Sale of Meat Products.[2]

McEnery died on June 28, 1910, in New Orleans and was interred there at Metairie Cemetery.[3]

Notes

  1. After Edwards, Catholics Kathleen Babineaux Blanco and Bobby Jindal were elected governors.
  2. For McEnery's positions on the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, see Robert Harrison, Congress, Progressive Reform, and the New American State (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 77, 235, 253. ISBN 978-0-521-82789-8, ISBN 0-521-82789-2.
  3. See the Louisiana Secretary of State's "Samuel Douglas McEnery" site for McEnery's religious affiliation, date of death, and other information.

United States Congress. "McENERY, Samuel Douglas (id: M000429)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.  Retrieved on 2008-10-19

Political offices
Preceded by
Louis A. Wiltz
Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana
1880-1881
Succeeded by
W.A. Robertson
Preceded by
Louis A. Wiltz
Governor of Louisiana
1881–1888
Succeeded by
Francis T. Nicholls
United States Senate
Preceded by
Newton C. Blanchard
US Senator (Class 3) from Louisiana
1897–1910
Succeeded by
John R. Thornton
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