Allan
Ellender was born in Montegut, Louisiana, on 24th September, 1890.
After graduating from Tulane University, New
Orleans, in 1913, he was admitted to the Louisiana Bar and worked
as a lawyer in Houma.
In
1915 Ellender was appointed district attorney of Terrebonne Parish.
During the First World War served as a sergeant
in the Artillery Corps, United States Army
(1917-18).
A
member of the Democratic Party, Ellender
served in the House of Representatives in Louisiana (1924-36) . He
was elected to the Senate in 1936.
A
strong opponent of McCarthyism
Ellender
was one of the first senators to attack the tactics of Joseph
McCarthy. In the Senate Ellender served as chairman of the Committee
on Claims and as a member of the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry.
Ellender
remained in the Senate until his death at the Beshesda Naval Hospital,
Maryland, on 27th July, 1972.
(1)
I.
F. Stone, I.
F. Stone's Weekly (15th
March, 1954)
When Ralph Flanders of Vermont attacked McCarthy, the Senate
was as silent as it was some weeks earlier when Ellender of Louisiana
made a lone onslaught and Fulbright of Arkansas cast the sole vote
against his appropriation. Only Lehman of New York and John Sherman
Cooper (R.) of Kentucky rose to congratulate Flanders. Nobody defended
McCarthy, but nobody joined in with those helpful interjections which
usually mark a Senate speech. When the Democratic caucus met in closed
session, the Stevenson speech was ignored. Lyndon Johnson
of Texas, the Democratic floor leader, is frightened of McCarthy's
Texas backers.
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