Actors - Jimmie Davis

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	Actors - Jimmie Davis

James Houston Davis, better known as Jimmie Davis, (September 11, 1899(?) - November 5, 2000) was a noted singer who served two nonconsecutive terms as governor of Louisiana in the mid-twentieth century.

Davis was born to a sharecropping couple in the now ghost town of Beech Springs, near Quitman, Louisiana, in Jackson Parish, either in 1899 or 1900. The family was so poor that young Jimmie did not have a bed in which to sleep until he was nine years old.

Davis became a commercially successful singer of "cowboy music" before he entered. He performed several songs, including "You Are My Sunshine," which was designated an official state song of Louisiana in 1977. Reportedly, the song was copyrighted under Davis's name after he purchased it from its composers. In 1999, "You Are My Sunshine" was honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award and the Recording Industry Association of America named it one of the Songs of the Century.

Davis taught history (and, unofficially, yodeling) for a year at the women's Dodd College of Shreveport. He was elected as the city's Democratic public safety commissioner. At the time, Shreveport had a commission form of government. (In the 1970s, the city switched to the mayor-council format.) Davis was elected in 1942 to the Louisiana Public Service Commission but left the rate-making body, which meets in Baton Rouge, two years later to become governor.

Davis was elected governor as a Democrat in 1944. He defeated the Long-Maestri backed Lewis L. Morgan of Covington. Former Governor Earl Long was seeking the lieutenant governorship on the Morgan "ticket." Democrats in Louisiana often formed non-binding "tickets" for governor and lieutenant governor and sometimes lower constitutional offices as well. But voters could "split tickets" by voting for a Long candidate for governor and an anti-Long candidate for lieutenant governor, or vice versa.

In 1959-1960, Davis, with a pledge to fight for segregation in public education, sought a second term as governor. He won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination over a crowded field that included staunchly segregationist State Senator William M. Rainach of Summerfield, former Lieutenant Governor William J. "Bill" Dodd of Baton Rouge, former Governor James A. "Jimmy" Noe, Jr., of Monroe, and New Orleans Mayor deLesseps Story Morrison. Davis ran second to "Chep" Morrison, considered a liberal by Louisiana standards, in the primary and then defeated him in the the party runoff held in January 1960. Davis won the northern and central parts of the state plus Baton Rouge, while Morrison dominated the southern portion of the state, particularly the French cultural parishes.

In April 1960, Davis defeated Republican Francis Grevemberg, a Lafayette native, by a margin of nearly 82-17 percent. Grevemberg had been head of the state police under Governor Robert F. Kennon and had fought organized crime. Grevemberg was outraged at newspaper editorials against him. "My main purpose for entering this race was toward a two-party system. . . . I hope I have convinced a sizeable number of people we do need two parties." Grevemberg was particularly hostile toward the New Orleans Times-Picayune, which called him a "turncoat" after he left the Democratic party, adding: "I risked my life and those of my family in attempts to rid this state of racketeers. . . . These newspapers have lived up to the reputation given them by Huey Long that they were yellow journals." The GOP was still four years away from offering voters a competitive choice in a Louisiana gubernatorial election.

Davis was the popular "singing governor", who often performed music during his campaign stops. While governor, he had a No. 1 hit single in 1945 with the song "There's a New Moon Over My Shoulder." A long-time member of the Baptist faith, he also recorded a number of southern gospel music albums and in 1967 served as president of the Gospel Music Association. He was a close friend of the North Dakota-born band leader Lawrence Welk, who frequently reminded viewers of his television program of his association with Governor Davis.

During his time as governor, Jimmie Davis attempted to enforce policies of racial segregation, but federal law slowly brought about desegregation. Davis later apologized for his actions later in life. One time during his tenure, he rode his horse up the steps of the state Capitol to protest integration.

Davis built the Sunshine Bridge, the new Governor's Mansion and the Toledo Bend Reservoir - all criticized at the time, but later recognized as beneficial to the state. Davis coordinated the pay periods of state employees, who had sometimes received their checks a week late, a particular hardship to those with low incomes.

In 1971, Davis entered another crowded Democratic gubernatorial primary field, but he finished in an unimpressive fourth place, for time had passed him by. In a runoff election held in December 1971, Congressman Edwin Washington Edwards of Crowley in Acadiana defeated then State Senator Bennett Johnston, of Shreveport for the party nomination. Edwards then beat Republican David C. Treen in the March 1972 general election. Davis's days as a politician were clearly behind him at that point. In 1999, with only months left to live, he spoke out for the reelection of Republican Governor (Murphy J.) Mike Foster, another former Louisiana Democrat.

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Actors - Jimmie Davis

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