Dudley LeBlanc

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Dudley Joseph LeBlanc
Black-and-white formal portrait of a middle-aged man in a dark suit and tie.
Dudley J. LeBlanc, circa 1950s
Louisiana State Senator for reconfigured Vermilion and Acadia parishes
In office
1968 – October 22, 1971(1971-10-22) (aged 77)
Preceded byNew district
Succeeded byJames E. Fontenot
Louisiana State Senator for Vermilion and Acadia parishes
In office
1964–1968
Preceded byLee C. Firmin
Succeeded byDistrict redrawn
President Pro Tempore of the Louisiana State Senate
In office
1948–1952
Preceded byGrove Stafford
Succeeded byRobert Andrew Ainsworth, Jr.
Louisiana State Senator for Vermilion Parish
In office
1948–1952
Preceded byLeonard C. Wise
Succeeded byC. C. Burleigh
Louisiana State Senator for Vermilion Parish
In office
1940–1944
Preceded byWilber P. Kramer
Succeeded byLeonard C. Wise
Louisiana Public Service Commissioner
In office
1926–1932
Louisiana State Representative for Vermilion Parish
In office
1924–1926
Preceded byTwo-member district: Emmett W. Henry and A. M. Smith
Succeeded byE. Whitney Bonin
Personal details
Born(1894-08-16)August 16, 1894
Capitan, Louisiana, Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, U.S.
DiedOctober 22, 1971(1971-10-22) (aged 77)
Abbeville, Louisiana, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, U.S.
Resting placeSt. Mary Magdalen Church Cemetery, Abbeville, Louisiana
PartyDemocratic
SpouseEvelyn Hebert LeBlanc (m. 1919; his death 1971)
Children6
Erath High School · University of Louisiana at Lafayette
OccupationBusinessman
Military service
AllegianceUnited States
Branch/serviceUnited States Army
Battles/warsWorld War I

Dudley J. LeBlanc (August 16, 1894–October 22, 1971)[1] was an American entrepreneur and politician.

Early life

Dudley J. LeBlanc was born on August 16, 1894 in Capitan, Louisiana, to Noemie and Numa Dulze LeBlanc.[2] His father was a blacksmith, and they raised Dudley in Erath, Louisiana. At age 18, LeBlanc graduated from Southwestern Louisiana Institute (today's University of Louisiana at Lafayette).[3] While he was in school, he started an ironing business, which grew into a tailoring store.[2] When he graduated, he began a career in sales and then in 1916 he joined the US Army[3] and served as a sergeant during World War I.[2] In 1921, he married Evelyn Hebert (1897–1992) of Abbeville, Louisiana and they had six children.[2]

LeBlanc's childhood home has been moved to the Acadian Village folk life museum.[4]

Political career

State representative (1924–1926)

LeBlanc was elected to serve in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1924 to 1928.[5] He served half a term, and then he was elected to one of the three seats on the Louisiana Public Service Commission.

During his short tenure as state representative, LeBlanc introduced several notable pieces of legislation.

  • Louisiana Rice Warehouse Commission: LeBlanc's bill created this commission to promote buying graded rice, which aimed to benefit rice farmers who previously had to sell all their rice at a single price regardless of grade.[6][7]
Photo is taken from the edge of a bricked porch with a bright yellow and green balcony, a historic home at the park. The sun is low in the blue sky, and the garden is in view beyond the porch. Large trees draped in Spanish moss cast long shadows across the grounds and the picket-fence perimeter.
Evangeline State Park (now named Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site)
  • Evangeline State Park: A state park district was created in 1922 to establish a park in the congressional district; LeBlanc's bill appropriated $15,000 (equivalent to $292,000 in 2026) to buy park land in honor of Acadians.[6][8] The state bought the Pierre Olivier du Clozel plantation in the outskirts of St. Martinville.[9] Olivier (1782–1840) was a French nobleman.[10][11] Susan Walker Anding, who like LeBlanc formed groups of "Evangeline Girls,"[12] promoted making the Acadian memorial park specifically a monument to Longfellow and the Evangeline poem.[9] In 1934, this would become the first park in the state's park system.[13]
  • Protection for indebted tenant farmers and sharecroppers during the interwar farm crisis: LeBlanc's bill prohibited lenders from seizing a farmer's seeds and plants (their "tools of the trade"), effectively destroying their livelihood and forcing small landowners off their property.[6][14]

Member of Louisiana Public Service Commission (1926–1932)

French was widely spoken as the primary language in many southern Louisiana communities, while people in northern Louisiana mostly spoke English. By the late 1800s, French speakers in Louisiana were discriminated against, and in 1921 the Louisiana Constitution effectively established English as the official language by banning French in public schools. Teachers physically punished students for speaking French.[15] It was in this climate that LeBlanc campaigned in both languages, gaining national attention and winning one of the then-three seats on the Louisiana Public Service Commission.[9]

While he served as a member of the commission, he also wrote his first book, The True Story of the Acadians.[2]

Louisiana gubernatorial election (1932, 1944, 1952)

In 1932, LeBlanc ran for governor and greatly revised and republished his book, The True Story of the Acadians.

In the 1932 Louisiana gubernatorial election, he lost to Oscar K. Allen, who was favored by Huey Long. During his campaign, one of LeBlanc's plans was to pay a monthly stipend to the elderly. Huey Long subsequently adopted the idea in his nascent campaign for President. Franklin D. Roosevelt got the idea from Long, and it became the modern Social Security system.[6]

State senator (1940–1944, 1948–1952, 1964–1968, 1968–1971)

LeBlanc served four terms in Louisiana's state senate, dying in his last term.[16]

In early 1951, LeBlanc was a guest on Groucho Marx's show, You Bet Your Life. He talked about representing the needs of the poor and working-class, told a joke in French, and made a quip about Hadacol.[17][18]

Acadian and Cajun advocacy

LeBlanc was interested in the forced mass deportation of French settlers from the Canadian Maritime provinces by British Authorities in the mid-1700s. Some of these Acadians ultimately arrived in Spanish-held Louisiana where they founded today's Cajun community. LeBlanc went to Europe and Canada to research this history from primary sources, and translated those sources from French to English.[19] He also researched his own genealogy,[20] and found he was related to René LeBlanc,[21] a notary public at Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia whose family was torn apart in the Expulsion, and who died in exile in Philadelphia.[22] René LeBlanc also appears in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1847 poem, Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie as the wise old notary who arrives to prepare Evangeline and Gabriel's marriage contract.[23] The Acadians in Louisiana celebrated this poem as an important fictional epic story of their own beginnings and the poem's Evangeline became a symbol for Acadian perseverance.

In 1926, as state representative, LeBlanc introduced legislation that appropriated the funds needed to buy a park to honor Acadians;[20] today that park is the Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site. At this time, he also began campaigning for political office in French as well as English, winning a seat on the Louisiana Public Service Commission. In 1927, he published The True Story of the Acadians.[2]

On a sunny day outside the former East Wing of the White House stand four Sioux (and one infant) and four Acadian people in traditional dress, which for the Evangeline girls includes tea-length gathered white skirts, long-sleeve white cotton blouses with rounded ruffled collars, a dark bodice over the shirt with front lacing, and a cotton cap.
1929 photo titled, "Evangeline Girls and Sioux Indians", outside the former East Wing of the White House

"Evangeline Girls" were young women who attended public events in traditional clothes to bring awareness to Acadian culture in Louisiana. As President of the Association of Louisiana Acadians, he organized "pilgrimages" of Louisiana Acadians and Evangeline Girls to Nova Scotia in 1930, 1936, and 1963[24] to increase ethnic pride and cultural awareness, stopping at the White House to meet Presidents Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy on these trips.[3] After LeBlanc's 1930 pilgrimage to Grand-Pré, the Canadians sent a delegation of their own "Evangelines" and "Gabriels" to Louisiana. The cultural exchanges as well as the larger pop culture fascination with the Evangeline story helped increase pride in Acadian heritage and also had the happy effect of substantially increasing tourism in Louisiana.[21]

In 1932, he greatly revised and republished The True Story of the Acadians, and in 1966 he wrote The Acadian Miracle.[2]

Radio broadcasting and Hadacol

In 1946, LeBlanc was a radio newscaster, broadcasting in English and French.[2]

A black-and-white advertisement features a photo of LeBlanc's face and a lot of graphical elements competing for your attention (bubbles, fanciful fonts, musical notes, line-drawn fireworks). The text reads: 'COMING! SENATOR LeBLANC Invites You To See His SENSATIONAL NEW HADACOL CARAVAN SHOW. Come On, Folks! You'll Have A Great Time At This Tremendous Personal Appearance Presentation! 14 Sensational Scintillating ACTS! SPECIAL PRIZES FOR CHILDREN for turning in the greatest number of Hadacol box tops on night of the show! 1st PRIZE SHETLAND PONY. 2nd PRIZE Schwinn-Built BICYCLE. 3rd PRIZE $25.00 U.S. SAVINGS BOND. Money CAN'T Buy Admission to this Great Star=Studded Show! ADMISSION is by Complete BOX TOPS ALONE! 1 FOR CHILDREN 2 FOR ADULTS. Breath-taking FIREWORKS DISPLAY. Big "Name" BANDS. Brilliant VOCALISTS. America's No. 1 HILL BILLY GROUP. Performing CLOWNS. 50 BEAUTY QUEENS. Hadacol Goodwill Caravan and Y.M.B.C. Kansas Flood Relief Program. Cesar Romero; Jack Dempsey; Hank Williams; Rudy Vallee; Minnie Pearl; Candy Candido. Sharkey, Dorothy Dorben Adorables, Jugglers, Fun Tossing Clowns, Dazzling Fireworks, Gigantic Parade. FRIDAY, August 17 7 P.M. CITY PARK STADIUM. In case of rain Municipal Auditorium. Reserved section for colored. A GALA EVENT FOR THE YOUNG AND YOUNG IN HEART. The HADACOL CARAVAN SHOW is intended solely to entertain our friends, the users of HADACOL. We are anxious to meet you; we are anxious to know you; we wish we could shake hands with you! But, because it is not possible to visit with you individually, and indicate our sincere appreciation for your continued use of HADACOL—we have organized a great new HADACOL CARAVAN SHOW, and invite you, as our customer, to come and see us. All we request is that you mealy bring two box tops, if you are an adult, or, one box top if you are a youngster (under 12 years of age), when you come to see the HADACOL CARAVAN SHOW. NOTE: Cash value of a HADACOL Box Top is 1/20th of 1 cent. THE CARAVAN WILL SHOW IN THE FOLLOWING CITIES IN THE NEW ORLEANS AREA. SEE IT OFTEN. NEW IBERIA, Wednesday, Aug. 15. THIBODAUX, Thursday, Aug. 16. HAMMOND, Saturday, Aug. 18. BILOXI, Sunday, August 19. SEE THE SPECTACULAR HADACOL PARADE 2:30 P.M. EACH CITY—SEE THE HADACOL SHOW 7:00 P.M
Promotional ad for the Hadacol Caravan Show

He also created the patent medicine Hadacol and promoted it through the 'Hadacol Caravan' which featured major celebrities of the day including Mickey Rooney, Ava Gardner, Cesar Romero, Hank Williams, and many others. Williams began writing the song 'Jambalaya' while traveling on the Hadacol bus, listening to the Cajun conversation.

Death and legacy

LeBlanc died on October 22, 1971 and is buried at St. Mary Magdalen Church's cemetery in Abbeville, Louisiana,[2] where LeBlanc had worshipped most of his life.[9]

Publications

  • 1927; revised 1932: The True Story of the Acadians
  • 1950: Good Health: Life's Greatest Blessing (privately published)[6]
  • 1966: The Acadian Miracle

Awards and honors

LeBlanc was posthumously inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in 1993.[25]

References

  1. "LeBlanc, Dudley J." Encyclopedia of Cajun Culture. Archived from the original on 17 December 2006.
  2. "LeBlanc, Dudley J. (1894-1971). Collection, 1900-1995, n.d." Special Collections Finding Aids. University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
  3. Cross, Dominick (February 4, 2016). "'Coozan Dud's 'Acadian Miracle' at 50". The Daily Advertiser (Lafayette, Louisiana). Archived from the original on April 11, 2021.
  4. "Houses Around the Village". LARC's Acadian Village.
  5. Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives 1812–2016 (PDF). David R. Poynter Legislative Research Library, Louisiana House of Representatives. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 6, 2014.
  6. Clay, Floyd Martin (1973). Coozan Dudley LeBlanc: From Huey Long To Hadacol. Pelican Publishing Co. ISBN 0911116699.
  7. Official Journal of the Proceedings of the House of Representatives of the State of Louisiana at the Second Regular Session of the Legislature. Baton Rouge, Louisiana. May 1924. p. 1155.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. Act No. 110, House Bill No. 297. Louisiana House of Representatives, Regular Session, May–July 1926. 1926.
  9. Landry, Christophe (2015). A Creole Melting Pot: the Politics of Language, Race, and Identity in southwest Louisiana, 1918-45 (PhD, History thesis). University of Sussex.
  10. Les Amis de Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site. Welcome to Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site (PDF). National Park Service History. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 18, 2025.
  11. Arthur, Stanley Clisby; Huchet de Kernion, George Campbell (2009). Old Families of Louisiana. Clearfield. pp. 411–412. ISBN 9780806346885.
  12. Hartley, Carola Lillie (August 4, 2017). "Mrs. Anding and her Evangeline Girls". Daily World (Opelousas).
  13. "Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site". Louisiana State Parks. Louisiana Office of Tourism. Archived from the original on May 6, 2026.
  14. Act No. 36, House Bill No. 44. Louisiana House of Representatives, Regular Session, May–July 1924. 1924.
  15. Walton, Sarah (February 8, 2024). "Renaissance Française: The rise, fall and rebirth of French in Louisiana". Reveille. Archived from the original on February 10, 2026.
  16. McEnany, Arthur E. Membership in the Louisiana Senate 1880–2020 (PDF). Law Library, Louisiana State Senate. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 7, 2018.
  17. "You Bet Your Life: Episode #1.22". IMDB.
  18. "Dudley LeBlanc on You Bet Your Life". YouTube. March 13, 2013. Archived from the original on February 17, 2020.
  19. Coen, Cheré (August 7, 2016). "Acadian to Cajun: Museum, book publishers to revisit the colorful life of Louisiana's Dudley LeBlanc". The Acadiana Advocate. Archived from the original on June 9, 2026.
  20. LeBlanc, Dudley J. (1966). The Acadian Miracle. Lafayette, Louisiana: Evangeline Publishing Company.
  21. Richardson, Debrah Royer (2007). Performing Louisiana: the history of Cajun dialect humor and its impact on the Cajun cultural identity (PhD, Theatre thesis). Louisiana State University.
  22. Herbin, John Frederic (1911). The History of Grand-Pré, the Home of Longfellow's "Evangeline" (4th ed.). Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada: Barnes & Co., Limited. p. 145.
  23. "Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie". SuperSummary.
  24. "What Does It Mean to Be Cajun?". Historic New Orleans Collection. December 11, 2020.
  25. "Louisiana Political Hall of Fame Inductees". Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on April 6, 2025.

Further reading

  • Dodd, William J. (1991). Peapatch Politics: The Earl Long Era in Louisiana Politics. Claitors Publishing Division. ISBN 9780875119328.
  • Duplantier, Adrian G. (2008). "A Louisiana Gallimaufry". Loyola Law Review. 54 (Special Volume): 148–151.