Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Win the Race or Die Trying
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Mandeville
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://specialcollections.tulane.edu/archon/?p=creators/creator&id=202 * http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1877 * http://www.actionnews17.com/news/library-presents-mandeville-author-jack-b-mcguire-1907314
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 96013822
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n96013822
HEADING: McGuire, Jack B.
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100 10 |a McGuire, Jack B.
670 __ |a His Uncle Earl deserved better, 1995: |b t.p. (Jack B. McGuire) p. 259 (Councilman-at-Large for the City of Mandeville; grad. of Tulane Univ.)
953 __ |a lh02
PERSONAL
Son of David R. McGuire.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Financial consultant, writer, and historian. Office of New Orleans Mayor Victor Schiro, New Orleans, LA, aide, then public relations director, 1967-70; Union Savings and Loan Association, LA, officer, mid-1970s–; councilman-at-large for the city of Mandeville, LA, 1984-2000. Was a staff member of the Goldwater campaign organization in 1964; member of the Jimmie Davis gubernatorial campaign staff, 1971.
WRITINGS
Contributor to Louisiana History.
SIDELIGHTS
Jack B. McGuire is an American financial consultant, writer, and historian. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he held a number of political aide positions with politicians in Louisiana. McGuire worked for over four decades as an officer at the Union Savings and Loan Association.
Louisiana Governors
In 2009 McGuire coauthored Louisiana Governors: Rulers, Rascals, and Reformers with Walter Greaves Cowan. The account profiles and provides short bibliographies of the seventy-four individuals who have held the office of governor in Louisiana since 1699 up to Bobby Jindal. Arranged chronologically, the book gives greater space to the governors since the end of the Civil War. Biographies are central to each profile, as well as the accomplishments and events of notoriety associated with each governor.
Reviewing the book in the Journal of Southern History, Henry O. Robertson labeled the book “accessible.” Robertson opined that it “lacks both a good introduction … and sectional divisions.” However, Robertson conceded that “the governors are covered with enough fascinating detail that Louisiana Governors: Rulers, Rascals, and Reformers, whether used for reference or read through completely, will give any reader a great slice of Louisiana’s political past.” In a review in Choice, B.M. Banta suggested that the minimal information on earlier governors “limits the book’s usefulness” for researchers. However, Banta conceded that Louisiana Governors “merits a place in any public or academic library’s Louisiana collection.”
Win the Race or Die Trying
McGuire published Win the Race or Die Trying: Uncle Earl’s Last Hurrah in 2016. The book centers on the campaign for Congress in 1960 of Earl K. Long, a former governor of Louisiana. McGuire paints Long as a gambler, haggler, and relatively undignified person. He ran for governor or lieutenant governor of Louisiana seven times between 1932 and 1959. He first became lieutenant governor in 1936 and was elected governor in 1948 and for the final time in 1956. He holds the record for the most vetoes of a Louisiana governor (326 bills). But he was also instrumental in the integration of the New Orleans branch of Louisiana State University in 1958 and preventing the purging of African-American names from voter rolls in the state. In 1959, he was committed to a mental institution by his wife after losing his temper during a legislative session. He went on a gambling spree and was connected to a local stripper. In an effort to revive his career, he ran for Congress after being blocked by gubernatorial term limits. He suffered a heart attack shortly before winning the race but died before he was able to be sworn in.
Writing in the Journal of Southern History, Jeff Broadwater found the account to be “sympathetic” to Long. Broadwater reasoned that “McGuire has given readers a fine window on a lost age of southern politics. In the solid South, only the Democratic primary mattered, and personality trumped ideology, but, McGuire argues, the advent of television doomed Long’s style of politics. ‘Uncle Earl’ was, as he liked to call himself, ‘the Last of the Red Hot Poppas.’”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Choice, February 1, 2009, B.M. Banta, review of Louisiana Governors: Rulers, Rascals, and Reformers, p. 1076.
Journal of Southern History, August 1, 2010, Henry O. Robertson, review of Louisiana Governors, p. 767; August 1, 2017, Jeff Broadwater, review of Win the Race or Die Trying: Uncle Earl’s Last Hurrah, p. 736.
ONLINE
Action News 17 Website, http://www.actionnews17.com/ (November 7, 2016), author profile.
Tulane University Special Collections Website, https://specialcollections.tulane.edu/ (January 3, 2018), author profile.
McGuire, Jack B. | Tulane University Special Collections
Name: McGuire, Jack B.
Historical Note: Jack B. McGuire, son of David R. McGuire, was an aide to New Orleans Mayor Victor Schiro and three years later became his public relations director from 1967 to 1970. He was a paid staff member of the Goldwater campaign organization in 1964 and in 1971 was a member of the Jimmie Davis gubernatorial campaign staff in the New Orleans headquarters. He is author of Uncle Earl Deserved Better: Critical Analyses of Blaze, a Film Written and Directed by Ron Shelton, and Earl K. Long--The Saga of Uncle Earl and Louisiana Politics, by Michael L. Kurtz and Morgan Peoples, with Further Commentary on The Last of the Red-Hot Papas and co-author of the book, Louisiana Governors: Rulers, Rascals, and Reformers.
Sources: Manuscripts Collection 271
Note Author: LAC Group
Jack B. McGuire, Mandeville, Louisiana, is the coauthor of Louisiana Governors: Rulers, Rascals, and Reformers, published by University Press of Mississippi, and his work has appeared in Louisiana History. He served as special assistant to the mayor of New Orleans, press secretary to the mayor, and director of public relations from 1964 to 1970, as well as a councilman-at-large for the city of Mandeville from 1984 to 2000. For the past forty-two years, he has been an officer of Union Savings and Loan Association.
LIBRARY PRESENTS MANDEVILLE AUTHOR JACK B. MCGUIRE
Library presents Mandeville author Jack B. McGuire
Posted: Nov 7, 2016
Categories: Front Page, Headlines
Comments: 0
Author: Action News 17
HAMMOND---Tangi Library will host a book discussion by author Jack B. McGuire, Thursday, November 10th at 6:30 PM at Hammond Branch Library in downtown Hammond, LA.
Jack B. McGuire will be discussing his newest work, Win the Race or Die Trying: Uncle Earl’s Last Hurrah that tells the story of the last year of Earl Long’s life and the campaign he waged and won by sheer force of will. He won the election, but he was dead in just over a week. Win the Race or Die Trying captures the essence of Earl Long by chronicling the desperate, death-defying campaign he waged to redefine his legacy.
Jack B. McGuire, Mandeville, Louisiana, is the coauthor of Louisiana Governors: Rulers, Rascals, and Reformers, published by University Press of Mississippi. He served as special assistant to the mayor of New Orleans, press secretary to the mayor, and director of public relations from 1964 to 1970, as well as a councilman-at-large for the city of Mandeville from 1984 to 2000. For the past forty-two years, he has been an officer of Union Savings and Loan Association.
There will be copies of McGuire’s book available for sale, and he will available to sign them after a 45-minute presentation. Like all of the events and resources at the library, this is a FREE program, and the public is invited to attend.
For more information regarding this event or any other library inquiries, contact Laura Brooks Thomas, 985-748-7559, ext 203, or lbrooks@tangilibrary.com.
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Print Marked Items
Win the Race or Die Trying: Uncle Earl's
Last Hurrah
Jeff Broadwater
Journal of Southern History.
83.3 (Aug. 2017): p736+.
COPYRIGHT 2017 Southern Historical Association
http://www.uga.edu/~sha
Full Text:
Win the Race or Die Trying: Uncle Earl's Last Hurrah. By Jack B. McGuire. (Jackson: University Press of
Mississippi. 2016. Pp. xiv, 285. $35.00, ISBN 978-1-4968-0763-2.)
Earl K. Long, the younger brother of the demagogue Huey P. Long, ran for governor of Louisiana three
times and for lieutenant governor four times between 1932 and 1959, but Win the Race or Die Trying:
Uncle Earl's Last Hurrah is centered on Long's last campaign, an ill-fated race for Congress in I960. Written
by Jack B. McGuire, a financial executive and longtime Louisiana political junkie, the book offers a
sympathetic look at an unvarnished man who liked to campaign in the hinterlands, haggle at country stores,
hunt wild hogs from his modest Pea Patch farm, and gamble everywhere. Criticizing Long as "undignified,"
in the words of the Chicago Daily News, "was about like criticizing a hog for bad table manners" (p. 208).
Elected lieutenant governor in 1936, Long served briefly as governor when scandal forced the incumbent to
resign. In 1948 he was elected governor in his own right, but Long's gifts were more forensic than
administrative, and he served with no great distinction. Attempting a comeback in 1956, he lambasted his
opponent. New Orleans mayor deLesseps S. "Chep" Morrison, as "so high and mighty he has to get on a
stump to spit" (p. 39). Winning the governor's office in a landslide. Long proved to be more assertive in his
third term as governor. He vetoed 326 bills, a record that still stands. He pushed for the creation of a New
Orleans branch of Louisiana State University, and in 1958 the school opened on an integrated basis and
without incident.
In a chapter that is likely to be of most interest to historians. McGuire describes Long's battle to prevent the
state legislature from purging black citizens from voter registration rolls. After the U.S. Supreme Court
declared the white primary unconstitutional in 1944, the number of African American voters in Louisiana
increased dramatically, and many of them voted for Long. Unlike so many southern politicians, Long
refused to exploit the race issue and supported equal pay for black schoolteachers.
Always impulsive. Long seemed to crack under the strain. He hatched a scheme to circumvent the
constitutional ban on consecutive gubernatorial terms; he contemplated resigning so he could run again in
1960. His health failing, Long lost his composure speaking before a legislative committee in May 1959. His
wife, Blanche, and Senator Russell Long, Huey's son, had him committed to a mental institution in
Galveston, Texas. A judge later ordered him committed to a Louisiana hospital. Long escaped confinement
by firing the officials who were holding him. But his reputation was in shreds. He began seeing a New
Orleans stripper named Blaze Starr, although McGuire argues strongly that the 1989 Paul Newman movie
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Blaze wildly sensationalized their relationship. Long only made matters worse on an extended tour of
racetracks in the West and Mexico. He was photographed in a Fort Worth airport with a pillowcase on his
head trying to avoid reporters. Long ran for Congress in an attempt to rebuild his career, making it into the
runoff before suffering a heart attack a week before the final vote. He won the race but died a few days later.
McGuire has given readers a fine window on a lost age of southern politics. In the solid South, only the
Democratic primary mattered, and personality trumped ideology, but, McGuire argues, the advent of
television doomed Long's style of politics. "Uncle Earl" was, as he liked to call himself, "the Last of the
Red Hot Poppas" (p. 227).
Jeff Broadwater
Barton College
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Broadwater, Jeff. "Win the Race or Die Trying: Uncle Earl's Last Hurrah." Journal of Southern History, vol.
83, no. 3, 2017, p. 736+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A501078178/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=596dc12a. Accessed 16 Dec. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A501078178
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Louisiana Governors: Rulers, Rascals, and
Reformers
Henry O. Robertson
Journal of Southern History.
76.3 (Aug. 2010): p767+.
COPYRIGHT 2010 Southern Historical Association
http://www.uga.edu/~sha
Full Text:
Louisiana Governors: Rulers, Rascals, and Reformers. By Walter Greaves Cowan and Jack B. McGuire.
(Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008. Pp. [xvi], 305. $45.00, ISBN 978-1-934110-90-4.)
Many southern states offer up colorful politicians who have headed the executive office. None has quite the
collection of "rulers, rascals, and reformers" found among the seventy-four individuals who have served as
Louisiana's governor over the years, since 1699. These governors include the legendary Huey P. Long (in
office, 1928-1932); his brother Earl K. Long (1939-1940, 1948-1952, 1956-1960); Edwin W. Edwards
(1972-1980, 1984-1988, 19921996); E B. S. Pinchback (1872-1873), the first African American governor of
any state; and Bobby Jindal (2008-present), the first Indian American governor. A host of lesser-known men
and one woman (Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, 2004-2008) with equally fascinating stories are included in
this accessible work. All are shown in an unvarnished manner with their triumphs, shortcomings, schemes,
corruptions, and reforms plain to see.
This volume contains an informative, well-written entry on each governor, sometimes with an illustration or
photograph, and then a brief bibliography. As a general reference work, the volume is sufficient for practical
use. The volume's two authors, Walter Greaves Cowan and Jack B. McGuire, were not editors but wrote the
entries. The book is arranged chronologically and emphasizes the twentieth-century chief executives, with
the colonial and pre-Civil War men getting only eighty-four of the nearly three hundred pages of text. Most
entries tend to focus on the official accomplishments of the governors while in office and less on their
biographies and overall careers. Governors in Louisiana have historically been granted more institutional
power than their southern counterparts have attained, and often gubernatorial service in the state has been
marked by complex power struggles. Scholars may also want to consult The Louisiana Governors: From
Iberville to Edwards (Baton Rouge, 1990), edited by Joseph G. Dawson III, which, although it is in need of
updating, has entries that are more comprehensive.
Cowan and McGuire's volume lacks both a good introduction, where the historical and political context
might have been explained better, and sectional divisions to organize the entries. An essay introducing the
colonial and early national governors, for example, might have included information regarding the unique
colonial heritage of the French and Spanish periods and a discussion of the shifting constitutional and legal
requirements for the governor's office after statehood in 1812. A closer examination of the many political
parties throughout Louisiana's history is another area that could have enhanced each entry. None of these
omissions take away from the design of the book. The governors are covered with enough fascinating detail
that Louisiana Governors: Rulers, Rascals, and Reformers, whether used for reference or read through
completely, will give any reader a great slice of Louisiana's political past.
HENRY O. ROBERTSON
Louisiana College
Robertson, Henry O.
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Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Robertson, Henry O. "Louisiana Governors: Rulers, Rascals, and Reformers." Journal of Southern History,
vol. 76, no. 3, 2010, p. 767+. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A234712051/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=b3619eaf.
Accessed 16 Dec. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A234712051
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Cowan, Walter Greaves. Louisiana
governors: rulers, rascals, and reformers
B.M. Banta
CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries.
46.6 (Feb. 2009): p1076.
COPYRIGHT 2009 American Library Association CHOICE
http://www.ala.org/acrl/choice/about
Full Text:
46-3019
F368
2008-6390 CIP
Cowan, Walter Greaves. Louisiana governors: rulers, rascals, and reformers, by Walter Greaves Cowan and
Jack B. McGuire. University Press of Mississippi, 2008. 305p bibl index ISBN 9781934110904, $45.00
Louisiana Governors is a new biographical directory of Pelican State governors from Pierre Lemoyne, Sieur
d'Iberville et d'Ardillieres, to incumbent Bobby Jindal. The book's coauthors, Cowan and McGuire, are
journalist and banker by trade, but each possesses a keen and longstanding interest in Louisiana's politics
and political history. Organized chronologically, the book considers each governor independently, but the
coverage is heavily skewed to the 20th and 21st centuries. Whereas this emphasis enables Cowan and
McGuire to relate fascinating stories about some of the more colorful occupants of the office--Huey Long,
Earl Long, and Jimmie Davis--it also limits the book's usefulness as a reference source because the
treatment of the colonial governors, especially those in the Spanish era, is modest. For that reason, libraries
should still consider The Louisiana Governors: From Iberville to Edwards (CH, Nov'90, 28-1742), edited by
Joseph G. Dawson III, to be the standard reference work. Nevertheless, Cowan and McGuire's volume
merits a place in any public or academic library's Louisiana collection or any collection that focuses on
southern politics. Summing Up: Recommended. ** Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers.
B. M. Banta, Arkansas State University
Banta, B.M.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Banta, B.M. "Cowan, Walter Greaves. Louisiana governors: rulers, rascals, and reformers." CHOICE:
Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Feb. 2009, p. 1076. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A266750105/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=c08650dc.
Accessed 16 Dec. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A266750105