Allen J. Ellender

Who was Allen J. Ellender?

Allen Joseph Ellender was a popular U.S. senator from Houma in Terrebonne Parish in south Louisiana, who served from 1937 until 1972 when he died in office at the age of eighty-one. He was a Democrat who was originally allied with the legendary Huey Pierce Long, Jr.. As senator, he compiled a generally conservative record, voting 77 percent of the time with the Conservative Coalition on domestic issues. A staunch segregationist,he voted against the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Unlike many conservatives, he was not a "hawk" in foreign policy and opposed the Vietnam War.