Charles E. Dunbar

Who was Charles E. Dunbar?

Charles Edward Dunbar, Jr., was an attorney who developed the modern civil service system in the U.S. state of Louisiana. He was the first chairman of the Louisiana State Civil Service Commission, having served from 1940-1947.

Dunbar was born in McComb, Mississippi, to Charles Dunbar, Sr., and the former Emma Buaer. In 1910, Dunbar received his Bachelor of Arts degree, Phi Beta Kappa, from Tulane University in New Orleans. He did graduate work at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and graduated in 1914 from Harvard Law School. He served in the United States Army during World War I. From 1916-1941, he served on the teaching faculty of the Tulane Law School. In 1915, he began affiliation with a New Orleans law firm, was made partner in 1919, and retained that professional relationship until his death.

Dunbar's pursuit of civil service was a response to end the past practices of political patronage in the awarding of state and municipal government jobs. The first civil service law was drafted in 1940 under the administration of Governor Sam Houston Jones.