C. E. "Cap" Barham

Who was C. E. "Cap" Barham?

Charles Emmett "Cap" Barham was the Democratic lieutenant governor of Louisiana from 1952—1956, who is credited with having established the office independent from that of the governor. Prior to his statewide position, Barham was a state senator from the then 29th District between 1948 and 1952. Like Governor Robert F. Kennon, under whom he served, Barham was part of the anti-Long faction of Louisiana politics, but he was frequently at odds with Kennon as well.

Barham was born in Kimbleton near Dubach in Lincoln Parish to John Robert Barham and the former Leola Fowler. He was educated in Dubach public schools and then attended Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, from which he graduated with teaching credentials in 1927. He taught school for a year at Dubach and then enrolled in the law school of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He received his L.L.B. degree in 1931 and thereafter opened his law practice in Ruston.

Barham married the former Carice Helen Hilburn, and they had two sons, Charles Clem Barham, a Ruston attorney and the Lincoln-Union state senator from 1964 to 1972 and 1976 to 1988, and Robert Ewing Barham, an English professor at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston. Barham was an uncle by marriage to Wiley Wilson Hilburn, Jr., head of the Louisiana Tech University journalism department, editorial writer for the Shreveport Times and an authority on Louisiana politics, and Chester William "Chet" Hilburn, a journalist retired from the Houston Chronicle.