John McWilliams Ford

Who was John McWilliams Ford?

John McWilliams Ford was the longest-serving elected public official in Shreveport, Louisiana. Though he served as mayor only from 1918 to 1922, it was his tenure as finance commissioner that is most remembered for longevity -- from 1930 until his death thirty-five years later. The finance commissioner was established under the previous city commission government, which was replaced with the 1978 elections by the mayor-council form of municipal government.

Ford's first elective office was as city alderman in 1908. He was also a member of the Caddo Parish Police Jury, the parish governing body now known as the Caddo Parish Commission. A Democrat, he served in the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1916, until he stepped down in 1918 to become mayor after the death of S. A. Dickson, MD Robert Hodges Ward had followed Dickson, and then Ford was elected to a single four-year term from 1918–1922. Ford then spent eight years in the private sector before returning to City Hall as finance commissioner, a position which he handily retained in the elections of 1930, 1934, 1938, 1942, 1946, 1950, 1954, 1958, and 1962. Dwight L.