W. George Bowdon, Jr.

Who was W. George Bowdon, Jr.?

William George Bowdon, Jr., was the Democratic mayor of Alexandria, the largest city in central Louisiana, from 1953–1969. At thirty-one, he was the youngest mayor in his city's history and the first to serve a four-year, instead of a two-year, term. Prior to his mayoralty, Bowdon had filled a single term in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1948-1952. He was the youngest person to hold the representative's position in Rapides Parish. One of his immediate House successors was Cecil R. Blair, who later would serve for fourteen years in the Louisiana State Senate from Rapides Parish.

Bowdon, an Alexandria native, graduated in 1939 from Bolton High School in Alexandria; among his classmates were Joe D. Smith, Jr., later publisher of the Alexandria Daily Town Talk and the industrialist and philanthropist Roy O. Martin, Jr.. Bowdon thereafter attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, then known as Southwestern Louisiana Institute. he graduated, however, with a degree in government from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. After graduation, the 6'4", 210-pound Bowdon immediately joined the United States Marine Corps, with training at Parris Island, South Carolina, and served in the Pacific theater in World War II, with duties in Saipan Tinian. He was discharged with the rank of captain.