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Historical records matching William Wright Heard
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About William Wright Heard
William Wright Heard, a protege of Governor Foster, received the Democratic nomination for Governor in 1900. Because of previous efforts to disenfranchise blacks, Republicans, and white Populists, the Democratic nomination was tantamount to election.
Heard enjoyed a low-key term. His Bourbon predecessor had eliminated the corrupt lottery and the convict lease system, and had weakened the burgeoning populist movement which might otherwise have empowered poor whites.
Heard did not have to face any major crises. While Governor, he moved control of the prison system from independent lessees to the State Penitentiary Board of Control. He signed legislation creating the first State Board of Education, parish school boards, and a State Crop Pest Commission to wage an unsuccessful war against the cotton boll weevil.
Heard, one historian wrote, by 1914 "had spent virtually his entire adult life on the public payroll, mostly in second level administrative positions where little leadership was called for. For that reason, he may possess the distinction of having been the first modem career bureaucrat to occupy Louisiana's political summit."
Heard died in New Orleans in 1926.
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William Wright Heard's Timeline
| 1853 |
April 28, 1853
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Union Parish, Louisiana, United States
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| 1885 |
January 21, 1885
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| 1887 |
1887
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| 1896 |
1896
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| 1901 |
1901
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| 1905 |
1905
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| 1926 |
May 31, 1926
Age 73
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New Orleans, LA, United States
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| ???? | |||
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Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, LA, United States
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