Dudley J. LeBlanc

Dudley Joseph LeBlanc[1] (August 16, 1894 – October 22, 1971)[2] was an American entrepreneur and politician. He created the patent medicine Hadacol and promoted it through the 'Hadacol Caravan' which featured major celebrities of the day including Mickey Rooney, Ava Gardner, Cesar Romero, Hank Williams, and many others. Williams began writing the song 'Jambalaya' while traveling on the Hadacol bus, listening to the Cajun conversation.

Leblanc served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1924 to 1928.[3] In 1932 he ran for governor, losing to the Huey Long candidate Oscar K. Allen. He served in the Louisiana Senate from 1940 to 1944, 1948 to 1952, and 1964 to 1972.[4]

In his gubernatorial campaign, one of Leblanc's planks was to pay a monthly stipend to the elderly. Huey Long subsequently adopted the idea in his nascent campaign for President. Franklin D. Roosevelt got the idea from Long, and it became the modern Social Security system.[5]

LeBlanc can be seen as a contestant on the 1st March 1951 edition of You Bet Your Life in which he describes his political career.

He was posthumously inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in 1993.[6]

References
  1. "Dudley Joseph "Coozan Dud" LeBlanc (1894-1971) -..." www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  2. "Louisiana Secretary of State". Archived from the original on 7 November 2008. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  3. http://house.louisiana.gov/H_PDFdocs/HouseMembership_History_CURRENT.pdf
  4. http://senate.la.gov/Documents/Membership/1880membership.pdf
  5. Clay, Floyd Martin. Coozan Dudley LeBlanc: From Huey Long to Hadacol. Pelican Publishing Company, 1987.
  6. "Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame". cityofwinnfield.com. Archived from the original on July 3, 2009. Retrieved August 22, 2009.
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