LONG, Gillis William

LONG, Gillis William
Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
1923–1985

Biography

LONG, Gillis William, (husband of Catherine Long, cousin of Huey Pierce Long, Rose McConnell Long, Russell Billiu Long, George Shannon Long, and Speedy Oteria Long), a Representative from Louisiana; born in Winnfield, Winn Parish, La., May 4, 1923; attended the public schools of Winnfield and Alexandria, La.; Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, B.A., 1949 and from the law school of the same university, J.D., 1951; was admitted to practice before the State supreme court in 1951 and before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1954; during the Second World War served in the Infantry as a private and rose through the ranks to captain; awarded the Purple Heart; was with the Internal Security Detachment at the Nuremberg war trials; served as legal counsel to the Senate Select Committee on Small Business, 1951-1952; chief counsel to the House of Representatives Special Committee on Campaign Expenditures, 1952-1954, and 1956; elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-eighth Congress (January 3, 1963-January 3, 1965); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1964 to the Eighty-ninth Congress; unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Louisiana in 1963; assistant director, Office of Economic Opportunity, 1965-1966; resumed the practice of law 1970-1972; president, board of commissioners, Louisiana Deep Draft Harbor and Terminal Authority, 1972; investment banker; elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-third and to the six succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1973-January 20, 1985); died on January 20, 1985, in Washington, D.C.; interment in Alexandria National Cemetery, Pineville, Rapides Parish, La.

View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

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External Research Collections

Louisiana State University
Special Collections

Baton Rouge, LA
Papers: 1923-1985. 428 feet. Congressional office files and personal and business papers, chiefly since 1962, and material relating to Louisiana and Democratic Party politics. Preliminary inventory in repository. Restricted.
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