Paul N. Cyr
Encyclopedia
Paul Narcisse Cyr was the elected lieutenant governor
in the Huey Pierce Long, Jr.
, gubernatorial administration who quarreled with the self-designated "Kingfish" throughout most of their tenure. In 1931 and 1932, Cyr twice proclaimed himself the legitimate governor when Long delayed vacating the office to assume his elected seat in the United States Senate
.
, a small town in Iberia Parish, to Joseph Cyr and the former Emilie Julie Hoffer. On February 6, 1907, he married the former Mary McGowen, and they had four children named Louie, Marjorie, Emily, and Charles M. Cyr (1915-2001).
He graduated from Atlanta
Dental College and became a practicing dentist in Jeanerette in 1900. He was sufficiently regarded by his peers that he was named president of the Louisiana Dental Examining Board in 1916 to 1917.
state line. Cyr found that several independent oil developers who contributed to Long for governor had received prosperous oil leases on state lands after the Kingfish took office.
Cyr was also a director of the First National Bank of Jeanerette and Consolidated Grocery Store. He was a member of the Knights of Pythias
, Woodmen of the World
, and the Elks Club
. He was Presbyterian.
physician
Felix Octave Pavy, Sr. (died 1962), later a state representative from St. Landry Parish and a brother of Judge Benjamin Pavy
, the father-in-law of the Long assassin, Dr. Carl Weiss
.
Within months of taking office, Cyr split permanently with Long. The historian Richard D. White, Jr., found that fewer rivals irritated Long more than did Cyr. Long and Cyr had first openly quarreled in February 1929 over a controversial murder case in which a St. Mary Parish
physician, Thomas E. Dreher, hired his handyman to murder electrician James LeBoeuf , the husband of the doctor's lover, Ada LeBoeuf. Long favored the execution of the couple, but Cyr wanted leniency. Ultimately, the two were hanged on makeshift gallows —Ada thus becoming the first white woman hanged in Louisiana.
Long also loathed Cyr because the lieutenant governor would declare himself acting governor every time Long left the state, even for a day or two. Cyr was committed to reversing Longism if Long stayed away from Louisiana for any length of time. Fifty years later, that same scenario threatened David C. Treen
, Louisiana's first Republican
governor since Reconstruction; if Treen left the state, Democratic Lieutenant Governor Robert "Bobby" Freeman, a staunch partisan, would assume acting duties and attempt to thwart Treen.
Throughout the spring and summer of 1931, Cyr threatened to take the oath of office as governor but did not do so.
In October 1931, Cyr filed suit in a bid to oust Long as governor and declared himself governor. He had a justice of the peace in Shreveport
give him the oath of office in the Caddo Parish courthouse. Cyr arrived in Baton Rouge and threatened to take over the governor's mansion. Long ordered the National Guard to mobilize, and troops surrounded the capitol with strict orders not to admit Cyr. After a few days, state police replaced the guardsmen. For a time, the city was an "armed camp", with both Long and Cyr packing pistols.
Without police power, Cyr realized that he was beaten and returned to Jeanerette. Long, who had dubbed Cyr the "tooth puller from Jeanerette", flatly declared that his nemesis is "no longer lieutenant governor, and he is now nothing." Long ordered that Cyr be removed from the state payroll. Cyr tried again to take the governorship in January 1932, while the gubernatorial campaign between Oscar K. Allen
and Dudley J. LeBlanc
was underway. He established "executive offices" in the Heidelberg Hotel in Baton Rouge and took a second oath as governor. When Long learned of the turn of events, he called the manager of the Heidelberg and requested that Cyr be evicted. Cyr then moved to the Louisiana Hotel but thereafter forced to return in defeat to Jeanerette.
that Long had appointed as lieutenant governor when Cyr allegedly bowed out. Cyr did not resign as lieutenant governor, but the Louisiana courts agreed with Long that by declaring himself governor, he had in effect vacated the lieutenant governorship The pro-Long Bienville Democrat newspaper in Arcadia
opined that Cyr had "about as much chance being installed or elected governor of Louisiana as a Texas billy-goat had of making a nonstop jump to the planet Mars."
Years later, Cyr's reclusive daughter, Emily Cyr Bridges, banned the name "Huey Long" from being spoken at her Albania Plantation House
near New Orleans.
Lieutenant governor
A lieutenant governor or lieutenant-governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction, but is often the deputy or lieutenant to or ranking under a governor — a "second-in-command"...
in the Huey Pierce Long, Jr.
Huey Long
Huey Pierce Long, Jr. , nicknamed The Kingfish, served as the 40th Governor of Louisiana from 1928–1932 and as a U.S. Senator from 1932 to 1935. A Democrat, he was noted for his radical populist policies. Though a backer of Franklin D...
, gubernatorial administration who quarreled with the self-designated "Kingfish" throughout most of their tenure. In 1931 and 1932, Cyr twice proclaimed himself the legitimate governor when Long delayed vacating the office to assume his elected seat in the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
.
Early years, family, education
Cyr was born in JeaneretteJeanerette, Louisiana
Jeanerette is a city in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, United States. Known as "Sugar City", it had a population of 5,997 at the 2000 census. It is part of the New Iberia Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Early years:...
, a small town in Iberia Parish, to Joseph Cyr and the former Emilie Julie Hoffer. On February 6, 1907, he married the former Mary McGowen, and they had four children named Louie, Marjorie, Emily, and Charles M. Cyr (1915-2001).
He graduated from Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
Dental College and became a practicing dentist in Jeanerette in 1900. He was sufficiently regarded by his peers that he was named president of the Louisiana Dental Examining Board in 1916 to 1917.
Business interests
Besides being a dentist, Cyr was a surface geologist who had worked for Humble Oil Company and knew that large petroleum deposits existed below salt domes from Plaquemines Parish in south Louisiana to the TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
state line. Cyr found that several independent oil developers who contributed to Long for governor had received prosperous oil leases on state lands after the Kingfish took office.
Cyr was also a director of the First National Bank of Jeanerette and Consolidated Grocery Store. He was a member of the Knights of Pythias
Knights of Pythias
The Knights of Pythias is a fraternal organization and secret society founded at Washington, DC, on 19 February 1864.The Knights of Pythias was the first fraternal organization to receive a charter under an act of the United States Congress. It was founded by Justus H. Rathbone, who had been...
, Woodmen of the World
Woodmen of the World
Woodmen of the World is a fraternal organization based in Omaha, Nebraska, United States, that operates a large privately held insurance company for its members....
, and the Elks Club
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is an American fraternal order and social club founded in 1868...
. He was Presbyterian.
The split with Huey Long
Cyr was elected lieutenant governor on the Long intraparty ticket in 1928. He defeated the OpelousasOpelousas, Louisiana
Opelousas is a city in and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies at the junction of Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190. The population was 22,860 at the 2000 census. Although the 2006 population estimate was 23,222, a 2004 annexation should put the city's...
physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
Felix Octave Pavy, Sr. (died 1962), later a state representative from St. Landry Parish and a brother of Judge Benjamin Pavy
Benjamin Pavy
Benjamin Henry Pavy was a state district judge in St. Landry and Evangeline parishes, Louisiana, who was gerrymandered out of office through the intervention of his political rival, the powerful Huey Pierce Long, Jr...
, the father-in-law of the Long assassin, Dr. Carl Weiss
Carl Weiss
Carl Austin Weiss was a young Baton Rouge, Louisiana physician who assassinated U.S. Senator Huey Pierce Long, Jr. on September 8, 1935.-Baton Rouge doctor:...
.
Within months of taking office, Cyr split permanently with Long. The historian Richard D. White, Jr., found that fewer rivals irritated Long more than did Cyr. Long and Cyr had first openly quarreled in February 1929 over a controversial murder case in which a St. Mary Parish
St. Mary Parish, Louisiana
St. Mary Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Franklin. As of 2000, the population was 53,500.The Morgan City Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of St. Mary Parish.-Geography:...
physician, Thomas E. Dreher, hired his handyman to murder electrician James LeBoeuf , the husband of the doctor's lover, Ada LeBoeuf. Long favored the execution of the couple, but Cyr wanted leniency. Ultimately, the two were hanged on makeshift gallows —Ada thus becoming the first white woman hanged in Louisiana.
Long also loathed Cyr because the lieutenant governor would declare himself acting governor every time Long left the state, even for a day or two. Cyr was committed to reversing Longism if Long stayed away from Louisiana for any length of time. Fifty years later, that same scenario threatened David C. Treen
David C. Treen
David Conner "Dave" Treen, Sr. , was an American attorney and politician from Mandeville, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana – the first Republican Governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana since Reconstruction. He was the first Republican in modern times to have served in the U.S...
, Louisiana's first Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
governor since Reconstruction; if Treen left the state, Democratic Lieutenant Governor Robert "Bobby" Freeman, a staunch partisan, would assume acting duties and attempt to thwart Treen.
Succession dispute
In 1930, in the middle of his term as governor, Long was elected to the United States Senate term beginning on March 4, 1931, but chose to delay resigning as governor and taking up the Senate seat until he had accomplished some remaining state goals. (He did not resign as governor until January 25, 1932.)Throughout the spring and summer of 1931, Cyr threatened to take the oath of office as governor but did not do so.
In October 1931, Cyr filed suit in a bid to oust Long as governor and declared himself governor. He had a justice of the peace in Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
give him the oath of office in the Caddo Parish courthouse. Cyr arrived in Baton Rouge and threatened to take over the governor's mansion. Long ordered the National Guard to mobilize, and troops surrounded the capitol with strict orders not to admit Cyr. After a few days, state police replaced the guardsmen. For a time, the city was an "armed camp", with both Long and Cyr packing pistols.
Without police power, Cyr realized that he was beaten and returned to Jeanerette. Long, who had dubbed Cyr the "tooth puller from Jeanerette", flatly declared that his nemesis is "no longer lieutenant governor, and he is now nothing." Long ordered that Cyr be removed from the state payroll. Cyr tried again to take the governorship in January 1932, while the gubernatorial campaign between Oscar K. Allen
Oscar K. Allen
Oscar Kelly Allen, Sr. , also known as O. K. Allen, was the 42nd Governor of Louisiana from 1932 to 1936. He was a key lieutenant in the political machine of Huey Pierce Long, Jr., that dominated the state during the first half of the 1930s...
and Dudley J. LeBlanc
Dudley J. LeBlanc
Dudley Joseph "Coozan Dud" LeBlanc was a colorful and popular Democratic and Cajun member of the Louisiana State Senate whose entrepreneurial talents netted him a fortune through the alcohol-laden patent medicine known as "Hadacol." He is also considered the "father of the old age pension" in...
was underway. He established "executive offices" in the Heidelberg Hotel in Baton Rouge and took a second oath as governor. When Long learned of the turn of events, he called the manager of the Heidelberg and requested that Cyr be evicted. Cyr then moved to the Louisiana Hotel but thereafter forced to return in defeat to Jeanerette.
Forced out as lieutenant governor
When Cyr declared himself governor, Long insisted that the rightful claimant as lieutenant governor was not Cyr but Alvin O. King, a state senator from Lake CharlesLake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Located in Calcasieu Parish, a major cultural, industrial, and educational center in the southwest region of the state, and one of the most important in...
that Long had appointed as lieutenant governor when Cyr allegedly bowed out. Cyr did not resign as lieutenant governor, but the Louisiana courts agreed with Long that by declaring himself governor, he had in effect vacated the lieutenant governorship The pro-Long Bienville Democrat newspaper in Arcadia
Arcadia, Louisiana
Arcadia is a town in and the parish seat of Bienville Parish in north Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,041 at the 2000 census....
opined that Cyr had "about as much chance being installed or elected governor of Louisiana as a Texas billy-goat had of making a nonstop jump to the planet Mars."
Enduring anti-Long sentiment
Despite Long's control over Louisiana as governor and while in the Senate too, his opponents often seemed fearless at the odds against them. In a speech in Baton Rouge in 1934, former Lieutenant Governor Cyr declared that Senator Long "belongs to the hog family, and the piney woods, razorback type at that." Cyr earlier called Long "the worst political tyrant to rule the state."Years later, Cyr's reclusive daughter, Emily Cyr Bridges, banned the name "Huey Long" from being spoken at her Albania Plantation House
Albania Plantation House
Albania Plantation is a plantation home located on the Bayou Teche right outside of the town of Jeanerette, Louisiana. The home was built between 1837 and 1842 by Charles Alexandre Grevemberg, who operated a successful sugar plantation on the surrounding...
near New Orleans.