Roy C. Strickland
Encyclopedia
Roy Clifton Strickland was a businessman in The Woodlands
, Texas
, north of Houston
, who was a pioneer in the development of the Republican Party
in the U.S. state
of Louisiana
. Strickland challenged the Democrat
Gillis William Long
, a part of the Long
political dynasty, for the United States House of Representatives
in 1972. More than a decade later, he ran unsuccessfully for local office as a write-in candidate
in Texas
.
in Warren County
in western Mississippi
, to Clyde Cotton Strickland and the former Erna Voss.
Strickland graduated in 1960 from Jet High School in Warren County, Mississippi and enlisted in the United States Navy
, having served for six years. He briefly attended college at what became the University of New Orleans
. From 1968 to 1978, he was involved in selling insurance door-to-door, working for trucking companies, including Mississippi Fast Freight, Matlach, and Younger Brothers, in Mississippi, Tennessee
, Louisiana, and Texas, having progressed upward from entry-level positions. Decades later, he began selling real estate in Texas.
, Louisiana, Strickland ran as a Republican for the open seat in Louisiana's 8th congressional district
. Former U.S. Representative Gillis Long was the Democratic nominee, and S. R. Abramson (1917–1997), then a surgeon from Marksville
in Avoyelles Parish, and later a Lafayette
resident, was the choice of George C. Wallace's former American Independent Party
, considered part of the Radical Right
.
The demographics made the race impossible for either challenger. Governor Edwin Washington Edwards and the Democratic state legislature had redrawn the Eighth District in 1971 to create territory friendly to Long, who had represented the district in the mid 1960s until unseated by his cousin, Speedy O. Long
. Speedy Long did not seek a fifth term after the district was altered, and Edwards wanted to repay Gillis Long for his support of Edwards in the 1971 Democratic runoff primary.
Strickland did get support from a number of Republicans in the district, including Mayor Ed Karst
of Alexandria
, a recent convert to the party. Karst hosted Strickland in his home when the congressional candidate came to Alexandria to campaign. Strickland said that Republican state chairman James H. Boyce of Gonzales was "the source of funding for my campaign, he was the financial heartbeat for many of the candidates, without him , a lot of us would have never gotten off the ground.Strickland was unemployed at the time."
Ultimately, the returns spoke clearly: Long won convincingly with 72,607 votes; Abramson, 17,844; and Strickland placed third with 15,517. In this same election, the Republican David C. Treen
became the first Republican in 20th century Louisiana history to win a seat in Congress. Treen won Louisiana's 3rd congressional district
in which the incumbent Democrat Patrick Caffery retired after three terms.
, Texas. After the suicide of one of the four county commissioners in the middle 1980s, Strickland sought the Republican nomination from a committee organized to select a replacement. When the committee chose someone else, who was part of the GOP hierarchy, Strickland ran unsuccessfully as a write-in candidate in the general election
. Strickland remained affiliated with the Republican Party.
In 1990, Strickland formed what became CANUSAMEX, Inc., a firm twice named the "Fastest Growing In Houston." In 2000, it was ranked by Inc. Magazine as the 133rd fastest growing company in the United States. CANUSAMEX, Inc., was a victim of September 11, 2001, Strickland explained, because it could not comply with new government regulations which stemmed from the terrorist attacks in New York City
, Washington, D.C.
, and Pennsylvania
. The company ceased operations in the summer of 2002.
Strickland returned to his hometown of Vicksburg in August 2002 and worked with family members to negotiate the merger, acquisition, and consolidation of twelve Internet Service Providers which were sold to Xfone early in 2005.
He then returned to The Woodlands in the fall of 2004 and obtained a real estate license. He died in The Woodlands two days after his 68th birthday. He is interred at Forest Park The Woodlands Cemetery.
The Woodlands, Texas
The Woodlands is a master-planned community and a Census-designated place in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area. The population of the CDP was 55,649 at the 2000 census—a 90 percent increase over its 1990 population. According to the 2010 census, The Woodlands' population rose...
, Texas
Texas
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...
, north of Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, who was a pioneer in the development of the Republican Party
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...
in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. Strickland challenged the Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Gillis William Long
Gillis William Long
Gillis William Long was a Democratic U.S. Representative from Louisiana and member of the Long family. Long served seven non-consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives but placed third in two campaigns for the Democratic gubernatorial nominations in 1963 and 1971...
, a part of the Long
Earl Long
Earl Kemp Long was an American politician and the 45th Governor of Louisiana for three non-consecutive terms. Long termed himself the "last of the red hot poppas" of politics, referring to his stump-speaking skills...
political dynasty, for the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
in 1972. More than a decade later, he ran unsuccessfully for local office as a write-in candidate
Write-in candidate
A write-in candidate is a candidate in an election whose name does not appear on the ballot, but for whom voters may vote nonetheless by writing in the person's name. Some states and local jurisdictions allow a voter to affix a sticker with a write-in candidate's name on it to the ballot in lieu...
in Texas
Texas
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...
.
Early life and education
Strickland was born in VicksburgVicksburg, Mississippi
Vicksburg is a city in Warren County, Mississippi, United States. It is the only city in Warren County. It is located northwest of New Orleans on the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers, and due west of Jackson, the state capital. In 1900, 14,834 people lived in Vicksburg; in 1910, 20,814; in 1920,...
in Warren County
Warren County, Mississippi
-National protected areas:* Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge * Vicksburg National Military Park -Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 49,644 people, 18,756 households, and 13,222 families residing in the county. The population density was 85 people per square mile...
in western Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, to Clyde Cotton Strickland and the former Erna Voss.
Strickland graduated in 1960 from Jet High School in Warren County, Mississippi and enlisted in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, having served for six years. He briefly attended college at what became the University of New Orleans
University of New Orleans
The University of New Orleans, often referred to locally as UNO, is a medium-sized public urban university located on the New Orleans Lakefront within New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It is a member of the LSU System and the Urban 13 association. Currently UNO is without a proper chancellor...
. From 1968 to 1978, he was involved in selling insurance door-to-door, working for trucking companies, including Mississippi Fast Freight, Matlach, and Younger Brothers, in Mississippi, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, Louisiana, and Texas, having progressed upward from entry-level positions. Decades later, he began selling real estate in Texas.
Running for the U.S. House, 1972
In 1972, when he was twenty-nine and residing in GonzalesGonzales, Louisiana
Gonzales is a city in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 8,156 at the 2000 census. It has been called the "jambalaya capital of the world" and is famous for its annual Jambalaya Festival. Gonzales is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area.State...
, Louisiana, Strickland ran as a Republican for the open seat in Louisiana's 8th congressional district
Louisiana's 8th congressional district
Louisiana's 8th congressional district is a defunct Congressional district and no longer exists after Louisiana lost its eighth Congressional seat in the 1990 U. S. Census. For its entire existence, it was based in Alexandria and included much of the north-central part of the state.-List of...
. Former U.S. Representative Gillis Long was the Democratic nominee, and S. R. Abramson (1917–1997), then a surgeon from Marksville
Marksville, Louisiana
Marksville is a city in and the parish seat of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,537 at the 2000 census. Louisiana's first land-based casino, Paragon Casino Resort, opened in Marksville in June 1994...
in Avoyelles Parish, and later a Lafayette
Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...
resident, was the choice of George C. Wallace's former American Independent Party
American Independent Party
The American Independent Party is a right-wing political party of the United States that was established in 1967 by Bill and Eileen Shearer. In 1968, the American Independent Party nominated George C. Wallace as its presidential candidate and retired Air Force General Curtis E. LeMay as the vice...
, considered part of the Radical Right
Radical Right
Radical Right is a generally pejorative term used to describe various political movements on the right that are conspiracist, attuned to anti-American or anti-Christian agents of foreign powers, and "politically radical." The term was first used by social scientists in the 1950s regarding small...
.
The demographics made the race impossible for either challenger. Governor Edwin Washington Edwards and the Democratic state legislature had redrawn the Eighth District in 1971 to create territory friendly to Long, who had represented the district in the mid 1960s until unseated by his cousin, Speedy O. Long
Speedy O. Long
Speedy Oteria Long was a Jena lawyer who was a Democratic U.S. Representative from central Louisiana between 1965 and 1973. Prior to his tenure in the since disbanded Eighth Congressional District, Speedy Long had been a member of the Louisiana state Senate...
. Speedy Long did not seek a fifth term after the district was altered, and Edwards wanted to repay Gillis Long for his support of Edwards in the 1971 Democratic runoff primary.
Strickland did get support from a number of Republicans in the district, including Mayor Ed Karst
Ed Karst
Charles Edward "Ed" Karst was an attorney and politician remembered for his controversial tenure as the mayor of Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish and the largest city in central Louisiana...
of Alexandria
Alexandria, Louisiana
Alexandria is a city in and the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes....
, a recent convert to the party. Karst hosted Strickland in his home when the congressional candidate came to Alexandria to campaign. Strickland said that Republican state chairman James H. Boyce of Gonzales was "the source of funding for my campaign, he was the financial heartbeat for many of the candidates, without him , a lot of us would have never gotten off the ground.Strickland was unemployed at the time."
Ultimately, the returns spoke clearly: Long won convincingly with 72,607 votes; Abramson, 17,844; and Strickland placed third with 15,517. In this same election, the Republican 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...
became the first Republican in 20th century Louisiana history to win a seat in Congress. Treen won Louisiana's 3rd congressional district
Louisiana's 3rd congressional district
Louisiana's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The district surrounds the southern tier of the Greater New Orleans Area. The district contains large portions of southeastern and south central Louisiana, including River Parishes and East Acadiana...
in which the incumbent Democrat Patrick Caffery retired after three terms.
Texas political activities
Strickland continued his Republican political activities in Montgomery CountyMontgomery County, Texas
Montgomery County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. The county was created by an act of the Congress of the Republic of Texas on December 14, 1837. The county was named for the town of Montgomery, Texas. In 2000, its...
, Texas. After the suicide of one of the four county commissioners in the middle 1980s, Strickland sought the Republican nomination from a committee organized to select a replacement. When the committee chose someone else, who was part of the GOP hierarchy, Strickland ran unsuccessfully as a write-in candidate in the general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
. Strickland remained affiliated with the Republican Party.
Business entrepreneur
Strickland was transferred to the Houston area by his employer Younger Brothers Trucking Co.in 1977. He later co-founded a construction firm and helped to run a Tennessee-based transportation company.In 1990, Strickland formed what became CANUSAMEX, Inc., a firm twice named the "Fastest Growing In Houston." In 2000, it was ranked by Inc. Magazine as the 133rd fastest growing company in the United States. CANUSAMEX, Inc., was a victim of September 11, 2001, Strickland explained, because it could not comply with new government regulations which stemmed from the terrorist attacks in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. The company ceased operations in the summer of 2002.
Strickland returned to his hometown of Vicksburg in August 2002 and worked with family members to negotiate the merger, acquisition, and consolidation of twelve Internet Service Providers which were sold to Xfone early in 2005.
He then returned to The Woodlands in the fall of 2004 and obtained a real estate license. He died in The Woodlands two days after his 68th birthday. He is interred at Forest Park The Woodlands Cemetery.