Long, Catherine Small, 1924-2019

<p>Mary Catherine Small Long (born Mary Catherine Small; February 7, 1924 – November 23, 2019) was an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Louisiana's 8th congressional district, which she filled from 1985 to 1987, the remainder of the term left by the death of her husband, Gillis William Long. Until it was disbanded in 1993, the 8th district was based in Central Louisiana about Alexandria. She was the first female military veteran elected to Congress, having served as a WAVE in the United States Navy.</p>

<p>Mary Catherine Small was born in Dayton, Ohio, and attended school in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. She served as a hospital corpsman in the United States Navy during World War II. Long earned a B.A. degree from Louisiana State University in 1948.</p>

<p>Long served in the U.S. Navy as a pharmacist's mate. Long became a staff assistant for Oregon senator Wayne Morse and Ohio Representative James G. Polk.</p>

<p>In January 1985, Long's husband died and left a vacancy in Louisiana 8th congressional district. In 1985, when Long announced her candidacy, some of the wives of other U.S. representatives came into the district to campaign on her behalf. Long won the special election, defeating candidates including Republican Clyde C. Holloway, a nurseryman from Forest Hill in southern Rapides Parish, and then State Representative Jock Scott of Alexandria, a Democrat who later switched parties.</p>

<p>Catherine (Cathy) S. Long married into Louisiana’s legendary political family and spent nearly four decades immersed in state and national politics as a politician’s wife. When her influential husband, Gillis William Long, died suddenly in 1985, Democratic Party leaders believed Cathy Long was a logical choice to succeed him, having served as his campaign surrogate and close advisor. She easily won the special election to his seat. “The biggest change in my life is not Congress,” Congresswoman Long told a reporter shortly after taking office. “It was the death of my husband.”</p>

<p>Cathy Small was born in Dayton, Ohio, on February 7, 1924. She graduated from high school in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, and studied at Louisiana State University where she received a BA in 1948. In 1947 Cathy Small married Gillis Long, a decorated World War II veteran and member of one of Louisiana’s most powerful political families. He was a distant cousin of the flamboyant Louisiana political boss Huey Pierce Long and longtime U.S. Senator Russell Billiu Long. In 1962 Gillis Long won election to the U.S. House of Representatives from a central Louisiana district encompassing Baton Rouge. A supporter of civil rights, he was targeted in 1964 by his cousin, Speedy Oteria Long, who defeated him for renomination by charging that Gillis Long had aided the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Long had voted with the House leadership to expand the membership of the House Rules Committee, effectively giving a majority to civil rights advocates and unleashing a logjam of reforms. After his defeat, Long served in the Lyndon B. Johnson administration for two years before returning to private law practice. Gillis Long won re-election to the U.S. House in 1972 to the first of seven consecutive terms in his old district. He became one of the most respected figures in the Democratic Party as chairman of the House Democratic Caucus in the early 1980s, a high-ranking member of the Rules Committee, and a close ally of Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. of Massachusetts.</p>

<p>While raising their two children, George and Janis, Cathy Long’s early career included nonelective political work. After college, she had worked as a pharmacist’s mate in the United States Navy. She subsequently was a staff assistant to Oregon Senator Wayne Lyman Morse and Ohio Representative James G. Polk. She also served as a delegate to Democratic National Conventions and was a member of the Louisiana Democratic Finance Council and the state party’s central committee. She put that experience to work on behalf of her husband’s career—campaigning, canvassing the district to hear constituent issues, and acting as an informal adviser to Gillis Long. “You couldn’t have found a wife that was more active than I was,” she recalled. A heart condition slowed her husband in his later years in the House, leaving Cathy Long to make the frequent trips back to the district for the “physical campaigning.” Throughout her husband’s political career, Cathy Long recalled, she campaigned more than the candidate. “I feel thoroughly at home with campaigning, I’ve done it so much,” she said.</p>