Word: leander
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...carried out." The wholly temporal reason was that parochial schools, which enroll half the white pupils in New Orleans, get tax-paid books and supplies from the segregationist state legislature. The archbishop's flock also includes some of the South's most fervent racists, among them Boss Leander Perez, who threatened to withhold money and students if parochial schools even began to integrate...
...into parish politics right after he got out of Tulane Law School in 1914. At 27 he was a district judge, in 1924 became district attorney for Plaquemines and neighboring St. Bernard's Parish-a position he gave up only this week, having airily announced that his son, Leander Jr., would take over the job. But lest anyone get the idea that he was retiring, Perez explained: "I intend to remain as assistant district attorney. The state constitution provides that the assistant district attorney has all the powers of the district attorney...
...With Leander Perez, defiance is a way of life. In 1943, when Louisiana's Governor Sam Jones appointed a Plaquemines sheriff against Perez' wishes, Perez mobilized the able-bodied men of Plaquemines, including the American Legion, set up a flaming roadblock of gasoline-soaked oyster shells in an attempt to turn the appointee back. Frustrated by a convoy bristling with state militiamen, Perez retreated to mid-Mississippi on a ferryboat, resorted thereafter to a volley of lawsuits (15 at one time), finally defeated the Jonesman in a typically casual Delta election...
...Offensive. Again, when New Orleans' Roman Catholic Archbishop Joseph F. Rummel declared that segregation was sinful, Leander Perez breathed defiance. Himself a Catholic, he accused the Catholic hierarchy of "turning against their own people." The New Orleans parochial schools remained segregated, and fortnight ago, as Archbishop Rummel lay ill in a hospital after a fall, Perez hinted that it was all because of his stand against segregation...
...although he has seen to it that schools in St. Bernard's Parish have opened their classrooms to white "refugees" from New Orleans, the battle against integration is going against Leander Perez. Some Louisiana newsmen be lieve that his influence is waning. But those who know him best think he is just waiting for his next move. "I always take the offensive," Leander Perez once said, daintily flicking an ash from his omnipresent cigar. "The defensive ain't worth a damn...