Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame

The Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in located in Winnfield, Winn Parish, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It was created in 1987 by an act of the Louisiana State Legislature to highlight the careers of the state's leading politicians and political journalists. Because three governors, Huey P. Long Jr., Oscar K. Allen, and Earl Kemp Long, were born there Winnfield calls itself "the birthplace of Louisiana politics." The museum, which opened in August 1993 on the centennial of Huey Long's birth, is located at 499 East Main Street in a restored Louisiana and Arkansas Railroad depot. Until his death in 2011, each inductee was sketched by the former Shreveport Times cartoonist Preston Allen "Pap" Dean Jr., himself one of the original thirteen honorees.

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Large displays are accorded for the two Governors Long, with sculptures of each man shown speaking to voters. Recording of Long political speeches are sometimes played as visitors examine the political past. Other Long family members inducted into the Hall of Fame include the late U.S. Senator Russell B. Long, former U.S. Representatives Speedy O. Long and Gillis W. Long, former State Representative Jimmy D. Long of Natchitoches, and on February 1, 2014, Rose McConnell Long. Zachary Taylor, the only U.S. President from Louisiana (though he was born in Virginia), was inducted in 1995.

As of 2014, nearly 160 have been inducted or were awaiting induction into the Hall of Fame, mostly Democrats, with fewer than twenty-five being Republicans, reflecting the historical dominance of one party in state government. There are a handful of others without party affiliation. The few Republican honorees include former Governors David C. Treen, Mike Foster, and Buddy Roemer, former U.S. Representatives Henson Moore, Richard H. Baker, and Bob Livingston, former gubernatorial candidates Charlton Lyons and Francis Grevemberg, former Louisiana Secretaries of State Wade O. Martin Jr., and Fox McKeithen, and Charles deGravelles and his wife, Virginia deGravelles of Lafayette, who were Louisiana state Republican chairman and national committeewoman, respectively, during the 1960s.

All recent U.S. senators have been inducted except for current Republicans senators Bill Cassidy and David Vitter, an unsuccessful candidate for governor in 2015. However, Vitter's 2004 opponents for the Senate, former U.S. Representative Chris John and state Treasurer John Neely Kennedy, have been inducted. The Democrat who defeated Vitter for governor, John Bel Edwards, is also an inductee by virtue of his family in Tangipahoa Parish politics. The nominees are chosen by a statewide panel of political historians and writers. Each inductee is given his own display, which included a caricature by Pap Dean to those inducted prior to Dean's death. Another missing inductee is David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan figure who became a major player in state politics briefly between 1989 and 1992 and acquired national attention as well.

Recognized journalists include Harley Bozeman, Sam Hanna Sr., Wiley W. Hilburn, Iris Kelso, William Hawthorn Lynch, Adras LaBorde, John LaPlante Jr., Jack Wardlaw, John Maginnis, and Gus Weill, later a consultant to Governor John McKeithen.