Dudley A. Guglielmo

Guglielmo went to work in 1930 for the administration of Governor Huey Pierce Long, Jr.. He held the position of administrator of personnel and finance until 1940, when Sam Houston Jones succeeded Earl Kemp Long as governor. Thereafter, he served in numerous state appointed posts.

Guglielmo succeeded Rufus D. Hayes as insurance commissioner in 1964, after Hayes declined to seek re-election.[1] Guglielmo defeated four candidates in the Democratic primary in 1963, defeating State Representative Jack M. Dyer of Baton Rouge and state senator Speedy O. Long of La Salle Parish. Guglielmo carried the backing of defeated gubernatorial candidates Shelby M. Jackson, Robert F. Kennon, Claude Kirkpatrick, and Gillis Long.[2] HE went on to win the general election in March 1964.

During his first term in office, he had to deal with the fallout of Hurricane Betsy, which had killed 67 people in Louisiana.[3]

In 1967, Guglielmo ran again for state commissioner, presenting himself as a candidate who opposed higher insurance rates, which he had voted against.[4] He defeated four opponents, John W. Davidson, Jack Simpson, a young insurance agent and a member of the Natchitoches Parish Police Jury;[5] Raymond C. Wingate, and the conservative State Senator W. Spencer Myrick of Oak Grove in West Carroll Parish in northeastern Louisiana, to secure reelection as insurance commissioner. In Guglielmo's second term, several insurance companies failed to pay claims in a timely manner and forced the insured to accept lower amounts by with-holding payment until the insured was desperate. Guglielmo worked to require claims be paid more faithfully and also backed the claims of numerous insurance agents against a number of the companies. His failure to clarify and advertise these actions may have cost him a third term.

In 1971, Guglielmo faced the combined competition of once again John W. Davidson as well as Jerry Galliano and Sherman Bernard. Guglielmo was defeated in a runoff election by Bernard, Guglielmo subsequently ran an agency which serviced insurance companies.

In 2004, Guglielmo was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in the Long's native Winnfield, the seat of Winn Parish.[6] "I'm just very honored to even be here", said Guglielmo, a 42-year state employee. "I had no idea they had such a place. This goes back to Huey P. Long".

Guglielmo described Huey Long as "the best campaigner I ever saw. He would get out in those trucks with the horns and get his message to people. Today, politics has changed. They do it on TV".

Guglielmo lived in Baton Rouge. At the time of his death, he was a widower and was survived by two sons, including Dudley A. Guglielmo, Jr. (born 1943), and a daughter.[7]