Ben C. Toledano

….remember, the…the people who were leaving were not the Uptown crowd, not the big shots, not the socialites. They weren’t leaving at all. Because during the ‘60s, as best I recall it, when things were going on all over the country, we were, we felt immune…we would read about someone in St. Bernard, you know, being irate over integration, or that sort of thing. But we didn’t think of it as a problem for us because most all of our kids went to private schools, and it, it just didn’t’ touch us the same way.

Abstract: This interview focuses on Benjamin C. Toledano’s relationship with politics in New Orleans during the 1970s. This includes a detailed examination of the main platforms and thoughts surrounding the 1970 New Orleans Mayoral Election. Toledano recalls his mayoral campaign and his accomplishments. This discussion of the election includes his view on his opponent, Mayor Moon Landrieu’s time in office, and his achievements. Toledano also discusses his involvement and candidacy in the 1972 election for Louisiana’s freshly open Senate seat. Toledano also details Dutch Morial’s time as Mayor of New Orleans and provides a look at what New Orleans has done wrong in his eyes and how New Orleans could have remained the economic powerhouse that it once was.

     
Bio: Benjamin C. Toledano was born into Uptown New Orleans society in 1932. Born to a father who was a Toledano, a family that had been in New Orleans since 1718, and a mother with a wealthy father, Toledano was bound to be involved in the traditionally Uptown elite. In 1957, Toledano became licensed to practice law. In 1967 he was a partner in a law firm practicing insurance defense. Toledano became bored with insurance law and the day-to-day life that his occupation had entered, so he decided to run for Mayor of New Orleans in the 1970 election as a Republican in the general election against the Democrat Moon Landrieu. The main issue during the election was the integration of New Orleans. With Black New Orleanians voting in unprecedented numbers in 1970, Landrieu easily defeated Toledano. In 1972 Toledano also ran for an open United States Senate seat as a Republican. Although he also lost this election, he never expected to win. In 1982, Ronald Reagan considered him for nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Toledano was removed from consideration once his past relation to the Louisiana States’ Rights Party was brought to Reagan’s attention. After being in New Orleans his whole life and raising his children there, he left for Charlottesville after his removal from consideration for the Court of Appeals. He moved to Mississippi in 1991, where he lived the rest of his life. Toledano passed away at the age of 89 in 2021.

This interview is the subject of Season 1, Episode 3 of the Making Modern New Orleans Podcast.

Citation (CMS): Toledano, Benjamin C. Benjamin C. Toledano. Interview by Jack E. Davis and Justin A. Nystrom. Videorecording, transcript, October 17, 2013. Making Modern New Orleans Collection. Documentary and Oral History Studio, Loyola University New Orleans.