Abraham Shushan

Shushan was born in Bougere (now part of Reserve), Louisiana. He was first employed during his early teens by Shushan Brothers, a New Orleans wholesale dry goods business established by his father and uncle. Shushan became a partner in the firm in 1916 and president of the firm in 1931.

Shushan became involved in Louisiana politics as a supporter in the political machine of Huey Long.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bMhKNL55Wa4C&dq=%22Abraham+Shushan%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA223|title=Second Line: Two Short Novels of Love and Cooking in New Orleans|first=Poppy Z.|last=Brite|publisher=Small Beer Press|isbn=9781618730169|page=223|year=2003|access-date=August 22, 2018}} Long was criticized by Gerald L. K. Smith, a racist and anti-semitic politician, of having "too many Jews" in circle, which "Shushan resented."{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NvZabkDqcMoC&q=Shushan|title=Gerald L. K. Smith: Minister of Hate

|first=Glen |last=Jeansonne|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|page=105|year=1997|isbn=9780807121689

|access-date=August 22, 2018}} After Long was assassinated, Shushan and his allies had Smith fired and his Share Our Wealth program eliminated.

Appointed to the New Orleans Levee Board in 1920 by Governor John M. Parker, he was reappointed by successive administrations and became president of the Board in 1929.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=poelBQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Abraham+Shushan%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA50|title=Lake Pontchartrain|first=Catherine |last=Campanella|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|page=50|year=2015|isbn=9781467113137|access-date=August 22, 2018}} He was a member of the Levee Board during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.

Shushan was involved in fundraising for John H. Overton during the Election of 1932, which lead later to legal trouble for him.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tlETAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Abraham+Shushan%22+-wikipedia|title=Louisiana Politics And the Paradoxes of Reaction And Reform, 1877-1928: Volume 7 of The Louisiana purchase bicentennial series in Louisiana history|editor-first=Matthew J. |editor-last=Schott |publisher=Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Louisiana at Lafayette|year=2000|isbn=9781887366397|volume=7|page=664|access-date=August 22, 2018}} The defeated incumbent, Edwin S. Broussard, accused Overton, and Shushan and his other supporters of voter fraud; the United States Senate held hearings, but Overton was seated without opposition.{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}

It was under his direction that the lakefront sea wall and the New Orleans Lakefront Airport were constructed. Originally, in 1934, that airport was named in his honor. In 1935, he was tried for Federal tax and money laundering charges under the Internal Revenue Code by a special prosecutor, former Texas Governor Dan Moody,{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xrFGAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Abraham+Shushan%22+-wikipedia|title=Congressional series of United States public documents|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|volume=10126|page=32|year=1937|access-date=August 22, 2018}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b2geCipvu6YC&q=%22Abraham+Shushan%22+-wikipedia|title=Hearings, Volume 2|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|volume=2|page=130|year=1937|access-date=August 22, 2018}}United States v. Shushan. but was found not guilty. However, due to the scandal, his name was literally and figuratively removed from the airport, in a move similar to a Damnatio memoriae. His role in the Long machine ended due to the tax evasion scandal, despite his acquittal.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c2UXAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Abraham+Shushan%22+-wikipedia|title=New Deal or raw deal?: how FDR's economic legacy has damaged America|first=Burton W. |last=Folsom|publisher=Threshold Editions|year=2008|isbn=9781416592228|page=150|access-date=August 22, 2018}} The scandal was cited by scholar Zephyr Teachout as one of the most notorious corruption scandals in American history.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZsplBAAAQBAJ&q=Shushan|title=Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin's Snuff Box to Citizens United

|first=Zephyr |last=Teachout|publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2014|isbn=9781887366397|pages=195–198|access-date=August 22, 2018}}

He ended up being sued by Louisiana Attorney General on behalf of the Levee Board, and the case reached the Louisiana Supreme Court in 1940.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rgEvAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Abraham+Shushan%22+-wikipedia|title=Statistical Report (charges Made, Not Trials) of the Attorney General|

author=Louisiana. Dept. of Justice|publisher=Attorney General|page=28|year=1940|access-date=August 22, 2018}} In 1941, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld Shushan's conviction for wire fraud.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/01/19/archives/louissiana-case-upheld-federal-court-rejects-plea-of-long-aide-on.html|work=New York Times|title=Louissiana (sic.) case upheld: Federal court rejects plea of Long aide on publicity score|date=January 19, 1941|page=31|access-date=August 22, 2018}}

Shushan died in New Orleans on November 3, 1966, in a plane crash.

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Category:20th-century Louisiana politicians

Category:Jewish American people in Louisiana politics

Category:Political scandals

Category:Place of birth missing

Category:1894 births

Category:1966 deaths

Category:People from Reserve, Louisiana

Category:20th-century American Jews