James Desmond Carvin
James Desmond Carvin was known as a ‘political guru’ in Louisiana politics. Born in New York in 1929 to British parents, the family moved back to England during the Depression. At the age of eighteen, he returned to live in the United States, serving in the Air Force during the Korean War using his art skills to draw bombing maps. After the war, he was sent to Lake Charles. After his service was concluded, he started one of the first local advertising agencies here. This led him to what would be his true passion of managing political campaigns. After managing the Gillis Long 1963 Gubernatorial Campaign effort, he moved to New Orleans and partnered with two well known political veterans, Gus Weil and Ray Strother to form a political consulting partnership. Carvin later began his own firm which touted a seventy-five per cent success record in local, state and national campaigns. He developed campaign strategies for many of Louisiana’s leading political figures on both sides of the aisle, including Edwin Edwards campaigns for Governor and ten consecutive Mayors of New Orleans. Along with James Chubbuck and Ed Renwick, he was instrumental in developing the Institure of Politics at Loyola University. This ‘Dean of Louisiana Politics’ continued his political work even through a debilitating stroke until his death in 2009. It was written that he was “a winner till the end.”