Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, June 24, 1997

Dudley LeBlanc: man of the people

by Jim Bradshaw

Depending on whom you talk with, "Coozan Dud" LeBlanc was either a skilled entrepreneur or an accomplished snake-oil salesman. During the 1940s and 1950s, he made millions selling his "miracle elixir," Hadacol, with the help of the top stars of Hollywood and of country music. He was also a colorful and skilled politician, radio host and author.

LeBlanc brewed his first batch of Hadacol in a vat inside his barn in the 1930s, and it wasn't long before he had testimonials from people claiming it cured everything from the common cold to sexual impotency. He successfully sold his creation on whistle-stop tours of the South starring a cavalcade of Hollywood stars, including Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Mickey Rooney, Dorothy Lamour, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Judy Garland, Groucho Marx, and Jimmy Cagney. Hadacol also sponsored "The Health and Happiness Show" on radio with Hank Williams Sr.

LeBlanc was also a major player on the Louisiana political scene for half a century. His weekly French language show helped him develop a loyal following of Cajun voters. He showed that political clout in 1932 when he lost a hot race for governor against the hand-picked candidate of Gov. Huey P. Long. Many people claimed the election was stolen from him. Fishermen claimed they saw ballot boxes from that race floating down the Mississippi River.

LeBlanc used his Louisiana Senate seat to pass legislation to help teachers, farmers, and war veterans. He also developed the Louisiana Old Age Pension for people over 65, the forerunner to Social Security.

One of LeBlanc's great passions was the history and preservation of the Cajun culture. He studied his ancestry for 40 years and wrote three books on Cajun history.

LeBlanc was born Aug. 16, 1894, to Numa and Noemie LeBlanc in the tiny farming community of LeBlanc, near Youngsville. His family moved to Erath when he was about a year old. He claimed Vermilion Parish as home throughout his life.

He graduated from the Southwestern Louisiana Institute when he was 17 and became a salesman peddling shoes, tobacco, crude oil and patent medicines.

He got into politics in 1924 when he confronted his state representative about the poor quality of the roads in Southwest Louisiana.

When the politician challenged LeBlanc to run against him if he thought he could do better, Dudley took the dare and scored an upset win to become state representative from Vermilion Parish.

In 1926, he was elected to the Louisiana Public Service Commission where he served with future Gov. and U.S. Senator Huey Long. The men had become friends when they traveled together as salesmen but they were bitter enemies by the time LeBlanc decided to run for governor in 1932. Long threw his support to the eventual winner, O.K. Allen.

LeBlanc returned to his prosperous burial insurance business, the Thibodaux Benevolent Association. To run his enemy out of the state, Long got the legislature to pass the "anti-TBA" bid prohibiting Dudley from running his company in Louisiana. LeBlanc moved his business to Texas, where it continued to prosper. After Long's death in 1935, LeBlanc sold the business to Texas interests and returned to Louisiana.

After returning home to Vermilion Parish, LeBlanc started a French radio program on Sunday afternoons. He read the news and gave his unique political views to tens of thousands of Acadians. A nagging pain in his foot led him to his most important discovery. After two months in the hospital without a diagnosis, LeBlanc ran into an old doctor friend who gave him an injection to help his condition. Within a week, Dudley said he felt "sassy" and asked the friend for the formula. The doctor refused but when he was out one day, LeBlanc got a vial of the medicine, had it analyzed, and found out it was just Vitamin B. After reading medical books on nutrition and vitamins, he created Hadacol.

The rest, they say, is history.

This article is copyrighted © by the Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser and is used with permission.  This web site was originated through a grant awarded to Carencro High School (Joel Hilbun/Bobbi Marino, Grant Administrators) by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from the Louisiana Quality Education Support Fund - 8(g).