Felix Edward "Eddie" Hébert | |
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Member of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana's 1st district | |
In office January 3, 1941 – January 3, 1977 |
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Preceded by | Joachim O. Fernández |
Succeeded by | Richard Alvin Tonry |
Personal details | |
Born |
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States |
October 12, 1901
Died | December 29, 1979 New Orleans, Louisiana |
(aged 78)
Resting place | Lake Lawn Park Mausoleum in New Orleans, Louisiana |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Gladys Bofill Hébert (married 1934) |
Children |
Dawn Marie Hébert Duhé |
Alma mater | Tulane University |
Occupation | Journalist for New Orleans Times-Picayune |
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Hébert still holds the Louisiana longevity record as a member of the United States House of Representatives |
Dawn Marie Hébert Duhé
Felix Edward Hébert (October 12, 1901 – December 29, 1979), known as F. Edward Hébert, is the longest-serving member ever of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Louisiana, having represented the New Orleans-based 1st congressional district as a Democrat from 1941 until his retirement in 1977.
Hébert was born in New Orleans to Felix Joseph Hébert and the former Lea Naquin. As a student at Jesuit High School there, he reported on prep-school sports for his future employer, the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
He graduated in 1924 from Tulane University in New Orleans and was the first sports editor of the Tulane Hullabaloo. He was a member of Delta Sigma Phi fraternity and the Young Men's Business Club of New Orleans. On August 1, 1934, Hébert married the former Gladys Bofill, and the couple had one daughter, Dawn Marie (born c. 1936), who married a future judge of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, John Malcolm Duhé, Jr., of Iberia Parish. The couple had four children, Kimberly Duhé Holleman (born c. 1957), Jeanne Duhé Sinitier, Edward Malcolm Duhé (born c. 1960), and Martin Bofill Duhé (born c. 1962).
Hébert pursued a career in public relations for Loyola University in New Orleans and journalism for the Times-Picayune and the New Orleans States, a paper purchased by The Times-Picayune while Hébert worked there. As a front-page columnist and political editor, he covered the candidacy and election of Governor Huey Pierce Long, Jr., who was eventually elected to the United States Senate. Hébert's coverage of the Louisiana Hayride scandals of 1939 — which put a spotlight on corruption among followers of the Long political family — contributed to the eventual convictions of Governor Richard W. Leche and James Monroe Smith, President of Louisiana State University. The Times-Picayune won the Sigma Delta Chi plaque for "courage in journalism", largely as a result of Hébert's work.