Felix Edward Hébert

Who was Felix Edward Hébert?

Felix Edward Hébert, known as F. Edward Hébert, was the longest-serving member 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 wrote 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, 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, Jeanne Duhé Sinitier, Edward Malcolm Duhé, and Martin Bofill Duhé.

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., as one of U.S. senators from Louisiana. His coverage of the "Louisiana Scandals" or "Louisiana Hayride", references to corruption among followers of the Long family, led to the convictions of Governor Richard W. Leche of New Orleans and Louisiana State University President James Monroe Smith. Because of Hébert's efforts, the Times-Picayune won the Delta Sigma Chi plaque for "courage in journalism".