Lindy Boggs

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Lindy Boggs
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 2nd district
In office 1973–1991
Preceded by	Hale Boggs
Succeeded by	William J. Jefferson
Born	March 13, 1916 (1916-03-13) (age 92) Brunswick Plantation, Louisiana, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Hale Boggs
Alma mater	Tulane University
Religion	Roman Catholic

Marie Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs, usually known as Lindy Boggs (born March 13, 1916) is a United States political figure who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and later as ambassador to the Vatican. She was the first woman elected to Congress from Louisiana.

She was the wife of House Majority Leader Hale Boggs, in addition to being the mother of Cokie Roberts (a television news commentator), Tommy Boggs, (a prominent lobbyist), and the late Barbara Boggs Sigmund, a mayor of Princeton, New Jersey, and a candidate in the 1982 New Jersey Democratic senatorial primary election.

Lindy Boggs was born in Brunswick Plantation near New Roads, Louisiana. She attended Newcomb College at Tulane University in New Orleans. She was a second cousin of the late New Orleans Mayor and Ambassador to the Organization of American States, deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, Sr.

She first took office after the presumed death of her husband from a plane crash. The first bill that the House passed in 1973, House Resolution 1, officially recognized Hale Boggs's death, opening the door for a special election, which she won, running as a Democrat in the New Orleans-based 2nd District. She was elected to a full term in 1974 with 82% of the vote and was reelected seven times thereafter. She only dropped below 80% of the vote once, in 1980. In her last four campaigns, she faced no opposition at all, which was especially remarkable considering that the 2nd had been redrawn as a black-majority district after the 1980 United States Census.

In 1997, President Bill Clinton appointed her official U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, a position she held until 2001.

In 2005, Boggs' home on Bourbon Street in New Orleans suffered moderate damage from Hurricane Katrina, but was left standing.

In 2006, Boggs was awarded the Congressional Distinguished Service Award.

In 1994, Mrs. Boggs was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield, a year after her late husband had been among the original inductees. The Boggses were the first husband-wife team inducted but not in the same year. On January 27, 2007, the first husband-wife combination was jointly inducted, Charles and Virginia de Gravelles of Lafayette, who served as a Republican state chairman and the Louisiana Republican national committeewoman, respectively.

[edit] Further reading

• Boggs, Lindy, with Katherine Hatch. Washington Through a Purple Veil: Memoirs of a Southern Woman. New York: Harcourt Brace and Co., 1994

• Ferrell, Thomas H., and Judith Haydel. “Hale and Lindy Boggs: Louisiana’s National Democrats.” Louisiana History 35 (Fall 1994): 389–402.

Boggs is also a member of Sigma Gamma Rho, one of four African-American Greek letter sororities in the United States.

[edit] External links

• Lindy Boggs at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• http://www.cityofwinnfield.com/museum.html

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Hale Boggs	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 2nd congressional district 1973 – 1991	Succeeded by William J. Jefferson
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Raymond Flynn	U. S. Ambassador to the Holy See 1997 – 2001	Succeeded by James Nicholson