American politician (1930?2022)
Moon Landrieu
|
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|
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In office
September 24, 1979 ? January 20, 1981
|
President
| Jimmy Carter
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Preceded by
| Patricia Roberts Harris
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Succeeded by
| Samuel Pierce
|
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|
In office
May 4, 1970 ? May 1, 1978
|
Preceded by
| Victor H. Schiro
|
---|
Succeeded by
| Ernest Nathan Morial
|
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|
In office
1975?1976
|
Preceded by
| Joseph Alioto
|
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Succeeded by
| Kenneth A. Gibson
|
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|
In office
1966?1970
|
Preceded by
| Joseph V. DiRosa
|
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Succeeded by
| James A. Moreau
[1]
|
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|
In office
1960?1966
|
Preceded by
| J. Marshall Brown
|
---|
Succeeded by
| Eddie L. Sapir
|
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|
In office
1992?2000
|
Succeeded by
| Max N. Tobias, Jr.
|
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Constituency
| 1st district, division D
[2]
|
---|
|
|
Born
| Maurice Edwin Landrieu
(
1930-07-23
)
July 23, 1930
New Orleans
, Louisiana, U.S.
|
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Died
| September 5, 2022
(2022-09-05)
(aged 92)
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
|
---|
Political party
| Democratic
|
---|
Spouse
|
Verna Satterlee
(
m.
1954)
|
---|
Children
| 9, including
Mary
and
Mitch
|
---|
Education
| Loyola University New Orleans
(
BA
,
JD
)
|
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|
Branch/service
|
United States Army
|
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Years of service
| 1954?1957
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|
Moon Edwin Landrieu
(born
Maurice Edwin Landrieu
; July 23, 1930 ? September 5, 2022) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th
mayor of New Orleans
from 1970 to 1978. A member of the
Democratic Party
, he represented
New Orleans
'
Twelfth Ward
in the
Louisiana House of Representatives
from 1960 to 1966, served on the
New Orleans City Council
as a member at-large from 1966 to 1970, and was the
United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
under U.S. president
Jimmy Carter
from 1979 to 1981.
Early life and career
[
edit
]
Landrieu was born in
Uptown New Orleans
to Joseph Geoffrey Landrieu and Loretta Bechtel.
[3]
Bechtel was of French and German descent, with grandparents who came to
Louisiana
from
Alsace
and
Prussia
.
[4]
Joseph was born in 1892 in
Mississippi
, the son of
Frenchman
Victor Firmin Landrieu and Cerentha Mackey, the
out-of-wedlock child
of a
black
woman and an unknown father.
[4]
[5]
Landrieu went to
Jesuit High School
and received a baseball scholarship to
Loyola University New Orleans
, where he played
college baseball
as a
pitcher
.
[6]
He earned a Bachelor of Arts in
business administration
in 1952 and a
Juris Doctor
in 1954.
[7]
As an undergraduate, he was elected the student body president at Loyola.
[7]
In 1954, he joined the
United States Army
as a second lieutenant and served in the
Judge Advocate General's Corps
until 1957.
[8]
Upon completion of army service, he opened a law practice and taught accounting at Loyola.
[7]
In the late 1950s, Landrieu became involved in the youth wing of the mayor
deLesseps Morrison
's Crescent City Democratic Organization. Running on Morrison's ticket, Landrieu was elected by the
12th Ward of New Orleans
to the
Louisiana House of Representatives
in 1960.
[9]
There he voted against the "hate bills" of the
segregationists
, which the
Louisiana State Legislature
passed in the effort to thwart the
desegregation
of public facilities and public schools.
[10]
In 1962, Landrieu ran for
New Orleans City Council
and lost. In 1966, he was elected councilman-at-large, defeating incumbent Joseph V. DiRosa.
[7]
[11]
In 1969, he led a successful push for a city ordinance outlawing segregation based on race or religion in public accommodations, an issue that had been addressed nationally in the
Civil Rights Act of 1964
.
[3]
As councilman, Landrieu also voted to remove the
Confederate flag
from the council chambers and voted to establish a biracial human relations committee. He succeeded with both votes.
[12]
[13]
Landrieu as mayor
[
edit
]
Landrieu was elected the
mayor of New Orleans
in
the election of 1970
to succeed fellow Democrat
Victor Schiro
.
[3]
His opponent in the Democratic primary runoff was the
Louisiana lieutenant governor
,
Jimmy Fitzmorris
.
[14]
In the general election, Landrieu defeated Ben C. Toledano.
[15]
In that contest, Landrieu received support from 99 percent of the black voters.
[16]
On May 3, 1970, the day before he took his oath of office as mayor, Landrieu received a death threat by telephone, but authorities quickly caught the culprit.
[17]
During his tenure as mayor, Landrieu oversaw desegregation of city government and public facilities and encouraged integration within business and professional organizations.
[3]
Before Landrieu was elected, there were no high-ranking black employees or officials in City Hall; he worked actively to change this by appointing African Americans to top positions, including
Terrence R. Duvernay
as chief administrative officer, the number two position in the executive branch of city government.
[7]
[18]
(Duvernay went on to become
U.S. deputy secretary of housing and urban development
under the president,
Bill Clinton
, in 1993.)
[7]
When Landrieu took office in 1970, African Americans made up 19 percent of city employees; by 1978, this number had risen to 43 percent.
[19]
He also appointed Reverend A. L. Davis to fill a temporary vacancy on the City Council; Davis was the city's first black city councilor. Landrieu also employed an African American assistant: Robert H. Tucker, Jr.
[20]
Landrieu obtained federal funds for the revitalization of New Orleans' poor neighborhoods, and he promoted the involvement of minority-owned businesses in the city's economic life.
[7]
Like his predecessor, Landrieu presided over continued
suburban-style
growth in the
Algiers
and
New Orleans East
districts, with Algiers essentially built-out, having exited its
greenfield development
stage, by the end of his administration.
[21]
He advocated the creation of the Downtown Development District to revitalize the
New Orleans CBD
, and worked to promote the city's tourism industry. His tourism-related projects included the
Moon Walk
, a riverfront promenade facing the
French Quarter
, the $163 million
Louisiana Superdome
,
[22]
and renovations of the
French Market
and
Jackson Square
.
[7]
By the midpoint of Schiro's mayoral administration, an accelerating number of building demolitions were approved and other projects were also being contemplated, such as the elevated Claiborne Expressway and
Riverfront Expressway
segments of
I-10
.
[21]
Landrieu authorized the 1972 New Orleans Housing and Neighborhood Preservation Study.
[23]
Most of that study's recommendations were enacted by Landrieu, including the 1976 establishment of the Historic District Landmarks Commission ("HDLC"), which extended design review and demolition controls for the first time to parts of New Orleans outside the
French Quarter
.
[23]
During 1975?1976, Landrieu served as president of the
United States Conference of Mayors
.
[24]
He was reelected in 1974 and served until April 1978.
[3]
After leaving office, he was succeeded by
Dutch Morial
, the city's first black mayor.
[25]
Landrieu was the last white elected mayor of New Orleans until his son,
Mitch
, was elected in 2010.
[26]
After city hall
[
edit
]
After leaving office in 1978, Landrieu served as the secretary of the
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD).
[3]
President Jimmy Carter appointed Landrieu to this post during a major reshuffle in which he reassigned
Patricia Harris
to replace
Joseph A. Califano Jr.
at the
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
.
[27]
Carter chose Landrieu for the position in order to draw Catholic Democratic party voters away from
Ted Kennedy
in the upcoming
1980 Democratic Party presidential primaries
.
[27]
Landrieu was elected to serve as a judge of the Louisiana 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1992,
[28]
and he served until his retirement in 2000.
[29]
In 2004, Landrieu was inducted into the
Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame
in
Winnfield
.
[30]
His personal papers are archived at Loyola University New Orleans
[31]
and the
New Orleans Public Library
.
[32]
Personal life
[
edit
]
"Moon" was a childhood nickname of Landrieu's. He legally changed his first name to "Moon" in 1969 during his first mayoral campaign.
[22]
[29]
In 1954, Landrieu married Verna Satterlee, and they had nine children; among them are former
U.S. senator
Mary Landrieu
, who served from 1997 to 2015, and the former mayor of New Orleans,
Mitch Landrieu
.
[3]
[22]
The family is
Catholic
.
[33]
Landrieu died at home in New Orleans on September 5, 2022, at age 92.
[3]
[34]
The cause of death was
heart failure
after having a
heart attack
.
[35]
[36]
His death was confirmed by longtime aide Ryan Berni.
[3]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
"New Orleans City Council members since 1954"
.
New Orleans Public Library
. May 16, 2014.
Archived
from the original on March 6, 2022
. Retrieved
September 6,
2022
.
- ^
"March 1992 official election results, Orleans Parish"
.
Secretary of State of Louisiana
. March 10, 1992.
Archived
from the original on September 6, 2022
. Retrieved
September 6,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
Yardley, William (September 5, 2022).
"Moon Landrieu Dies at 92; New Orleans Mayor Championed Integration"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
September 5,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
"BATISTE: Mitch Landrieu Hides In The Shadows Of Race"
.
The Hayride
. March 19, 2018
. Retrieved
January 15,
2022
.
- ^
"Is former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu a leader for this moment of racial reckoning?"
.
NBC News
. July 21, 2020
. Retrieved
February 2,
2023
.
- ^
"UP003856"
. Louisiana Digital Library
. Retrieved
September 5,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
"Moon Landrieu dies; New Orleans mayor led on civil rights"
.
The Washington Post
. Retrieved
September 5,
2022
.
- ^
"Former New Orleans mayor, political family patriarch Moon Landrieu dies at 92"
. Wafb.com. September 5, 2022
. Retrieved
September 5,
2022
.
- ^
"11 Jan 1960, Page 2 ? The Times at"
. Newspapers.com. January 11, 1960
. Retrieved
September 5,
2022
.
- ^
"20 Feb 1961, 10 ? Chattanooga Daily Times at"
. Newspapers.com. February 20, 1961
. Retrieved
September 5,
2022
.
- ^
"Councilman Joseph V. DiRosa"
.
New Orleans Public Library
. January 16, 2001.
Archived
from the original on October 27, 2021
. Retrieved
September 6,
2022
.
- ^
"Moon Landrieu: removal of Confederate flag from council chambers 'had to be done'
"
. Wdsu.com. June 28, 2015
. Retrieved
September 5,
2022
.
- ^
"5 Aug 1967, 7 ? The Louisiana Weekly at"
. Newspapers.com. August 5, 1967
. Retrieved
September 5,
2022
.
- ^
"Jimmy Fitzmorris, Louisiana politician who lost squeakers for mayor, governor, dies at 99"
. NOLA. July 2021
. Retrieved
September 5,
2022
.
- ^
"8 Apr 1970, 5 ? The Bastrop Daily Enterprise at"
. Newspapers.com. April 8, 1970
. Retrieved
September 5,
2022
.
- ^
"15 Apr 1970, Page 12 ? Daily World at"
. Newspapers.com. April 15, 1970
. Retrieved
September 5,
2022
.
- ^
"Moon Landrieu's life threatened",
Minden Press-Herald
, May 4, 1970, p. 1
- ^
"Moon Landrieu, mayor who bridged Black and White New Orleans, dies at 92"
. NOLA. September 5, 2022
. Retrieved
September 5,
2022
.
- ^
Morial retains racial mix inherited from Landrieu
, The Times-Picayune, May 6, 1980.
- ^
Eckstein (2015), p. 136.
- ^
a
b
Haas, Edward F. (July 17, 2014).
Mayor Victor H. Schiro: New Orleans in Transition
. Univ. Press of Mississippi.
ISBN
9781626741805
. Retrieved
September 5,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
Yardley, William (September 5, 2022).
"Moon Landrieu, 92, Dies; New Orleans Mayor Championed Integration"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
October 4,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
"Wholesale demolition is a discredited approach",
The Times-Picayune,
February 6, 2010.
- ^
"Our Leadership"
. USMayors. November 23, 2016
. Retrieved
September 5,
2022
.
- ^
"Moon Over New Orleans"
. NPR. April 27, 2006
. Retrieved
September 5,
2022
.
- ^
"New Orleans elects first white mayor since 1978"
.
Reuters
. February 7, 2010 – via www.reuters.com.
- ^
a
b
Pious, Richard M. (2008).
Why presidents fail
. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
ISBN
978-0-7425-6284-4
.
OCLC
213080311
.
- ^
"11 Mar 1992, 8 ? The Daily Review at"
. Newspapers.com. March 11, 1992
. Retrieved
September 5,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
"Moon's rise: The game-changing administration of New Orleans Mayor Moon Landrieu"
.
NOLA.com
. April 19, 2017.
- ^
"Moon Landrieu"
. Louisiana Political Museum
. Retrieved
September 5,
2022
.
- ^
"Moon Landrieu Collection"
(PDF)
.
Special Collections & Archives, J. Edgar & Louise S. Monroe Library, Loyola University New Orleans
. Retrieved
April 28,
2022
.
- ^
"Mayor Moon Landrieu Records, 1970?1978"
.
New Orleans Public Library
. Retrieved
July 17,
2018
.
- ^
Berry, Jason.
"Mary and the Landrieus"
.
POLITICO Magazine
.
- ^
Pope, John (September 5, 2022).
"Moon Landrieu, mayor who bridged Black and White New Orleans, dies at 92"
.
The Advocate
. Retrieved
September 5,
2022
.
- ^
"Remembering Moon Landrieu Who Transformed New Orleans"
. Time. September 5, 2022
. Retrieved
September 13,
2022
.
- ^
"Moon Landrieu, New Orleans mayor who led on civil rights, dies at 92"
. Spokesman
. Retrieved
September 13,
2022
.
General and cited reference
[
edit
]
- Baker, Liva (1996).
The Second Battle of New Orleans: The Hundred Year Struggle to Integrate the Schools
. Harper Collins.
ISBN
978-0-06-016808-7
.
- Eckstein, Barbara (2015).
Sustaining New Orleans: Literature, Local Memory, and the Fate of a City
.
Routledge
.
ISBN
978-1135403324
.
- Hirsch, Arnold (1992).
Creole New Orleans: Race and Americanization
. LSU Press.
ISBN
9780807117088
.
External links
[
edit
]
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1990s
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2000s
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2010s
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2016
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2018
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International
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