Hale Boggs

Thomas Hale Boggs, Sr., (February 15, 1914 – October 16, 1972) was a member of the United States House of Representatives for Louisiana. In 1972, he was the House Majority Leader when, at age 58, the twin engine airplane in which he was traveling over a very remote section of Alaska disappeared. The plane presumably crashed into a mountain or ravine, with no survivors. Congressman Nick Begich was also presumed killed in that accident.

Born in Long Beach, Mississippi, Boggs was educated at Tulane University where he received bachelor's in journalism in 1934 and a law degree in 1937. He first practiced law in New Orleans, but soon became a leader in the movement to break Huey Long's political power in the area. A Democrat, Boggs was elected to the House for the second district and served from 1941 to 1943. At the time he was elected he was, at age 26, the youngest member of Congress. After an unsuccessful re-election bid in 1942, Boggs joined the United States Navy as an ensign, serving out the rest of World War II.

After the war, he began his political comeback. He was again elected to Congress in 1946 and was then re-elected 13 times, once just after he disappeared, but before he was presumed dead. In his closest contest -- 1968, Boggs faced his third challenge from Republican David C. Treen, who went on to win the Louisiana governorship in 1979. Treen received 77,633 votes (48.8 percent) to Boggs' 81,537 ballots (51.2 percent). Treen attributed Boggs' victory to the supporters of former Alabama Governor George C. Wallace, who ran for president on the American Independent Party ticket. Treen said that Wallace supporters "became very cool to my candidacy. We couldn't really believe they would support Boggs, but several Democratic organizations did come out for Wallace and Boggs, and he received just enough Wallace votes to give him the election." Republican officials seemed convinced that fraudulent votes in some Orleans Parish precincts benefited Boggs and that Treen may have actually won the election. There were rumors of election officials who cast votes for people who did not show up at the polls and signed for them in the precinct registers.

Boggs unsuccessfully sought the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1951. He lost out to a field of opponents, including the eventual winner, Judge Robert F. Kennon of Minden, whom Boggs supported in the runoff. Kennon "adopted" Boggs' intraparty choice for lieutenant governor, C.E. "Cap" Barham of Ruston.

During his tenure in Congress, Boggs was an influential player in the government. After Brown v. Board of Education he signed The Southern Manifesto condemning desegregation. He was instrumental in passage of the interstate highway program in 1956, and was a member of the Warren Commission in 1963-1964. He served as Majority Whip from 1961 to 1970 and as majority leader (from January 1971). As majority whip, he ushered much of President Johnson's Great Society legislation through Congress.

His influence also led to charges of corruption. Controversy surrounded him, when a contractor who remodeled his home in Bethesda, Maryland at a reduced cost sought his help for obtaining a $5 million extra payment for building a garage adjacent to the United States Capitol building.

As Majority Leader he campaigned tirelessly for others. He was aboard a twin engine Cessna 310 with Representative Nick Begich when it disappeared during a flight from Anchorage to Juneau, Alaska. Begich's aide and a pilot were the only others on board. The four were heading for a campaign fund raiser for Begich. In the largest search ever mounted by the US military, Coast Guard, Navy, and Air Force planes searched for the party. The search was abandoned after 39 days. The men's remains were never found. The accident prompted Congress to pass a law mandating emergency locator transmitters (now called emergency position-indicating rescue beacons) in all U.S. civil aircraft.

Both Boggs and Begich were re-elected that November. House Resolution 1 of January 3, 1973 officially recognized Boggs' presumed death and opened the way for a special election. In 1973 Boggs' wife since 1938, Lindy, was elected to the second district seat left vacant by his death, where she served until 1991.

The events surrounding Boggs' death have been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories. These theories often center around his involvement with the Warren Commission, but some tie his death to alleged corruption charges or his outspoken opposition to powerful FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Some, including several of Begich's children, have suggested that Richard Nixon had a hand in Boggs' death in order to thwart the Watergate investigation. None of these theories has ever been proven.

Hale and Lindy Boggs had three children: journalist Cokie Roberts (wife of journalist Steven Roberts), Tommy Boggs, a prominent Washington, D.C.-based attorney and lobbyist, and the late Barbara Boggs Sigmund, who served as mayor of Princeton, New Jersey. In 1982, Mrs. Sigmund lost a bid for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate to Frank Lautenberg.

Quote

"I wish I could stand here as a man who loves his state, born and reared in the South, who has spent every year of his life in Louisiana since he was 5 years old, and say there has not been discrimination. But, unfortunately, it is not so."

Reference

• Maney, Patrick J. "Hale Boggs: The Southerner as National Democrat" in Raymond W Smock and Susan W Hammond, eds. Masters of the House: Congressional Leadership Over Two Centuries (1998) pp 33-62* Strahan, Randall. "Thomas Brackett Reed and the Rise of Party Government" in Raymond W Smock and Susan W Hammond, eds. Masters of the House: Congressional Leadership Over Two Centuries (1998) pp 223-259

External links

• Transcript, Hale Boggs Oral History Interview, 3/13/69, by T. H. Baker, Internet Copy, LBJ Library. Accessed April 3, 2005.
• Hale Boggs FBI FOIA
• Hale Boggs Telex - Debunked

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