Moon Landrieu | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 7th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development | |
| In office September 24, 1979 – January 20, 1981 | |
| President | Jimmy Carter |
| Preceded by | Patricia Roberts Harris |
| Succeeded by | Samuel Pierce |
| 56th Mayor of New Orleans | |
| In office May 4, 1970 – May 1, 1978 | |
| Preceded by | Victor H. Schiro |
| Succeeded by | Ernest Nathan Morial |
| 33rdPresident of the United States Conference of Mayors | |
| In office 1975–1976 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph Alioto |
| Succeeded by | Kenneth A. Gibson |
| Member of theNew Orleans City Council from the at-large district | |
| In office 1966–1970 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph V. DiRosa |
| Succeeded by | James A. Moreau[1] |
| Member of theLouisiana House of Representatives from the 12th district | |
| In office 1960–1966 | |
| Preceded by | J. Marshall Brown |
| Succeeded by | Eddie L. Sapir |
| Judge of theLouisiana Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit | |
| In office 1992–2000 | |
| Succeeded by | Max N. Tobias, Jr. |
| Constituency | 1st district, division D[2] |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Maurice Edwin Landrieu (1930-07-23)July 23, 1930 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | September 5, 2022(2022-09-05) (aged 92) New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 9, includingMary andMitch |
| Education | Loyola University New Orleans (BA,JD) |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1954–1957 |
Moon Edwin Landrieu (bornMaurice Edwin Landrieu; July 23, 1930 – September 5, 2022) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56thmayor of New Orleans from 1970 to 1978. A member of theDemocratic Party, he representedNew Orleans'Twelfth Ward in theLouisiana House of Representatives from 1960 to 1966. He served on theNew Orleans City Council as a member at-large from 1966 to 1970, and was theUnited States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under U.S. presidentJimmy Carter from 1979 to 1981.
He was the last White mayor of New Orleans until2010, when his sonMitch was elected mayor.
Landrieu was born inUptown New Orleans to Joseph Geoffrey Landrieu and Loretta Bechtel.[3] Bechtel was of French and German descent, with grandparents who came toLouisiana fromAlsace andPrussia.[4] Joseph was born in 1892 inMississippi, the son ofFrenchman Victor Firmin Landrieu and Cerentha Mackey, theout-of-wedlock child of ablack woman and an unknown father.[4][5]
Landrieu went toJesuit High School and received a baseball scholarship toLoyola University New Orleans, where he playedcollege baseball as apitcher.[6] He earned a Bachelor of Arts inbusiness administration in 1952 and aJuris Doctor in 1954.[7] As an undergraduate, he was elected the student body president at Loyola.[7] In 1954, he joined theUnited States Army as a second lieutenant and served in theJudge 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 mayordeLesseps Morrison's Crescent City Democratic Organization. Running on Morrison's ticket, Landrieu was elected by the12th Ward of New Orleans to theLouisiana House of Representatives in 1960.[9] There he voted against the "hate bills" of thesegregationists, which theLouisiana State Legislature passed in the effort to thwart thedesegregation of public facilities and public schools.[10]
In 1962, Landrieu ran forNew 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 theCivil Rights Act of 1964.[3] As councilman, Landrieu also voted to remove theConfederate flag from the council chambers and voted to establish a biracial human relations committee. He succeeded with both votes.[12][13]
Landrieu was elected themayor of New Orleans inthe election of 1970 to succeed fellow DemocratVictor Schiro.[3] His opponent in the Democratic primary runoff was theLouisiana 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]
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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, includingTerrence R. Duvernay as chief administrative officer, the number two position in the executive branch of city government.[7][18] Duvernay went on to becomeU.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 continuedsuburban-style growth in theAlgiers andNew Orleans East districts, with Algiers essentially built-out, having exited itsgreenfield development stage, by the end of his administration.[21]
He advocated for the creation of the Downtown Development District to revitalize theNew Orleans CBD, and worked to promote the city's tourism industry. His tourism-related projects included theMoon Walk, a riverfront promenade facing theFrench Quarter, the $163 millionLouisiana Superdome,[22] and renovations of theFrench Market andJackson 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 andRiverfront Expressway segments ofI-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 theFrench Quarter.[23]
During 1975–1976, Landrieu served as president of theUnited States Conference of Mayors.[24] He was reelected in 1974 and served until April 1978.[3] After leaving office, he was succeeded byDutch 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 leaving office in 1978, Landrieu served as the secretary of theUnited States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).[3] President Jimmy Carter appointed Landrieu to this post during a major reshuffle in which he reassignedPatricia Harris to replaceJoseph A. Califano Jr. at theDepartment of Health, Education, and Welfare.[27]
Carter chose Landrieu for the position in order to draw Catholic Democratic party voters away fromTed Kennedy in the upcoming1980 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 theLouisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame inWinnfield.[30] His personal papers are archived at Loyola University New Orleans[31] and theNew Orleans Public Library.[32]
"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. They had nine children. Among them are formerU.S. senatorMary Landrieu, who served from 1997 to 2015, and the former mayor of New Orleans,Mitch Landrieu.[3][22] The family isCatholic.[33]
Landrieu died at home in New Orleans on September 5, 2022, at age 92.[3][34] The cause of death washeart failure after having aheart attack.[35][36] His death was confirmed by longtime aide Ryan Berni.[3]
| Louisiana House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theLouisiana House of Representatives from the 12th district 1960–1966 | Succeeded by Eddie L. Sapir |
| Civic offices | ||
| Preceded by Joseph V. DiRosa | Member of theNew Orleans City Council from the at-large district 1966–1970 | Succeeded by James A. Moreau |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Mayor of New Orleans May 4, 1970 – May 1, 1978 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development September 24, 1979 – January 20, 1981 | Succeeded by |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by ??? | Judge of theLouisiana Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit 1st district, division D 1992–2000 | Succeeded by Max N. Tobias Jr. |
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| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
