Edwin Sidney Broussard Sr. (December 4, 1874 – November 19, 1934) was a

United States senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

from

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, who served for two terms from March 5, 1921, to March 3, 1933.

Early life

Broussard was born in the village of

Loreauville, Louisiana Loreauville is a village in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, Iberia Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The population was 658 (estimated) at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 938 at the 2000 United States Census, 2000 census. It ...

on December 4, 1874, to Jean Dorville Broussard, and his wife Anastasie Elizadie Gonsoulin Broussard. He attended

public schools Public school may refer to: *Public school (government-funded), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government *Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging private schools in England and Wales *Great Public Schools, ...

. He graduated in 1896 from the

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

. He taught for two years thereafter in the public schools of Iberia and St. Martin parishes."Edwin Sidney Broussard",
A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography
', Vol. 1 (1988), Louisiana Historical Association publication, pp. 113–14.

Career

At the outbreak of the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

, Broussard volunteered for the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

. A

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, in 1898 and 1899, he accompanied the

Taft Commission The Taft Commission, also known as the Second Philippine Commission (Filipino language, Filipino: ''Ikalawang Komisyon ng Pilipinas'', Spanish language in the Philippines, Spanish: Segunda Comisión de Filipinas), was established by United Sta ...

to the

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in 1899 and served as an assistant secretary. He returned to the United States in 1900 and graduated the next year from the

Tulane University Law School The Tulane University School of Law is the law school of Tulane University. It is located on Tulane's Uptown campus in New Orleans, Louisiana. Established in 1847, it is the 12th oldest law school in the United States. Campus The law schoo ...

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. In 1901, he was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

and established his practice in

New Iberia New Iberia (; ) is the largest city in and the parish seat of Iberia Parish, Louisiana, Iberia Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The city of New Iberia is located approximately southeast of Lafayette, Louisiana, Lafayette, and forms part of ...

, the Iberia Parish

seat of government The seat of government is (as defined by ''Brewer's Politics'') "the building, complex of buildings or the city from which a government exercises its authority". In most countries, the nation's Capital city, capital is also seat of its governmen ...

. Broussard was

prosecuting attorney A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in civil law. The prosecution is the legal party responsible ...

for the Louisiana 19th Judicial District from 1903 to 1908. Between 1914 and 1916, he was affiliated with

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

's Progressive Party. Broussard opposed the " Old Regulars," the New Orleans Democratic

political machine In the politics of representative democracies, a political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives (such as money or political jobs) and that is characterized by a high degree of leadership c ...

. Broussard ran unsuccessfully in 1916 for

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

on an intra-party Progressive

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with

gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

candidate John M. Parker, another Roosevelt loyalist. In 1920, Broussard defeated

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

former Governor Jared Y. Sanders, Sr to win the

senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

seat vacated two years earlier by his late brother, U. S. Senator

Robert F. Broussard Robert Foligny Broussard (August 17, 1864 – April 12, 1918) was both a U.S. representative and a U.S. senator from Louisiana. He was born on the Mary Louise plantation near New Iberia, the seat of Iberia Parish, to Jean Dorville Broussard, ...

. Broussard opposed

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

and introduced legislation that sought to exclude beer and wine from the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution. He supported the sugar

tariff A tariff or import tax is a duty (tax), duty imposed by a national Government, government, customs territory, or supranational union on imports of goods and is paid by the importer. Exceptionally, an export tax may be levied on exports of goods ...

and federal

flood control Flood management or flood control are methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flooding can be caused by a mix of both natural processes, such as extreme weather upstream, and human changes to waterbodies and ru ...

projects important to his state. Broussard and Sanders both ran again in the 1926 Senate election. The

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

and the Old Regulars rallied against Broussard because of his

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, but with strong support from

Louisiana Public Service Commission The Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) is an independent regulatory agency which manages public utilities and motor carriers in Louisiana. The Commission is established by Article IV, Section 21 of the 1921 Constitution of the State of ...

er (later Governor) Huey Pierce Long, Jr., Broussard defeated Sanders a second time. In his

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

, '' Every Man a King'', Long took credit for Broussard's re-election to his second Senate term: "I supported him, and he hasn't a friend in the state who would say that he could have been elected to the Senate in 1926 if it had not been for me." Huey Pierce Long, Jr., ''Every Man a King: The Autobiography of Huey P. Long'' (

: National Book Club, Inc., 1933), pp. 256-257. Broussard supported Long's bid for governor in 1928, but not his run for senator in 1930, which occurred during Long's governorship. Broussard had called upon Long as senator-elect to resign as governor and turn over the office to Lieutenant Governor

Paul N. Cyr Paul Narcisse Cyr (September 9, 1878 – August 24, 1946), nicknamed the "Wild Bull of Jeanerette", was an American politician, dentist, banker, and geologist, who served as Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1931, unsuccessfully decla ...

, a former Long ally turned opponent. Long remained senator-elect for more than a year, however, and did not work well with Broussard as his fellow senator. Broussard even began to praise his former opponent, Sanders, whom Long had helped Broussard to defeat. Long by then considered Broussard "a conservative" in the mold of Sanders and favored the more moderate

John Holmes Overton John Holmes Overton Sr. (September 17, 1875 – May 14, 1948), was an attorney and Democratic US Representative and US Senator from Louisiana. His nephew, Thomas Overton Brooks, was also a US representative, from the Shreveport-based 4th distri ...

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

Rapides Parish Rapides Parish () () is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 130,023. The parish seat and largest city is Alexandria, which developed along the Red River of the South. ''Rapides'' is th ...

as Broussard's Senate replacement. Broussard was denied renomination in the 1932 Democratic

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

as a result of Long's preference; the Long faction was accused of

electoral fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud, or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share o ...

following Overton's victory in the primaries. After his defeat, Broussard resumed his law practice and tended to the bank and financial affairs in New Iberia, where he died in 1934 and is interred there at St. Peter's Cemetery. He was a member of

The Boston Club The Boston Club is an exclusive private gentlemen's club in New Orleans, Louisiana, US, founded in 1841 as a place for its white members to congregate and partake in the fashionable card game of Boston (card game), Boston. It is the third oldest ...

of New Orleans.

Personal life

On June 5, 1904, Broussard married Marie Clair Patout. The couple had six children.

References

* Retrieved on May 18, 2009

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Broussard, Edwin S. 1874 births 1934 deaths United States Army soldiers American military personnel of the Spanish–American War People from New Iberia, Louisiana Louisiana State University alumni Louisiana lawyers Tulane University Law School alumni Educators from Louisiana American bankers Cajun people Democratic Party United States senators from Louisiana Louisiana Democrats Louisiana Progressives (1912) Huey Long People from Iberia Parish, Louisiana 20th-century United States senators