Patrick Thomson Caffery, Sr., known as Pat Caffery (July 6, 1932 – December 17, 2013), was an attorney from

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 ...

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 formerly served as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

in the

Louisiana House of Representatives The Louisiana House of Representatives (; ) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. This chamber is composed of 105 representatives, each of whom represents approximately 4 ...

from 1964 to 1968 and then as a

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Louisiana's 3rd congressional district Louisiana's 3rd congressional district is a United States congressional district in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The district covers the southwestern and south central portion of the state, ranging from the Texas border to the Atchafalaya Rive ...

from 1969 to 1973.

Early life

Patrick Thomson Caffery, Sr. was born in St. Mary Parish in

South Louisiana The Port of South Louisiana () extends 54 miles (87 km) along the Mississippi River between New Orleans, Louisiana and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, centering approximately at LaPlace, Louisiana, which serves as the Port's headquarters location. ...

. His great-great-great-grandfather, Colonel

John Donelson John Donelson (1718–1785) was an American frontiersman, ironmaster, politician, city planner, and explorer. After founding and operating what became Washington Iron Furnace in Franklin County, Virginia for several years, he moved with his famil ...

, was the co-founder of the City of

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. His great-great-great uncle,

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

, served as the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

. His grandfather,

Donelson Caffery Donelson Caffery (September 10, 1835December 30, 1906) was an American politician from the state of Louisiana, a soldier in the American Civil War, and a sugar plantation owner. Biography Caffery was born in Franklin, Louisiana, the seat of S ...

, served as 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 ...

. Pat Caffery was born at Haifleigh Plantation in St. Mary Parish and reared in the

parish seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equivalent term, shire town, is used in ...

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People and characters * Franklin (given name), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (surname), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (class), a member of a historic ...

. He was the eleventh of twelve children of Ralph Earl Caffery and the former Letitia Decuir. An

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of Scouting America. Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Scout rank has been earned by over ...

, he was selected in 1950 in a nationwide competition by the

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

to present a "State of the Nation" report in the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

to then U.S. President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

. He graduated in 1955 from Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now the

University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a Public university, public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus Universi ...

), having been awarded a

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

. He was an accomplished trumpet player and was named as

coronet In British heraldry, a coronet is a type of crown that is a mark of rank of non-reigning members of the royal family and peers. In other languages, this distinction is not made, and usually the same word for ''crown'' is used irrespective of ra ...

soloist with the SLI Stage Band. In 1956, he received a law degree from the

Paul M. Hebert Law Center The Paul M. Hebert Law Center, often styled "LSU Law", is a Public university, public law school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is part of the Louisiana State University System and located on the main campus of Louisiana State University. Because ...

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 was the managing editor of the ''Louisiana Law Review''."Louisiana: Caffery, Patrick Thomson", ''Who's Who in American Politics, 2003-2004'', 19th ed., Vol. 1 (Alabama-Montana) (Marquis Who's Who:

New Providence New Providence is the most populous island in The Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. On the eastern side of the island is the national capital, national capital city of Nassau, Bahamas, Nassau; it had a population of 246 ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, 2003), p. 772

Career

Caffery defeated fellow Democrat Edwin E. Willis, a 20-year incumbent, and a committee chairman, in the

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 ...

held in August 1968. Two years earlier, Willis had survived the challenge waged by the Republican

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

man Hall Lyons of Lafayette, the younger son of GOP state chairman Charlton Lyons. In 1970, at the behest of Governor

John McKeithen John Julian McKeithen (May 28, 1918 – June 4, 1999) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 49th governor of Louisiana from 1964 to 1972. Early life McKeithen was born in Grayson, Louisiana on May 28, 1918. His father was a ...

, U.S. Senator

Russell Long Russell Billiu Long (November 3, 1918 – May 9, 2003) was an American Democratic politician and United States Senator from Louisiana from 1948 until 1987. Because of his seniority, he advanced to chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, servin ...

(who considered Caffery a formidable challenger to his U.S. Senate seat) and U.S. Representative

Edwin Edwards Edwin Washington Edwards (August 7, 1927 – July 12, 2021) was an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1965 to 1972 and as the 50th governor of Louisiana for four terms (1972–1980, 1984–1988, and 1992–1996 ...

, (who feared a challenge by Caffery in Edwards' planned 1971 gubernatorial race) the Louisiana Legislature

gerrymandered Gerrymandering, ( , originally ) defined in the contexts of representative electoral systems, is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries to advantage a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. Th ...

Caffery's district to remove his stronghold of

Lafayette Parish Lafayette Parish () is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. According to the 2020 U.S. census, the parish had a population of 241,753, up from 221,578 at the 2010 United States census. The parish seat and largest city is Lafayett ...

(moving it to Edwards' 7th District) and replace it with portions of Jefferson Parish, in which they thought he would fare poorly. In spite of this opposition from the Democratic political machine, Caffery polled extremely well in Jefferson Parish and even more so in the rest of the district and easily defeated the Machine candidate, State Senator Jules Mollere of Jefferson Parish in the 1970 Democratic Primary. Caffery ran without opposition in the general election in both 1968 and 1970. Caffery did not seek a third term in 1972 and returned to his law practice in New Iberia. His seat then went Republican with the victory of future

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

David C. Treen, who had lost three House elections in the 1960s in

Louisiana's 2nd congressional district Louisiana's 2nd congressional district contains nearly all of the city of New Orleans and stretches west and north to Baton Rouge. The district is currently represented by Democrat Troy Carter. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of D+17 ...

. In defeating the Democrat

J. Louis Watkins, Jr. Joseph Louis Watkins Jr. (March 26, 1929 – August 29, 1997), was a judge of the Louisiana Circuit Courts of Appeal, Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal, based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, from 1979 until his death i ...

, of Houma in

Terrebonne Parish Terrebonne Parish ( ; French: ''Paroisse de Terrebonne'') is a parish located in the southern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 census, the population was 109,580. The parish seat is Houma. The parish was founded in 1822. Terr ...

, Treen became the first Republican to represent a Louisiana district in the U.S. House since

Hamilton D. Coleman Hamilton Dudley Coleman (May 12, 1845 – March 16, 1926) was a businessman and politician who served one term between 1889 and 1891 in the United States House of Representatives representing Louisiana's 2nd congressional district (New Orlea ...

held the Second District seat from 1889 to 1891.Treen had run three unsuccessful but increasingly threatening races against

representative, Democrat

Hale Boggs Thomas Hale Boggs Sr. (February 15, 1914 – disappeared October 16, 1972; declared dead December 29, 1972) was an American Democratic Party politician and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the H ...

, whose liberal voting record accompanied his rise in the Democratic leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives. In an example of the law of

unintended consequences In the social sciences, unintended consequences (sometimes unanticipated consequences or unforeseen consequences, more colloquially called knock-on effects) are outcomes of a purposeful action that are not intended or foreseen. The term was po ...

, the overwhelmingly Democratic

Louisiana legislature The Louisiana State Legislature (; ) is the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is a bicameral legislature, body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 ...

then redrew the district lines, placing Treen's precinct into the neighboring 3rd district. Treen had name recognition throughout the district. Although a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

, Treen was politically at home with the 3rd district's

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

electorate, whom he continued to represent until his inauguration as governor in 1980.

Personal life

In 1954, Caffery married Anne Leontine Bercegeay of Charenton in St. Mary Parish. There are three Caffery sons, Patrick, Jr., Kevin, and Michael.

Death

Caffery died in New Iberia at the age of eighty-one a week before

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

, 2013. He is interred at Beau Pre Cemetery in Jeanerette in Iberia Parish.

External links

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caffery, Patrick T. 1932 births 2013 deaths People from St. Mary Parish, Louisiana People from New Iberia, Louisiana Louisiana lawyers Democratic Party members of the Louisiana House of Representatives University of Louisiana at Lafayette alumni Louisiana State University Law Center alumni Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana People from Franklin, Louisiana 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century Louisiana politicians 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 20th-century members of the Louisiana State Legislature