Felix Edward Hébert Felix Edward Hébert ( October 12 , 1901 – December 29 , 1979 ) , known as F . Edward Hébert , was the longest - serving member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Louisiana , having represented the New Orleans - based 1st congressional district as a Democrat from 1941 until his retirement in 1977 . Hébert was born in New Orleans to Felix Joseph Hébert and the former Lea Naquin . As a student at Jesuit High School there , he wrote prep - school sports for his future employer , the New Orleans Times - Picayune " . He graduated in 1924 from Tulane University in New Orleans and was the first sports editor of the " Tulane Hullabaloo " . He was a member of Delta Sigma Phi fraternity and the Young Men ' s Business Club of New Orleans . On August 1 , 1934 , Hébert married the former Gladys Bofill , and the couple had one daughter , Dawn Marie ( born ca . 1936 ) , who married a future judge of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals , John Malcolm Duhé , Jr . , of Iberia Parish . The couple had four children , Kimberly Duhé Holleman ( born ca . 1957 ) , Jeanne Duhé Sinitier , Edward Malcolm Duhé ( born ca . 1960 ) , and Martin Bofill Duhé ( born ca . 1962 ) . Hébert pursued a career in public relations for Loyola University in New Orleans and journalism for the " Times - Picayune " and the " New Orleans States " , a paper purchased by the " Times - Picayune " while Hébert worked there . As a front - page columnist and political editor , he covered the candidacy and election of Governor Huey Pierce Long , Jr . , as one of U . S . senators from Louisiana . His coverage of the " Louisiana Scandals " or " Louisiana Hayride " , references to corruption among followers of the Long family , led to the convictions of Governor Richard W . Leche of New Orleans and Louisiana State University President James Monroe Smith . Because of Hébert ' s efforts , the " Times - Picayune " won the Delta Sigma Chi plaque for " courage in journalism " . Hébert ' s work also led to his election in 1940 to the 77th U . S . Congress . He served in the House of Representatives until the end of the 94th Congress , having chosen not to seek a nineteenth term in 1976 . That longevity set a Louisiana record for the service in the U . S . House . Hébert was temporarily succeeded by the Democrat Richard A . Tonry , who in turn was quickly replaced by Bob Livingston , the first Republican to represent the district since the Reconstruction era . Hébert rarely had serious opposition . In 1952 , the Republican George W . Reese , Jr . , of New Orleans challenged him and drew a third of the general election vote . In 1954 , Reese tried again , but in the low turnout off - year election , he polled only a sixth of the vote . In 1960 , Reese , then the Republican national committeeman from Louisiana , was also the Republican standard bearer in the U . S . Senate election against Allen J . Ellender but secured only a fifth of the ballots cast , as John F . Kennedy won Louisiana ' s then ten electoral vote s . Hébert opposed school desegregation and signed the Southern Manifesto in opposition to the United States Supreme Court ' s " Brown v . Board of Education " decision ( 1954 ) which moved against " de jure " segregation in seventeen states and the District of Columbia . Hébert was the chairman of the Committee on Armed Services from 1971 – 1975 . He was removed from the chairmanship in a revolt of the increasingly young and liberal House Democratic Caucus against the seniority system . Many of the younger Democrats were not pleased when he addressed the new members from the Watergate Class of 1974 as " boys and girls " . They considered him too amenable to the Pentagon . Hebert is responsible for founding the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda , Maryland . In a 1960 oral history interview with the Lyndon B . Johnson Library in Austin , Texas , Hébert said that he never participated in any elections other than his own House races — not president , governor , U . S . senator , or mayor of New Orleans . By shunning other contests , he reasoned that he kept down the number of political opponents who might have challenged him for his otherwise " safe " congressional seat . Hébert died in New Orleans and is entombed there in Lake Lawn Park Mausoleum . On January 28 , 2012 , Hebert , along with Fred Baden , former mayor of Pineville , and Adras LaBorde , former managing editor of the " Alexandria Daily Town Talk " , was posthumously inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield . A banquet at the Winnfield Civic Center honored the inductees , three living and three deceased .