Tommy Boggs: All in the Family

His father was the legendary Hale Boggs, who challenged the Louisiana political machine of the “Kingfish,” Huey Long. Boggs pere served in the House from 1941 to 1943, but then was beaten for re-election. After World War II, he again ran for Congress and won 14 straight times.

He was a signer of the Southern Manifesto, an anti-integration screed aimed at resisting the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board decision. But as a floor leader during the 1960s, he also steered through most of President Johnson’s Great Society bills.

A year after Boggs Sr.’s plane went down in Alaska, the people of Louisiana’s Second District gave him more than 81,000 votes to his challenger’s 22,000.

Hale Boggs was succeeded by his wife, Lindy, the first Louisiana woman elected to federal office and a cousin of De Lesseps S. “Chep” Morrison, longtime mayor of New Orleans and later ambassador to the Organization of American States. She held the seat until 1991 and was later appointed ambassador to the Vatican. She was given the Congressional Distinguished Service Award in 2006.

Lindy and Hale’s children have also made names for themselves. Tommy’s sister, Barbara Boggs Sigmund, was the mayor of Princeton, N.J., and an unsuccessful candidate for the Senate from New Jersey. She died of cancer in 1990.

Tommy’s other sister is Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs Roberts. Little Tommy struggled with the pronunciation of her third name, and she was nicknamed “Cokie” as a result. Cokie Roberts is a former ABC News correspondent, current NPR commentator and bestselling author.