Fernández, Joachim Octave, 1896-1978

Joachim Octave Fernández, Sr. (August 14, 1896 – August 8, 1978), was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Louisiana's 1st congressional district from 1931 to 1941.

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, he completed the elementary grades at public school and a local private school, Cecil Barrois, but did not attend high school or college, working as an expert on shipping fees and storage tariffs after leaving school. Fernández’s political career began in 1921, when he was elected as a delegate to the Louisiana state constitutional convention. He then won election to the Louisiana legislature and served for much of the 1920s. From 1924 to 1928, he represented New Orleans’ Ninth Ward in the eastern portion of the city, where his family resided, in the state house of representatives. From 1928 through 1930, Fernández held a seat in the state senate encompassing the Eighth and Ninth Wards. Initially he was a party regular and was endorsed by the New Orleans Democratic machine but ultimately defected to the faction of the Louisiana Democratic Party run by Huey P. Long, taking over as the group’s leader in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward.

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