Fernández, Joachim Octave, 1896-1978

<p>Joachim Octave Fernández, Sr. (August 14, 1896 – August 8, 1978), was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives for Louisiana's 1st congressional district. Like all other members of his state's congressional delegation at the time of his tenure, Fernández was a Democrat.</p>

<p>Son of Octave Gonzales Fernández and Mary Benson, he was born, lived, and died in New Orleans, Louisiana. Their ancestors came from the Canary Islands, Spain. Settlers in Louisiana from the Canaries are known as Isleños.[1] On June 3, 1920, he married Viola Murray, and the couple had two sons and two daughters. He began his political career as a member of the Old Regular political machine. He was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1924 to 1928 and the State Senate from 1928 to 1930 at the time of the administration of Mayor T. Semmes Walmsley. In 1930, however, Fernández defected to the camp of Walmsley's enemy, Governor Huey Pierce Long, Jr. He became Long's Ninth Ward political boss and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1930 with Long's support. He lost his seat in 1940 to reform candidate Felix Edward Hébert, a former journalist for the New Orleans Times-Picayune.</p>

<p>Fernández was a delegate to the Louisiana state constitutional convention in 1921, which wrote the document to govern his state until 1975. He was an alternate delegate to the 1936 Democratic National Convention, which renominated the Franklin D. Roosevelt-John Nance Garner ticket. In his forties, Fernández served in the United States Navy as a lieutenant commander during World War II. After his congressional service, Fernández was the U.S. collector of internal revenue in New Orleans.</p>

FERNÁNDEZ, Joachim Octave, a Representative from Louisiana; born in New Orleans, La., August 14, 1896; attended the public schools and Cecil Barrois School in New Orleans, La.; demurrage and storage tariff expert from 1921; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1921; member of the State house of representatives 1924-1928; served in the State senate 1928-1930; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-second and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1931-January 3, 1941); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1940 to the Seventy-seventh Congress; called to active duty as a lieutenant commander in the United States Naval Reserve on January 8, 1941, and served until placed on the inactive duty list on September 30, 1943; appointed collector of internal revenue for the district of Louisiana in September 1943 and served until October 1946; engaged in the general tax business and as a tax consultant; in 1951 employed as revenue examiner for department of revenue, State of Louisiana, and head of income tax section; resided in New Orleans, La., where he died August 8, 1978; interment in Metairie Cemetery.

<p>Joachim O. Fernández, a native New Orleanian and a veteran of the city’s tangled political scene, served as a U.S. Representative during the tumultuous 1930s. Attentive to his east New Orleans constituency, he sought federal dollars for major infrastructure improvements to revive employment during the Great Depression and supported the expansion and modernization of the U.S. Navy. With a seat on the Naval Affairs Committee and later on, the Appropriations Committee, he was well situated to achieve these goals. But Fernández’s political fortunes were entwined with those of the statehouse political machine ruled by Huey P. Long, the flamboyant and ruthless boss of Louisiana politics. Fernández jettisoned the city Democrats who helped launch his political career and migrated his allegiance to Long’s organization, embarking on a decade-long House career that benefited from Long’s largesse. “I fought the city machine, and by the grace of God and the help of Senator Long I was elected to Congress,” said Fernández on the House Floor.</p>

<p>Joachim Octave (Joe) Fernández was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 14, 1896, to Octave Gonzales Fernández and Mary (Benson) Fernández. According to census records, Octave’s father, V. G. Fernández, was born in Spain and emigrated to the United States, where he worked as a merchant. Octave Fernández, a native New Orleanian, served in the Louisiana state house of representatives and died in office in 1921. Joachim was the second of six children who were raised in the family home on Dauphine Street in eastern New Orleans, several blocks north of the Mississippi River. He completed the elementary grades at public school and a local private school, Cecil Barrois, but did not attend high school or college. He worked as an expert on shipping fees and storage tariffs. On June 3, 1920, Fernández married the former Viola Murray, a native of Covington, Louisiana, who had lived in New Orleans for nearly two decades. They raised four children: Florau, Mercedes, June Rose, and Joachim, Jr. Viola died on May 7, 1947, and Fernández subsequently married Jessie Nosacka.</p>

<p>Fernández’s political career began in 1921, the same year his father died, 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.</p>