Robert F. Broussard and Edwin S. Broussard were brothers from rural Iberia Parish who served in the U. S. Senate, 1915 1918 and 1921 1933 respectively. Robert also served in the U. S. House of Representatives, 1897 1915. Their parents were John Dorville Broussard and Anastasie E. Gonsoulin, married 6 January 1852. The family lived on a plantation (farm) near Loreauville.

BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT FOLIGNY BROUSSARD

Robert F. Broussard was born 17 August 1864, the ninth of 14 children born to Anastasie and John D. Broussard. Very little is known about his early life, except for one tragic event. During a one month period in 1867, a yellow fever epidemic took the lives of five of Robert's brothers and sisters. Robert, age three, was the younger of the two Broussard children who survived that epidemic. According to subsequent campaign biographies, Robert was educated in both public and parochial schools. He attended Georgetown University and studied law at Tulane University. While a student in New Orleans, Robert worked at the U. S. Customs House, first (1885 1886) as night customs inspector and then (1887 1889) as assistant weigher and statistician.

After graduation from Tulane in 1889, he returned to New Iberia. He was practicing law in the firm of [Robert F.] Broussard and [L. T.] Dulaney when he won election to District Attorney as an anti-Lottery candidate in 1892. Broussard held this office until winning election to the U. S. House of Representatives in 1896. He was reelected, often without opposition, to serve for a total of nine consecutive terms.

In 1898, Robert offered to resign his seat in Congress to join the Spanish American War, but Louisiana Governor Murphy J. Foster declined to accept the resignation.

Robert maintained membership in the New Iberia Masonic chapter and other local fraternal groups. He was a nonresident member of the elite Boston Club, and he also joined the politically significant Choctaw Club. He cultivated a popular "Cousin Bob" political persona, probably pronounced "Coozan Bob", to spotlight his French ethnicity. His friends urged the ambitious congressman to run for governor in 1908, but he decided against it. Robert sought the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by Samuel D. McEnery's death in 1910, but the state legislature chose John R. Thornton instead. When Thornton declined to seek election in 1912, Broussard waged a vigorous campaign and defeated Gov. Jared Y. Sanders for the Senate term beginning in March 1915. Robert remained in Congress throughout, winning a controversial ninth term while running as senator-elect.

Despite heavy pressure from Third District sugar interests to join the newcomer pro tariff Progressive Party, Robert retained his Democratic Party affiliation while battling the party's regulars back home and in Washington. He hoped to gain a foothold in national Democratic circles by supporting Woodrow Wilson at the 1912 national convention in Baltimore, but Wilson's ardent anti-tariff position made a warm relationship ultimately impossible.

Robert's political career was indeed dominated by the sugar tariff and related issues. Navigational and flood protection legislation were also high on his agenda. He consolidated support in coastal parishes by beginning the effort towards Intracoastal Canal construction. He extended his constituency upriver by being one of the first, if not the first, in Louisiana to urge federal funding for Mississippi River flood protection.

While in his first congressional term, Robert married Marrette Applegate of New Orleans whom everyone called "Baby." During the course of their life together, the Broussard household included Marrette's mother, Mrs. Applegate. Robert and Baby had no children. They lived in a series of hotels and apartment houses in Washington during sessions, and stayed with relatives in New Orleans and New Iberia between sessions. A house building project on his plantation (farm) Beau Sejour in Iberia Parish was still uncompleted at Robert's death.

Robert had irons in several entrepreneurial fires, including a Honduran concession, a mine in Mexico, a farm in Iberia Parish, a real estate venture in New Iberia, and an oil company. Apparently none of these earned much income during his lifetime, as he described himself as "a man without means." He seemed to be always in debt.

According to information from Broussard family members, Baby Broussard remained in New Iberia after Robert's death and the subsequent death of her mother. She eventually married a Mr. Ribbeck with whom she finished the house at Beau Sejour.

Robert Broussard died 12 April 1918 and is buried in St. Peter Cemetery, New Iberia. There are two memorials to Robert Broussard in the area: a bronze bust in the lobby of the Iberia Parish Courthouse and a building named after him on the campus of the University of Southwestern Louisiana.

BIOGRAPHY OF EDWIN SIDNEY BROUSSARD

Edwin Sidney Broussard was born 4 December 1874, some years after the disastrous yellow fever epidemic mentioned above. He was the youngest of the Broussard children.

According to his campaign literature, he attended public schools. After graduating from Louisiana State University in 1896, Edwin entered the field of education. He taught as principal at Jeanerette High School 1896 97 and at St. Martinville High School 1897 98.

He was a captain in the Spanish American War in Cuba, serving in Company I, Second U. S. Volunteer Infantry, known as "Hood's Immunes." After mustering out, Edwin entered Tulane University to study law, but left soon afterwards to accompany the William Howard Taft Commission to the Philippines. He spent ten months in Manila, and then returned to Tulane where he graduated in 1901, president of his law school class.

Returning to New Iberia, he practiced law with the Broussard and Dulaney firm before entering into partnership with Andrew J. Cammack. He married Marie Patout, the daughter of a prominent sugar planter, Felix Patout. The couple had five children.

In 1903, Edwin was appointed and subsequently elected District Attorney of the Nineteenth Judicial District, serving until 1908. In 1915, after switching party affiliation from Democrat to Progressive, he was elected to another term.

In 1916, Edwin ran for lieutenant governor on John M. Parker's unsuccessful Progressive Party state ticket. By the time he ran for Robert's vacant seat in 1920, Edwin had switched again to the Democratic Party.

Edwin won election to the U.S. Senate in 1920, defeating Robert's political opponent, Jared Y. Sanders. In the Senate, Edwin continued Robert's political agenda. He fought for a strong sugar tariff, Mississippi River flood protection, and funding for the Intracoastal Canal. He was an ardent anti Prohibitionist and an opponent of progressive social measures, such as the Shepherd-Towner Bill.

He won reelection in 1926 aided by loud speakers imported from north Louisiana by Huey P. Long, then a Public Service Commissioner who stumped statewide for Broussard. In 1932, Long-backed candidate John Overton defeated Edwin in a bitter contest which saw Huey's brothers Julius and Earl in the Broussard camp. Convinced that Overton stole the election, Edwin managed to initiate a Senate investigation into the campaign, but to no avail.

Besides politics, Edwin had a prosperous business life. He had sugar plantations in Coteau Holmes and Youngsville, a stock farm in Jeanerette, an irrigation company in Loreauville, and a partnership in Broussard & Schwing Real Estate in New Iberia. He and Marie owned their own home in Washington. Their home in New Iberia was a large house on Main Street, on the bayou side, two doors down from the Shadows.

It was to this home that Marie and Edwin returned in March 1933. Edwin intended to resume his law practice, but spent most of his time at his farm, according to an interview with his son, John Dorville Broussard. He died 19 November 1934 and is buried in St. Peter Cemetery.