Hewitt Bouanchaud

{{Infobox officeholder | name = Hewitt Leonidas Bouanchaud | image = | caption = | office = 29th [[Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana]] | term_start = May 11, 1920 | term_end = April 12, 1924 | governor = [[John M. Parker]] | predecessor = [[Fernand Mouton]] | successor = [[Delos R. Johnson]] | office2 = [[Louisiana State Legislature|Louisiana State Representative for Pointe Coupee Parish]] | term_start2 = 1904 | term_end2 = 1908 | preceded2 = [[William C. Carruth]] [[M. T. Hewes]] | succeeded2 = [[Ferdinand C. Claiborne]] [[P. O. LeBeau]] | term_start3 = 1912 | term_end3 = 1920 | preceded3 = Ferdinand C. Claiborne P. O. LeBeau | succeeded3 = Ferdinand C. Claiborne [[Simeon Parent]] | office4 = [[Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives]] | term_start4 = 1916 | term_end4 = 1920 | preceded4 = [[Lee Emmett Thomas]] | succeeded4 = [[Richard Flournoy Walker]] | birth_date = {{birth date|1877|8|19}} | birth_place = [[Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana|Pointe Coupee Parish]] [[Louisiana]], [[United States|USA]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1950|10|17|1877|8|19}} | death_place = | resting_place = | party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] | occupation = | alma_mater = | spouse = | children = | relations = [[J. Marshall Brown]] (great-niece's husband) | footnotes = }} '''Hewitt Leonidas Bouanchaud''' (August 19, 1877 – October 17, 1950) was a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] politician in the [[U.S. state]] of [[Louisiana]]. A native of [[Pointe Coupee Parish]], Bouanchaud was elected a member of the [[Louisiana House of Representatives]] in 1904. After an absence of one term, he was elected again in 1912 and 1916. In 1916, he was named [[Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives|Speaker of the Louisiana House]]. In 1920, he was elected [[Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana|lieutenant governor]] as the running mate to [[gubernatorial]] candidate [[John M. Parker]], a Democrat formerly affiliated with the [[Progressive Party (United States, 1912)|Progressive Party]]. Among Bouanchaud's opponents was state court Judge [[Philip H. Gilbert]] of [[Assumption Parish, Louisiana|Assumption Parish]], who was subsequently the interim lieutenant governor from 1926 to 1928.

As the former House Speaker, Bouanchaud was chosen president of the Louisiana Constitutional Convention in 1921. The document produced by that convention remained in force until 1975 during the administration of [[governor of Louisiana|Governor]] [[Edwin Edwards]].

In 1924, Lieutenant Governor Bouanchaud ran for governor against [[Henry L. Fuqua]], and [[Huey Pierce Long, Jr.]] Bouanchaud and Fuqua received the most votes in the first Democratic [[Partisan primary|primary]] held on January 15, 1924, with Long of [[Winnfield, Louisiana|Winnfield]], having been eliminated from contention that year. Long then gained the governorship four years later in 1928. Fuqua defeated Bouanchaud in the second Democratic primary held on February 19, 1924.

Bouanchaud was the brother of longtime Pointe Coupee Parish [[Sheriff]] [[Lamartine Bouanchaud]]. His great-niece, Mary Blanche Crosby Brown (1923-2013), was the wife of [[J. Marshall Brown]], a member of the [[Louisiana House of Representatives]] from [[Orleans Parish, Louisiana|Orleans Parish]] and a leading figure in the [[Louisiana Democratic Party]]. The Bouanchauds were sons of James Alcide Bouanchaud, a [[Captain (OF-2)|captain]] of the Pointe Coupee Battery for the [[Confederate States of America]] during the [[American Civil War]]. Alcide Bouanchaud later became a state district court judge. Hewitt Bouanchaud's nephew, Alcide "Bub" Bouanchaud, and his great-great nephew. Paul Raymond Smith, both served as sheriff in Pointe Coupee Parish.

Bouanchaud was preceded as Speaker by [[Lee Emmett Thomas]] of [[Shreveport, Louisiana|Shreveport]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legis.state.la.us/members/h1812-2012.pdf |title=Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2012 |publisher=legis.state.la.us |access-date=December 29, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091229154214/http://www.legis.state.la.us/members/h1812-2012.pdf |archive-date=December 29, 2009 }}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==Sources== * Curet, Bernard. "Ponte Coupee: Her Place in History." ''[[Acadiana Profile]]'' magazine, September 1969: 9.

{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | before = William C. Carruth M. T. Hewes | title = [[Louisiana State Legislature|Louisiana State Representative for Pointe Coupee Parish]] Hewitt Leonidas Bouanchaud | years = 1904–1908 | after = Ferdinand C. Claiborne P. O. LeBeau }} {{succession box | before = Ferdinand C. Claiborne P. O. LeBeau | title = [[Louisiana State Legislature|Louisiana State Representative for Pointe Coupee Parish]] Hewitt Leonidas Bouanchaud | years = 1912–1920 | after = Ferdinand C. Claiborne Simeon Parent }} {{succession box | before = [[Lee Emmett Thomas]] of [[Caddo Parish, Louisiana|Caddo Parish]] | title = [[Speakers of the Louisiana House of Representatives|Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Pointe Coupee]] Hewitt Leonidas Bouanchaud | years = 1916–1920 | after = Richard Flournoy Walker of [[East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana|East Feliciana Parish]] }} {{succession box | before = Fernand Mouton | title = [[Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana]] Hewitt Leonidas Bouanchaud | years = 1920–1924 | after = Delos R. Johnson }} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouanchaud, Hewitt}} [[Category:1877 births]] [[Category:1950 deaths]] [[Category:Lieutenant governors of Louisiana]] [[Category:People from Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana]] [[Category:Speakers of the Louisiana House of Representatives]] [[Category:Democratic Party members of the Louisiana House of Representatives]] [[Category:Huey Long]] [[Category:20th-century members of the Louisiana State Legislature]]