David Treen papers

David C. Treen (1928-2009) was the first Republican Governor of Louisiana (1980-1984) since Reconstruction and the first Republican in recent years to represent Louisiana in the House of Representatives (1973-1980). While in Congress, he served on the Armed Services Committee; the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee; the original House Intelligence Committee; and the Ad Hoc Committee to revise the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

Treen received his bachelor's degree from Tulane University (1948) and graduated from Tulane Law School (1950). He married Dolores "Dodi" Brisbi and had three children. He served in the United States Air Force from 1951 to 1952. Treen joined the law firm of Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles and was also a vice president of the Simplex Manufacturing Corporation of New Orleans (1952-1957). During the 1960 presidential campaign, Treen opposed the election of both Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy and instead ran as an elector for the Louisiana States' Rights Party, which supported Virginia Democratic Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr. Treen joined the Republican party to run against Representative Hale Boggs, a Democrat, in 1962 and lost, then ran against him again unsuccessfully in 1964 and 1968. In 1972 he ran for Louisiana Governor, but lost to Edwin Edwards. Finally, in 1972, Treen won a seat in Congress that he held until 1980 when he resigned to become Governor of Louisiana. Edwards defeated him during his reelection attempt, and his nomination by President Reagan in 1987 for a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans also failed. Treen made several other attempts at running for both governor and Congress until his death in 2009. Treen was survived by his son and two daughters. His wife, Dolores "Dodie", died in 2005.