Son of Octave Gonzales Fernández and Mary Benson , he was born , lived , and died in New Orleans , Louisiana . 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 '' 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
1936 Democratic National Convention
1936 Democratic National Convention
Joachim O. Fernández