The Honorable Corinne “Lindy” Claiborne Boggs, former ambassador of the U.S. to the Vatican and U.S. Congresswoman, was slated to receive Loyola’s highest honor, the Integritas Vitae Award at the Benefactors Dinner on Thursday in the Danna Center.
According to Kristine Lelong, Director of Public Relations, a committee of Loyola administrators and alumnae chose Boggs because she possesses high moral character and has led a life guided by Jesuit tradition and unselfish service.
Boggs was the first woman from Louisiana to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. She succeeded her husband, House Majority Leader Hale Boggs, by special election in March 1973, after a plane carrying him disappeared over Alaska in October 1972.
During her nine terms in Congress, she served on the Appropriations Committee and chaired the Crisis Intervention Task Force on the Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families.
In 1976, she was the first woman to chair the National Democratic Convention. She was also the first woman to serve as a Regent of the Smithsonian Institution. She presided over the Bicentennial of the American Constitution in 1987 and chaired the commission commemorating Congress’s 200th Anniversary. She retired from Congress in 1990.
Boggs led legislation on issues ranging from civil rights to credit access and government service pay equity for women. Her special interests include scientific research, technology development, and housing issues. Seven facilities in Louisiana are named in her honor, including Loyola’s Lindy Boggs National Center for Community Literacy, dedicated in 1999.
On Tulane’s campus, The Lindy Claiborne Boggs Center for Energy and Biotechnology was dedicated in 1988.
In April, Boggs was the focal point of the inaugural program aired on C-Span for the Center for the Study of Catholics in the South. The program, “A Southern Catholic Woman: Life in Politic and International Affairs,” featured Boggs in an interview program with WWL-TV’s Angela Hill in which Boggs recounted her life in politics and international affairs.
Boggs is a member of the Military and Hospitalier Order of St. Lazarus and the Order of Malta, the Colonial Dames, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, the Constantinian Order of St. George and many other distinguished organizations. Her honors include the first American Veterans Auxiliary National Humanitarian Award, the Eleanor Roosevelt Centennial Award, the National Science Foundation’s Distinguished Service Award, the first annual International Women’s Forum Award and the Louisiana Library Association’s Literary Award for her book, “Washington Through a Purple Veil.”
The Rev. Bernard Knoth, S.J., university president, said, “She is one of those rare individuals whom everyone genuinely likes and respects. She is unselfish with praise, possesses consummate negotiating skills and is able to work with a multitude of people who represent myriad interests. I admire her personal integrity, seasoned toughness, and deep faith.”
