Claude B. Duval
Encyclopedia
Claude Berwick Duval, I (October 24, 1914 - March 3, 1986), was a Houma, Louisiana
, attorney and a conservative
Democratic
state senator from Terrebonne
and St. Mary
parishes, having served from 1968 to 1980. He is best known for his profound oratory, his accommodation of Senate colleagues, his unsuccessful 1963-1964 campaign for lieutenant governor
, and his opposition to the national holiday honoring civil rights
advocate Martin Luther King, Jr.
reserve officers training school in Quantico, Virginia
, where they were jointly commissioned on October 31, 1942, as second lieutenants. The brothers served during World War II
with the First and Third battalions, 23rd Marine Regiment of the 4th Marine Division. They landed in the assault waves in the seizure and capture of the Pacific islands of Saipan
, Tinian
, and Iwo Jima
. Stanwood Duval wrote a memorial of his war experiences, which he dedicated to the 3,298 officers and enlisted men of the 4th Marine Division who lost their lives in the fighting.
After the war, Claude Duval resumed his Houma law practice, which became Duval, Funderburk, and Sundbery. Stanwood Duval established a successful insurance agency. Both were active in their community. In 1957, Claude Duval was named president of the Houma branch of Rotary International
.
) deLesseps Story Morrison, Sr. He was presumably the "conservative" balance to the more "moderate" Morrison. In his own race, Duval was pitted against his St. Mary Parish
neighbor and the sitting lieutenant governor, Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock
, who agreed with Duval on many issues. Aycock was informally paired with John Julian McKeithen
in the Democratic runoff though he was actually an independent candidate who made no alliance with any gubernatorial candidate that year. Aycock had the advantage in experience and name recognition.
There was little evidence of "ticket-splitting," where Morrison supporters backed Aycock, or where McKeithen backers chose Duval. In retrospect, all four men had far more in common than otherwise. Duval in fact was arguably as conservative as Aycock, but in central and north Louisiana, voters perceived Duval unfavorably as a Morrison lieutenant. Other candidates on the Morrison slate were Jack M. Dyer
of Baton Rouge for insurance commissioner
and Raymond Laborde
of Marksville
for custodian of voting machines. In 1968, when Duval entered the state Senate, Lieutenant Governor Aycock, presiding officer of the Senate, had begun his third term in the second-highest state office.
, on April 4, 1968. He issued a statement critical of the direction of the civil rights movement:
"The American flag flew at half-mast to [honor] a man who aided and abetted the communists of North Vietnam, as he publicly supported the draft card burners and sought to undermine and betray our fighting sons in Vietnam.
"In the avalanche of propaganda, hypocrisy, and falsehood that followed the death of King, the President Lyndon B. Johnson
and national figures, together with the news media, have undertaken to eulogize and commit to martyrdom Martin Luther King [Jr.], who, under the guise of non-violence, caused violence wherever he went.
"The voice of truth is not heard in the land. All has been forgiven, all has been forgotten. None seem to remember that only the day before his death, King openly declared his intention to violate law and order—a federal court order. This was nothing new, since he had previously violated a federal court order. . . .
"We witness in our major cities looting, theft, burglary, arson, robbery, murder-all, indeed, a fitting tribute to an advocate of violence.
"I call upon all men, the responsible Negro community as well as the white, to face the facts and truth and to dispel from all minds the falsehood and hypocrisy that have been visited upon us by our leaders and the news media. If the men who died in World War II
, in Korea
, and Vietnam
should return, they would cry out in horror at the eulogizing of a man who. . . aided and abetted the enemies of this nation, who preached disobedience of law and who incited violence and riot.
“I know I speak against the tide of overwhelming emotion. . . but let the voice of truth be heard in the land. If it is possible, let the voice of reason be heard. Then may the Negro and the white communities join together in a truthful and realistic effort to build a better society."
Robert G. "Bob" Jones, a Lake Charles
stockbroker and the son of former Governor Sam Houston Jones, served in the Senate with Duval from 1972 to 1976. According to Jones, Duval was "a very bright guy ... one of the most respected of all the senators." Jones said that he believed Morrison had tapped Duval as a running mate because of Duval's towering character and reputation, not because of political philosophical considerations.
Duval served three terms in the Senate before he retired in 1980. In 1983, President Ronald W. Reagan signed legislation to designate the third Monday of January as the federal holiday in honor of Dr. King. The law took effect in January 1986, two months before King critic Claude Duval died.
Duval's social conservatism also included opposition to the proposed Equal Rights Amendment
. When the measure failed to gain ratification after an extended deadline in 1982, Duval recalled that "in the Sixties everybody was obsessed with their [sic] rights. Everybody worried about their [sic] rights. Rather than rights, people should talk more about their responsibility to their country," Duval said.
In 1970, Duval told the Central Louisiana Press Club in Alexandria
that he was considering entering the gubernatorial field because he said the state "needs a new look established on old values." Ultimately, he did not file in a race won by Edwin Edwards
.
After he left the state Senate, Duval's political contributions went mostly to Republicans
. There is no indication, however, that he himself switched parties. Among recipients of his donations were the Ronald W. Reagan presidential campaign, the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, GOP
Congressman William Henson Moore, III
, of Baton Rouge, who ran for the U.S. Senate in 1986, and Democratic and later Republican Congressman Wilbert Joseph "Billy" Tauzin, Jr.
, of Lafourche Parish. Duval's contribution to Moore came in the spring of 1985.
Duval survived his wife, the former Betty Bowman (1914–1985), by only five months. He was survived by a daughter, Dorothy Duval Nelson (born 1947), whose husband, Charles Waldemar Nelson (also born 1947), is the former president of the World Trade Center in New Orleans; two grandchildren; his brother, Stanwood Duval (1913–2001); a sister, Catherine Duval Dean (1916–1997) of Albuquerque, New Mexico
; a maternal aunt, Alice Richardson Butler (1910–1995), and a maternal uncle who was his junior in age, Frank D. Richardson (1916–1993), both of St. Joseph
, the seat of Tensas Parish.
Duval also had two nephew
s, his namesake Claude Berwick Duval, II (born 1955), a prominent Houma attorney, and U.S. District Judge Stanwood Richardson Duval, Jr.
(born 1942), an appointee of President William Jefferson Blythe "Bill" Clinton
, based in New Orleans. Stanwood Duval, a Democrat, blocked the implementation of the "Choose Life" license plates approved by the state legislature on grounds that the optional plates were in violation of the First Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution. Judge Duval's argument was unanimously reversed in 2005 by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. A perfectly divided en banc court denied a petition for rehearing by a vote of eight-to-eight. Judge Duval is clearly to the political left of his late uncle. However, Claude Duval was a strong advocate of the First Amendment and supported abortion
.
Claude and Betty Duval are interred in the Magnolia Cemetery in Houma. Duval was Episcopalian. In addition, to the Senate office facility, Duval is honored through the "Senator Claude B. Duval Scholarship" given at Nicholls State University
in Thibodaux
.
, in 1670. Known for his "gallic charm," he once asked a woman whose husband he had just robbed to dance with him.
Houma, Louisiana
Houma is a city in and the parish seat of Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, and the largest principal city of the Houma–Bayou Cane–Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's powers of government have been absorbed by the parish, which is now run by the Terrebonne Parish...
, attorney and a conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
state senator from Terrebonne
Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana
Terrebonne Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Houma. Its population was 111,860...
and St. Mary
St. Mary Parish, Louisiana
St. Mary Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Franklin. As of 2000, the population was 53,500.The Morgan City Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of St. Mary Parish.-Geography:...
parishes, having served from 1968 to 1980. He is best known for his profound oratory, his accommodation of Senate colleagues, his unsuccessful 1963-1964 campaign for lieutenant governor
Lieutenant governor
A lieutenant governor or lieutenant-governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction, but is often the deputy or lieutenant to or ranking under a governor — a "second-in-command"...
, and his opposition to the national holiday honoring civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
advocate Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
Early years, family, military
Duval was born in Houma to Stanwood Duval (1868–1928), and the former Mamie Richardson. Claude Duval and his older brother, Stanwood Richardson Duval, Sr., attended the United States Marine CorpsUnited States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
reserve officers training school in Quantico, Virginia
Quantico, Virginia
- Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there are 561 people, 295 households, and 107 families living in the town. The population density is . There are 359 housing units at an average density of .-Racial composition:...
, where they were jointly commissioned on October 31, 1942, as second lieutenants. The brothers served during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
with the First and Third battalions, 23rd Marine Regiment of the 4th Marine Division. They landed in the assault waves in the seizure and capture of the Pacific islands of Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
, Tinian
Tinian
Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.-Geography:Tinian is about 5 miles southwest of its sister island, Saipan, from which it is separated by the Saipan Channel. It has a land area of 39 sq.mi....
, and Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
. Stanwood Duval wrote a memorial of his war experiences, which he dedicated to the 3,298 officers and enlisted men of the 4th Marine Division who lost their lives in the fighting.
After the war, Claude Duval resumed his Houma law practice, which became Duval, Funderburk, and Sundbery. Stanwood Duval established a successful insurance agency. Both were active in their community. In 1957, Claude Duval was named president of the Houma branch of Rotary International
Rotary International
Rotary International is an organization of service clubs known as Rotary Clubs located all over the world. The stated purpose of the organization is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help...
.
Lieutenant governor campaign
In 1963, Duval ran for lieutenant governor on the intraparty "ticket" of former New Orleans Mayor (and also former Ambassador to the Organization of American StatesOrganization of American States
The Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...
) deLesseps Story Morrison, Sr. He was presumably the "conservative" balance to the more "moderate" Morrison. In his own race, Duval was pitted against his St. Mary Parish
St. Mary Parish, Louisiana
St. Mary Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Franklin. As of 2000, the population was 53,500.The Morgan City Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of St. Mary Parish.-Geography:...
neighbor and the sitting lieutenant governor, Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock
Clarence C. Aycock
Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock , a conservative Democrat from Franklin in St. Mary Parish, was the only three-term lieutenant governor in modern Louisiana history. He served from 1960 to 1972. Aycock failed in his only bid for governor in the 1971 Democratic primary...
, who agreed with Duval on many issues. Aycock was informally paired with John Julian McKeithen
John McKeithen
John Julian McKeithen was the 49th Governor of Louisiana, serving from 1964 to 1972. A Democrat from the town of Columbia, he was the first governor of his state in the twentieth century to serve two consecutive terms...
in the Democratic runoff though he was actually an independent candidate who made no alliance with any gubernatorial candidate that year. Aycock had the advantage in experience and name recognition.
There was little evidence of "ticket-splitting," where Morrison supporters backed Aycock, or where McKeithen backers chose Duval. In retrospect, all four men had far more in common than otherwise. Duval in fact was arguably as conservative as Aycock, but in central and north Louisiana, voters perceived Duval unfavorably as a Morrison lieutenant. Other candidates on the Morrison slate were Jack M. Dyer
Jack M. Dyer
Jack M. Dyer is a Democrat who served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, from 1960-1964....
of Baton Rouge for insurance commissioner
Insurance commissioner
Insurance commissioner is an executive office in many U.S. states, some in the state cabinet. The office differs state by state:...
and Raymond Laborde
Raymond Laborde
Raymond Julian Laborde, I , is a department store owner and a retired Democratic politician in his native Marksville, the seat of Avoyelles Parish in south Central Louisiana. He was the mayor of Marksville from 1958–1970 and thereafter served five terms from 1972–1992 in the Louisiana House of...
of Marksville
Marksville, Louisiana
Marksville is a city in and the parish seat of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,537 at the 2000 census. Louisiana's first land-based casino, Paragon Casino Resort, opened in Marksville in June 1994...
for custodian of voting machines. In 1968, when Duval entered the state Senate, Lieutenant Governor Aycock, presiding officer of the Senate, had begun his third term in the second-highest state office.
Duval on Martin Luther King
Duval was state senator-elect at the time of the King assassination in Memphis, TennesseeMemphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, on April 4, 1968. He issued a statement critical of the direction of the civil rights movement:
"The American flag flew at half-mast to [honor] a man who aided and abetted the communists of North Vietnam, as he publicly supported the draft card burners and sought to undermine and betray our fighting sons in Vietnam.
"In the avalanche of propaganda, hypocrisy, and falsehood that followed the death of King, the President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
and national figures, together with the news media, have undertaken to eulogize and commit to martyrdom Martin Luther King [Jr.], who, under the guise of non-violence, caused violence wherever he went.
"The voice of truth is not heard in the land. All has been forgiven, all has been forgotten. None seem to remember that only the day before his death, King openly declared his intention to violate law and order—a federal court order. This was nothing new, since he had previously violated a federal court order. . . .
"We witness in our major cities looting, theft, burglary, arson, robbery, murder-all, indeed, a fitting tribute to an advocate of violence.
"I call upon all men, the responsible Negro community as well as the white, to face the facts and truth and to dispel from all minds the falsehood and hypocrisy that have been visited upon us by our leaders and the news media. If the men who died in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, in Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
, and Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
should return, they would cry out in horror at the eulogizing of a man who. . . aided and abetted the enemies of this nation, who preached disobedience of law and who incited violence and riot.
“I know I speak against the tide of overwhelming emotion. . . but let the voice of truth be heard in the land. If it is possible, let the voice of reason be heard. Then may the Negro and the white communities join together in a truthful and realistic effort to build a better society."
Duval in the state Senate
Once in the state Senate, Duval spoke eloquently and for long periods on nearly any topic brought before the body. Some called him the "Cicero of the Louisiana Senate." He was also helpful to colleagues in obtaining office space and other personal favors. In 2006, the state Senate posthumously honored him with the dedication of the Senate building known as "Duval Hall."Robert G. "Bob" Jones, a Lake Charles
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Located in Calcasieu Parish, a major cultural, industrial, and educational center in the southwest region of the state, and one of the most important in...
stockbroker and the son of former Governor Sam Houston Jones, served in the Senate with Duval from 1972 to 1976. According to Jones, Duval was "a very bright guy ... one of the most respected of all the senators." Jones said that he believed Morrison had tapped Duval as a running mate because of Duval's towering character and reputation, not because of political philosophical considerations.
Duval served three terms in the Senate before he retired in 1980. In 1983, President Ronald W. Reagan signed legislation to designate the third Monday of January as the federal holiday in honor of Dr. King. The law took effect in January 1986, two months before King critic Claude Duval died.
Duval's social conservatism also included opposition to the proposed Equal Rights Amendment
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time...
. When the measure failed to gain ratification after an extended deadline in 1982, Duval recalled that "in the Sixties everybody was obsessed with their [sic] rights. Everybody worried about their [sic] rights. Rather than rights, people should talk more about their responsibility to their country," Duval said.
In 1970, Duval told the Central Louisiana Press Club in Alexandria
Alexandria, Louisiana
Alexandria is a city in and the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes....
that he was considering entering the gubernatorial field because he said the state "needs a new look established on old values." Ultimately, he did not file in a race won by Edwin Edwards
Edwin Edwards
Edwin Washington Edwards served as the Governor of Louisiana for four terms , twice as many terms as any other Louisiana chief executive has served. Edwards was also Louisiana's first Roman Catholic governor in the 20th century...
.
After he left the state Senate, Duval's political contributions went mostly to Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
. There is no indication, however, that he himself switched parties. Among recipients of his donations were the Ronald W. Reagan presidential campaign, the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, GOP
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Congressman William Henson Moore, III
Henson Moore
William Henson Moore III , is a retired attorney and businessman who is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, having represented the Baton Rouge-based Sixth Congressional District, from 1975-1987. He is only the second Republican to have represented Louisiana in the House since...
, of Baton Rouge, who ran for the U.S. Senate in 1986, and Democratic and later Republican Congressman Wilbert Joseph "Billy" Tauzin, Jr.
Billy Tauzin
Wilbert Joseph Tauzin II , usually known as Billy Tauzin, American lobbyist and politician of Cajun descent, was President and CEO of PhRMA, a pharmaceutical company lobby group...
, of Lafourche Parish. Duval's contribution to Moore came in the spring of 1985.
Duval survived his wife, the former Betty Bowman (1914–1985), by only five months. He was survived by a daughter, Dorothy Duval Nelson (born 1947), whose husband, Charles Waldemar Nelson (also born 1947), is the former president of the World Trade Center in New Orleans; two grandchildren; his brother, Stanwood Duval (1913–2001); a sister, Catherine Duval Dean (1916–1997) of Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
; a maternal aunt, Alice Richardson Butler (1910–1995), and a maternal uncle who was his junior in age, Frank D. Richardson (1916–1993), both of St. Joseph
St. Joseph, Louisiana
St. Joseph is a town in and the parish seat of Tensas Parish in northeastern Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,340 at the 2000 census. The town is 69 percent African American. St. Joseph is the entry community to Lake Bruin State Park located on Lake Bruin, a relatively clear oxbow...
, the seat of Tensas Parish.
Duval also had two nephew
Nephew
Nephew is a son of one's sibling or sibling-in-law, and niece is a daughter of one's sibling or a sibling-in-law. Sons and daughters of siblings-in-law are also informally referred to as nephews and nieces respectively, even though there is no blood relation...
s, his namesake Claude Berwick Duval, II (born 1955), a prominent Houma attorney, and U.S. District Judge Stanwood Richardson Duval, Jr.
Stanwood Duval
Stanwood Richardson Duval, Jr. Stanwood Richardson Duval, Jr. Stanwood Richardson Duval, Jr. (born February 8, 1942, is a U.S. District Court judge in the Eastern District of Louisiana. He was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994., and has his chambers in New Orleans....
(born 1942), an appointee of President William Jefferson Blythe "Bill" Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, based in New Orleans. Stanwood Duval, a Democrat, blocked the implementation of the "Choose Life" license plates approved by the state legislature on grounds that the optional plates were in violation of the First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
to the U.S. Constitution. Judge Duval's argument was unanimously reversed in 2005 by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. A perfectly divided en banc court denied a petition for rehearing by a vote of eight-to-eight. Judge Duval is clearly to the political left of his late uncle. However, Claude Duval was a strong advocate of the First Amendment and supported abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
.
Claude and Betty Duval are interred in the Magnolia Cemetery in Houma. Duval was Episcopalian. In addition, to the Senate office facility, Duval is honored through the "Senator Claude B. Duval Scholarship" given at Nicholls State University
Nicholls State University
Nicholls State University, founded in 1948, is a public university located in Thibodaux, Louisiana, USA. Nicholls is part of the University of Louisiana System of universities. Originally called Francis T. Nicholls Junior College, the institution split from the Louisiana State University System in...
in Thibodaux
Thibodaux, Louisiana
Thibodaux is a small city in and the parish seat of Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, United States, along the banks of Bayou Lafourche in the northwestern part of the parish. The population was 14,431 at the 2000 census. Thibodaux is a principal city of the Houma–Bayou Cane–Thibodaux...
.
Trivia
Duval had the same name as a notorious French-born highwayman of the 17th Century. That Claude Duval was hanged for his crime in Convent Garden, EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, in 1670. Known for his "gallic charm," he once asked a woman whose husband he had just robbed to dance with him.