deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, Sr.,
was the
mayor of
New Orleans from 1946-1961 who failed in three hard-fought bids for the then-pivotal
Louisiana Democratic gubernatorial nomination. He also served as an appointee of
U.S. President John F. Kennedy as the
United States ambassador to the
Organization of American States between 1961 and 1963. New Orleans' peak population was reached during Morrison's mayoralty, when the 1960
census recorded 627,525 inhabitants, a 10 percent increase from the 1950 figures. Though the population of
metropolitan New Orleans would continue to grow until
Hurricane Katrina, the city itself has yet to regain its 1960 high-water mark.