Hazel Beard

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Hazel F. Beard (born 1930) is the first woman and the first Republican to have served as mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, since Reconstruction. A fiscal conservative and a small business owner, Mrs. Beard grappled with many economic and social problems during her single term as mayor from 1990-1994.

She was a member of the city council at the time of her election as mayor. She was the first woman to have been chairperson of the city council. She declined to seek reelection as mayor.

Beard defeated a black Democrat, C.O. Simpkins, in the mayoral general election. She polled 38,604 votes (59 percent) to Simpkins' 26,341 (41 percent).

Among the candidates eliminated the 1990 jungle primary was the District B city council member, Republican Carolyn Calhoun Whitehurst, a real estate operator, later Carolyn C. Huckaby. Carolyn Huckaby is descended from a prominent De Soto Parish family: her father, Reimer Calhoun was a Democratic member of the Louisiana state Senate from 1944-1952.

In 1992, when Mayor Beard welcomed George H.W. Bush to Shreveport during Bush's ill-fated reelection campaign, the president mistakenly referred to her as "Nasal" Beard.

Hazel Beard is the widow of Charles Carroll Beard (November 24, 1920 - May 30, 2002). The Beards were living in Kingsland (Llano County) in central Texas, at the time of Charles Beard's death.

As mayor, Beard appointed the Republican political activist Harriet Belchic to the Shreveport Women's Commission and the Riverfront Redevelopment Advisory Committee.

Beard's archival material, covering her city council and mayoral service, is located at Louisiana State University at Shreveport.

Preceded by John Brennan Hussey (D)	Mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana Hazel F. Beard (R) 1990–1994	Succeeded by Robert Warren "Bo" Williams (R)