Backrooms and Bayous: My Life in Louisiana Politics

by Robert Mann

Overview

State history, behind-the-scenes stories, funny anecdotes, and life lessons come together to form Robert Mann's indelible memoir about his life and career alongside some of the most powerful lawmakers in the South.

Offering an in-depth, personal perspective of working in government, Mann shares the lives of major politicians and how they affected his own beliefs, eventually shifting his ideological views. Mann has known every Louisiana governor--aside from Uncle Earl--since 1944. He has interviewed past presidents, senators, and aides as a journalist and served as press secretary to two of the most influential Louisiana legislators. He acted as press secretary to the 1990 US Senate reelection campaign of J. Bennett Johnston when he defeated former Klan leader David Duke. He helped elect Mary Landrieu to the US Senate, and his engaging stories range from Russell Long's struggle with his father's past to how Mann lost John Breaux's suitcase. Through it all, Mann writes with humor and empathy, casting politics and politicians in a refreshing, human light. His life story serves as both a cautionary tale for young people seeking a political career and an entertaining recitation of his decades of experience, offering a fresh look at Louisiana political history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781455626052
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	08/09/2021
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	1,110,907
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Robert Mann holds the Manship Chair in Journalism at Louisiana State University's Manship School of Mass Communication. A former political writer for several Louisiana daily newspapers, he served as a senior aide to US Senators Russell Long and John Breaux as well as Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco. He worked on numerous statewide political campaigns from 1990 through 2003. From 2013 to 2018, he wrote a weekly politics column for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Mann is the author of critically acclaimed books about the American civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, the 1964 presidential election, American wartime dissent, and President Ronald Reagan. He and his wife, Cindy, live in Baton Rouge.

Table of Contents

Introduction 9

1 Where the Hell Have You Been? 15

2 Beaumont 23

3 I'm in Trouble 31

4 Who's the Mayor? 40

5 A Three-Legged Monkey on a Democratic Pole 54

6 The Shreveport Journal 66

7 Senator Long Wants to See You 76

8 I Still Got a Lot of Snap Left in My Garters 93

9 He Checked a Bag 102

10 Turn That Recorder Off 114

11 Racist! Nazi! Bigot! Get Mad! 122

12 But, Baby, He's a Democrat! 132

13 You're Supposed to Keep Him Out of Trouble 148

14 I Really Don't Want to Do Another Campaign 159

15 We Had Our Senate President 172

16 I'm Going to Kill Bob Mann! 184

17 We Need Everything You've Got 199

18 We Are Not Going to Pick a Fight with This White House 214

19 You're Losing This Class 223

Acknowledgments 235

Notes 237

Index 241