Episode 41: Bob Mann on Louisiana, Authoritarianism and His Career from Politics to Academia

Welcome back to Yeah, I Got an F#%*ing Job With a Liberal Arts Degree! Join Cal Poly Humboldt Dean Jeff Crane as he interviews a range of guests about the value of the liberal arts and higher education as a personal and public good.

This episode is guest hosted by Abigail Smithson, who is normally the producer of the show.

This week's guest is Robert Mann, who, until recently, held the Manship Chair in Journalism at the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University where his research includes the history of political rhetoric and propaganda . Before his time as an educator, he  served as communications director to Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco. And prior to that, he served as state director and press secretary to U.S. Senator John Breaux (BRO) of Louisiana for 17 years and press secretary to U.S. Senator Russell Long of Louisiana in addition to other positions. In the early 1980s, he covered Louisiana politics as a reporter for the Shreveport Journal and the Monroe News-Star. He has published op-eds and book reviews in numerous publications, including The New York Times, the Boston Globe, Smithsonian, Politico, Vox and Salon. From 2013 to 2018, he wrote a weekly column for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. He is editor of the Media & Public Affairs Book Series, a joint series sponsored by the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs and LSU Press. And , in  2015, he was inducted into the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame.

Bob came on the show back in May to discuss his career in journalism and politics before academia and his assessment of the current state of higher education. Abigail and Bob also discuss Louisiana and what it means to be from there and to know the state intimately.

Works Cited:

When Freedom Would Triumph: The Civil Rights Struggle in Congress, 1954--1968 by Robert Mann

Backrooms and Bayous (My Life in Louisiana Politics) by Robert Mann

The Walls of Jericho : Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell and the Struggle for Civil Rights by Robert Mann

Please note that this episode has lower sound quality because the normal recording equipment that is used was not available at the time.

Follow the show on X ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@JobLiberalArts⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and on Instagram @LiberalArtsJobPod

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music by Silverman Sound Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Yeah, I Got an F#%*ing Job with a Liberal Arts Degree is produced by Abigail Smithson