No political leader is more closely identified with Louisiana State University than the flamboyant governor and U.S. senator Huey P. Long, who devoted his last years to turning a small, undistinguished state school into an academic and football powerhouse. From 1931, when Long declared himself the “official thief” for LSU, to his death in 1935, the school’s budget mushroomed, its physical plant burgeoned, its faculty flourished, and its enrollment tripled. Robert Mann will talk about his new book about Long’s intense relationship with LSU, Kingfish U: Huey Long and LSU (published by LSU Press).

Robert Mann

Robert “Bob” Mann holds the Manship Chair at the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University. He is the author of nine books, including critically acclaimed political histories of the U.S. civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, American wartime dissent, Ronald Reagan, and the 1964 presidential election. His new book is Kingfish U: Huey Long and LSU, published by LSU Press.

He has written for many national publications, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Politico, Salon, Vox and Smithsonian magazine. From 2013 to 2018, he wrote a weekly political column in the New Orleans Times-Picayune. In the early 1980s, he covered Louisiana politics as a reporter for the Shreveport Journal and the Monroe News-Star. 

Before joining the LSU faculty in 2006, Bob spent more than 20 years in the political arena, as a senior aide to US senators Russell Long and John Breaux and Governor Kathleen Blanco. In 2014, he was inducted into the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame.