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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder |office=Mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana |term_start=November 27, 1978 |term_end=December 31, 1982 |preceded=Calhoun Allen (un..."
{{Infobox officeholder
|office=[[Mayor]] of [[Shreveport]], [[Louisiana]]
|term_start=November 27, 1978
|term_end=December 31, 1982
|preceded=[[Calhoun Allen]] (under city commission form of government)
|succeeded=John Brennan Hussey](under mayor-council form of government)
|birth_name=William Thomas Hanna, Jr.
|birth_place=[[Kansas City]], [[Missouri]], [[United States|USA]]
|birth_date=September 26, 1930
|death_place=Shreveport, Louisiana
|death_date=December 17, 2016 (aged 86)
|resting_place=Forest Park East Cemetery in Shreveport
|occupation=[[Business]]man
|spouse=Marvelle Warren Hanna
|children=Four children<br>
'''Parents''':br>
William Thomas, Sr., and Irma Belle Adams Hanna
|relations=[[Owen D. Adams]] (first cousin)
|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]
|alma_mater=Clifton Ellis Byrd High School<br />[[Louisiana State University]]
|footnotes=
}}
'''William Thomas Hanna, Jr.,''' known as '''Bill Hanna, Jr.''' (September 26, 1930 – December 17, 2016), was a [[Ford]] Motor Company] [[automobile]] dealer who served a single term from 1978 to 1982 as the [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[mayor of [[Shreveport]], [[Louisiana]], the first mayor under the current mayor-council form of government.
==Background==
Born in [[Kansas City]], [[Missouri]], to William Hanna, Sr. (1903-1980), and the former Irma Belle Adams (1907-1980). The couple married in 1925 in an airplane traveling 75 miles per hour some 2,000 feet above the surface of the earth, a unique wedding for that time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/174152980/william-thomas-hanna|title=William Thomas "Bill" Hanna, Sr.|publisher=Findagrave.com|accessdate=May 16, 2020}}</ref>Hanna's mother was the aunt of [[Owen D. Adams]], one of the first [[Republican Party|Republicans]] elected to the former Caddo Parish Police Jury and later for twelve years as the mayor of Greenwood in southwestern Caddo Parish.
Hanna moved in infancy with his parents from Kansas City to Shreveport. In 1947, he graduated from Clifton Ellis Byrd High School and enrolled at [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge]], He played on the LSU Tigers [[baseball]] team from 1949 to 1951, and was thereafter a shortstop for several minor league teams but soon returned to Shreveport to join his father in business.<ref name=obit>{{cite web|url=http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/local/2016/12/17/former-shreveport-mayor-bill-hanna-dies/95574356/|title=Former Shreveport Mayor Bill Hanna dies at 86|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''||author=Scott Ferrell|accessdate=December 18, 2016}}</ref>
In 1977, Hanna was named "Automobile Dealer of the Year" by the Louisiana Automobile Dealers Association, of which he once was the president.<ref name=fullobit/> The company was well known for the popular sales slogan, "You Can Afford a Hanna Ford," which was intended to attract moderate-income buyers.<ref name=fullobit>{{cite news|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?n=william-thomas-hanna-jr&pid=183143757|title=William Thomas Hanna, Jr.|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|accessdate=December 20, 2016}}</ref><ref name=findagrave/> Hanna Ford, however, no longer exists.
==Public career==
Hanna won the mayoral election by defeating his fellow [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], Donald Edgar Hathaway, the outgoing municipal public works commissioner. Two years after the mayoral race, Hathaway was elected to what became a twenty-year tenure as the [[sheriff]] of Caddo Parish.<ref name=findagrave/> Hanna was the first Shreveport mayor since George Washington Hardy, Jr. (1900-1967), who had not served in a prior public office at the time of his election. Hardy was mayor for a single two-year term from 1932 to 1934. Some questioned Hanna's enthusiasm for "politics." Such an attitude made it appear that he did not like being mayor because he did not seek a second term in 1982..
Mayor Hanna promoted the decision to construct Interstate 49 through northwestern Louisiana. [[General Motors]] located a plant in Shreveport while Hanna was mayor, but the facility since closed. The stadium at the Louisiana State Fair Grounds, became the renovated Independence Stadium, at which numerous [[football]] teams occasionally played their games.<ref name=fullobit/> Some two weeks after becoming mayor, Hanna presented [[actor]] [[John Wayne]], then in the last year of his life, the second annual "Spirit of Independence" Award at the annual Independence Bowl.<ref>''The Shreveport Times,'' December 14, 1978.</ref> <ref name=findagrave/>
Former Mayor [[James C. Gardner]] served as a city council member in the Hanna administration and helped chart the new form of government. Other council members included Charles B. Peatross, a future judge of the Louisiana Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit; Gregory Tarver, a later long-term state senator; John Scotto, a civil engineer from southwest Shreveport; Hilry Huckaby, the first vice-chairman of the council, and the Reverend [[Herman Farr]], a leader of the Shreveport [[NAACP]]. Tarver, Huckaby, and Farr were the first[[African-Americans]] to have served in Shreveport municipal government since [[Reconstruction.]]<ref name=findagrave/>
In his memoirs "Jim Gardner and Shreveport, Vol. II," Gardner described Hanna, accordingly:
<blockquote>
His self-assurance as a businessman shaped his approach to running city government. He sought proven professionals as department heads, something for which he never received adequate credit. He could never bring himself to 'view with alarm and point with pride' as a political leader must do. And so he never received the credit that he was due. … In four years, he never initiated a political conversation in my presence. It was just not his thing, and it made his position not as pleasant for him as it could have been. But he always desired to do what he felt was best for Shreveport. And no taint of impropriety ever attached itself to him.<ref name=findagrave/></blockquote>
In 1994, twelve years after his term as mayor, Hanna became the director of buildings and grounds for the Caddo Parish Commission government and was promoted to parish administrator in 1998.
He retired in 2006. As the parish administrator, Hanna pushed for the opening of the Northwest Louisiana Veterans Cemetery and devised an emergency [[cell phone]] program for the elderly and the handicapped.<ref name=fullobit/>
==Personal life==
Hanna's only sibling, his brother, Kenneth George "Ken" Hanna (born 1939), also worked in the automobile business.
Upon his death at the age of eighty-six, Hanna was survived by his second wife, Marvelle Warren Hanna, four daughters from a previous marriage, and two stepsons from the second marriage.<ref name=obit/><ref name=fullobit/> He is interred at Forest Park East Cemetery.<ref name=findagrave>{{cite web|url=
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/174150611/william-thomas-hanna|title=William Thomas "Bill" Hanna, Jr.|publisher=Findagrave.com|accessdate=May 16, 2020}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanna, Bill]]
[[Category:Louisiana Peoplei]]
[[Category:Missouri]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Mayors]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:Baseball]]
|office=[[Mayor]] of [[Shreveport]], [[Louisiana]]
|term_start=November 27, 1978
|term_end=December 31, 1982
|preceded=[[Calhoun Allen]] (under city commission form of government)
|succeeded=John Brennan Hussey](under mayor-council form of government)
|birth_name=William Thomas Hanna, Jr.
|birth_place=[[Kansas City]], [[Missouri]], [[United States|USA]]
|birth_date=September 26, 1930
|death_place=Shreveport, Louisiana
|death_date=December 17, 2016 (aged 86)
|resting_place=Forest Park East Cemetery in Shreveport
|occupation=[[Business]]man
|spouse=Marvelle Warren Hanna
|children=Four children<br>
'''Parents''':br>
William Thomas, Sr., and Irma Belle Adams Hanna
|relations=[[Owen D. Adams]] (first cousin)
|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]
|alma_mater=Clifton Ellis Byrd High School<br />[[Louisiana State University]]
|footnotes=
}}
'''William Thomas Hanna, Jr.,''' known as '''Bill Hanna, Jr.''' (September 26, 1930 – December 17, 2016), was a [[Ford]] Motor Company] [[automobile]] dealer who served a single term from 1978 to 1982 as the [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[mayor of [[Shreveport]], [[Louisiana]], the first mayor under the current mayor-council form of government.
==Background==
Born in [[Kansas City]], [[Missouri]], to William Hanna, Sr. (1903-1980), and the former Irma Belle Adams (1907-1980). The couple married in 1925 in an airplane traveling 75 miles per hour some 2,000 feet above the surface of the earth, a unique wedding for that time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/174152980/william-thomas-hanna|title=William Thomas "Bill" Hanna, Sr.|publisher=Findagrave.com|accessdate=May 16, 2020}}</ref>Hanna's mother was the aunt of [[Owen D. Adams]], one of the first [[Republican Party|Republicans]] elected to the former Caddo Parish Police Jury and later for twelve years as the mayor of Greenwood in southwestern Caddo Parish.
Hanna moved in infancy with his parents from Kansas City to Shreveport. In 1947, he graduated from Clifton Ellis Byrd High School and enrolled at [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge]], He played on the LSU Tigers [[baseball]] team from 1949 to 1951, and was thereafter a shortstop for several minor league teams but soon returned to Shreveport to join his father in business.<ref name=obit>{{cite web|url=http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/local/2016/12/17/former-shreveport-mayor-bill-hanna-dies/95574356/|title=Former Shreveport Mayor Bill Hanna dies at 86|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''||author=Scott Ferrell|accessdate=December 18, 2016}}</ref>
In 1977, Hanna was named "Automobile Dealer of the Year" by the Louisiana Automobile Dealers Association, of which he once was the president.<ref name=fullobit/> The company was well known for the popular sales slogan, "You Can Afford a Hanna Ford," which was intended to attract moderate-income buyers.<ref name=fullobit>{{cite news|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?n=william-thomas-hanna-jr&pid=183143757|title=William Thomas Hanna, Jr.|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|accessdate=December 20, 2016}}</ref><ref name=findagrave/> Hanna Ford, however, no longer exists.
==Public career==
Hanna won the mayoral election by defeating his fellow [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], Donald Edgar Hathaway, the outgoing municipal public works commissioner. Two years after the mayoral race, Hathaway was elected to what became a twenty-year tenure as the [[sheriff]] of Caddo Parish.<ref name=findagrave/> Hanna was the first Shreveport mayor since George Washington Hardy, Jr. (1900-1967), who had not served in a prior public office at the time of his election. Hardy was mayor for a single two-year term from 1932 to 1934. Some questioned Hanna's enthusiasm for "politics." Such an attitude made it appear that he did not like being mayor because he did not seek a second term in 1982..
Mayor Hanna promoted the decision to construct Interstate 49 through northwestern Louisiana. [[General Motors]] located a plant in Shreveport while Hanna was mayor, but the facility since closed. The stadium at the Louisiana State Fair Grounds, became the renovated Independence Stadium, at which numerous [[football]] teams occasionally played their games.<ref name=fullobit/> Some two weeks after becoming mayor, Hanna presented [[actor]] [[John Wayne]], then in the last year of his life, the second annual "Spirit of Independence" Award at the annual Independence Bowl.<ref>''The Shreveport Times,'' December 14, 1978.</ref> <ref name=findagrave/>
Former Mayor [[James C. Gardner]] served as a city council member in the Hanna administration and helped chart the new form of government. Other council members included Charles B. Peatross, a future judge of the Louisiana Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit; Gregory Tarver, a later long-term state senator; John Scotto, a civil engineer from southwest Shreveport; Hilry Huckaby, the first vice-chairman of the council, and the Reverend [[Herman Farr]], a leader of the Shreveport [[NAACP]]. Tarver, Huckaby, and Farr were the first[[African-Americans]] to have served in Shreveport municipal government since [[Reconstruction.]]<ref name=findagrave/>
In his memoirs "Jim Gardner and Shreveport, Vol. II," Gardner described Hanna, accordingly:
<blockquote>
His self-assurance as a businessman shaped his approach to running city government. He sought proven professionals as department heads, something for which he never received adequate credit. He could never bring himself to 'view with alarm and point with pride' as a political leader must do. And so he never received the credit that he was due. … In four years, he never initiated a political conversation in my presence. It was just not his thing, and it made his position not as pleasant for him as it could have been. But he always desired to do what he felt was best for Shreveport. And no taint of impropriety ever attached itself to him.<ref name=findagrave/></blockquote>
In 1994, twelve years after his term as mayor, Hanna became the director of buildings and grounds for the Caddo Parish Commission government and was promoted to parish administrator in 1998.
He retired in 2006. As the parish administrator, Hanna pushed for the opening of the Northwest Louisiana Veterans Cemetery and devised an emergency [[cell phone]] program for the elderly and the handicapped.<ref name=fullobit/>
==Personal life==
Hanna's only sibling, his brother, Kenneth George "Ken" Hanna (born 1939), also worked in the automobile business.
Upon his death at the age of eighty-six, Hanna was survived by his second wife, Marvelle Warren Hanna, four daughters from a previous marriage, and two stepsons from the second marriage.<ref name=obit/><ref name=fullobit/> He is interred at Forest Park East Cemetery.<ref name=findagrave>{{cite web|url=
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/174150611/william-thomas-hanna|title=William Thomas "Bill" Hanna, Jr.|publisher=Findagrave.com|accessdate=May 16, 2020}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanna, Bill]]
[[Category:Louisiana Peoplei]]
[[Category:Missouri]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Mayors]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:Baseball]]