Talking about the good old days

I took a very pleasant trip down memory lane last week when I had lunch with one of my former bosses, Congressman Jerry Huckaby. My good friend Linda Talbert joined me for the get-together with Jerry and his wife, Maria. They now reside in Choudrant.

Forgive me if this seems a bit personal as I know some of you are not happy when I write about my political life on Capitol Hill. If you fall into that category, stop reading now. But at my age, I do enjoy reminiscing once in a while about what I consider a very fortunate life for a country boy from South Louisiana.

My lot in life took a decisive turn when Congressman F. Edward Hebert, a powerful member of Congress from New Orleans, called Dr. Frank Price, the dean of the LSU School of Journalism in August 1965. Hebert wanted Price to recommend someone to be his press secretary. I was finishing up my master’s degree in journalism and was quite surprised Price recommended me.

After all, I had been somewhat of a rebel while on the staff of LSU’s newspaper, The Daily Reveille. I had defended Coach Paul Dietzel’s move to coach at West Point, and I had written an editorial saying that the LSU Tigers would have to play integrated teams if they were going to be a national football power. Both editorials brought the wrath of many alumni down upon me and caused grief for the university president.

What I went through to get the job with Hebert is a whole other story, but it worked out, and I landed on Capitol Hill in January of 1966, wide-eyed and not realizing the importance of the position I had been privileged to obtain. Those were the days, my friend. Louisiana had the most powerful congressional delegation in the nation with the likes of U.S. Sens. Allen Ellender and Russell Long and House members such as Hebert, Hale Boggs, Ed Willis and Otto Passman. Requests to government agencies – even the White House – with those names on it were almost never turned down.

I learned a lot about politics at Hebert’s knee. He treated me like the son he never had, and I became his constant companion and confidant. It was a time when Hebert was considered one of the most powerful men in America because of his influence as a member, and later chairman, of the House Armed Service Committee. Adding to that power was his personal relationship with presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon.

Hebert was elected to Congress in 1941 after he, as a reporter for the New Orleans States, broke the Louisiana Scandals, which sent the governor and president of LSU to prison. He went on to serve 36 years as the representative from the 1st Congressional District, a length-of-service record that remains to this day. Because of failing health, he retired in January 1977 and passed away in 1979.

At that point, my life was at a crossroads. The candidate I was aligned with to replace Hebert lost, so I found myself without a job. Then along came Congressman Jerry Huckaby. Little known and with little money, Huckaby, from Ringgold in Bienville Parish, scored the biggest upset in the races for the U.S. House of Representatives in the election of 1976. He defeated the powerful Passman, who had served in Congress for 30 years.

Thanks to then-Congressmen Joe Waggonner and Henson Moore, I was brought together with Huckaby, and they urged him to hire me as his chief-of-staff. It came to pass that Huckaby offered me the job, and I accepted. Another good turn in my life. Interestingly, Huckaby and I had the same birthday, both born on July 19, 1941. Our relationship became a close one, and Huckaby and his late wife Sue treated me as a member of the family, not as an employee. I watched their two children, Clay, who was 1, and Michelle, who was 8, grow up during the 16 years we represented the 5th Congressional District.

With all of that said, it was an interesting lunch as we discussed the Congress of today compared to the years Huckaby served from 1977 to 1993. We are both befuddled over how the demeanor in Congress has changed since our time there. Members of the House delegation in 1977 included five Democrats (Lindy Boggs, Joe Waggonner, Huckaby, John Breaux and Gillis Long) and three Republicans (Bob Livingston, Dave Treen and Henson Moore). In the Senate were Russell Long and Bennett Johnston, both Democrats.

Everyone in the Louisiana delegation got along, worked together, socialized together and did what they thought was best for the country, often crossing political party lines. The delegation changed somewhat over the years, of course, but up until the time we departed Capitol Hill, civility still existed. Not so today. Extremist members of Congress on the left and right have spoiled the recipe for productivity and good government, which once existed.

Huckaby and I both agreed we were fortunate to be there during what were surely the good old days. Do we have the answer to fix the vitriolic atmosphere of today? No, and no one else seems to, either. Would we want to go back to Congress today? Not on your life.

Lou Gehrig Burnett, an award-winning journalist, has been involved with politics for 44 years and was a congressional aide in Washington, D.C., for 27 years. He also served as executive assistant to former Shreveport Mayor Bo Williams. Burnett is the publisher of the weekly “FaxNet Update” and can be reached at 861-0552 or [email protected].