William T. "Bill" Hanna

Who is William T. "Bill" Hanna?

William Thomas "Bill" Hanna, a former automobile dealer, served a single term as the Democratic mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, from 1978-1982.

He was appointed Caddo Parish administrator. Hanna defeated Public Works Commissioner Donald E. Hathaway for mayor in November 1978. Hanna was well known for his popular sales slogan "You Canna Ford a Hanna Ford." The company no longer exists.

Hanna was the first Shreveport mayor under the mayor-council home-rule charter, which replaced the former commission city government. He was also the first mayor in decades who was not serving in public office at the time of his election. He recruited nationally and secured exceptional people to serve in municipal government. Many noted that Hanna did not seem really interested in "politics". Such an attitude made it appear that he did not like being mayor.

Former Mayor James Creswell Gardner, I served as a city council member in the Hanna administration and helped chart the new form of government. Other council members included Charles J. Peatross, a future judge of the Louisiana Court of Appeals; Gregory Tarver, a future member of the Louisiana State Senate; John Scotto, a civil engineer from southwest Shreveport; Hilry Huckaby, 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.