Coozan Dudley Leblanc

"They were great days. [This] book brings them back to life."-Kansas City Times

"Floyd Clay has written perceptively of LeBlanc."-Associated Press

He was the most extraordinary politician, businessman, medicine man, and promoter imaginable. Coozan Dudley LeBlanc traces the life of this amazing Cajun entrepreneur who almost single-handedly revolutionized American product advertising. He spent millions to promote Hadacol, his alcohol-saturated, vitamin-mineral patent medicine.

With heavy advertising, contests, and the Hadacol Caravan-a traveling road show featuring a dazzling cast of Hollywood stars, beauty queens, and circus antics-LeBlanc parlayed his elixir into an amazing overnight success. America had never seen anything like it.

But before the 1950s Hadacol phenomenon, LeBlanc had made his mark in the hurly-burly politics of his native Louisiana. As a state legislator, he had championed a steady stream of legislation to increase benefits to the poor and aged. Bold, flashy, and determined, he frequently clashed with the Louisiana Kingfish, Huey Long, in a power struggle that ended only with Long's assassination.