Morrison Era

This book traces the career of Lesseps S. Morrison, mayor of New Orleans from 1946 to 1961, and his political organization, the Crescent City Democratic Association (CCDA). The author, Joseph B. Parker, examines Morrison's time in office as an example of the reform politics movement that was sweeping the country at that time. Parker believes that few reform leaders were realistic in their approach to using political machines to accomplish their objectives. Morrison, Parker claims, belongs to a select group of realistic reformers that also includes Robert M. La Follette, Hiram Johnson, and Fiorello La Guardia. Morrison and New Orleans are not Parker's only concerns, however. Parker also focuses on reform politics and its influence on American cities everywhere. He examines the rise of political machines and their positive and negative effects on major cities across the country. Morrison Era traces not only the period of Morrison's mayoral term, but the entire reform politics movement in New Orleans. Parker gives an overview of the major machines and reformers in American cities before focusing on New Orleans, including a history of New Orleans and its politics from Reconstruction to 1926. He also provides a brief political history of New Orleans from 1926 to 1946, before turning to the structure of the CCDA. He traces the functions of the CCDA, examining it as a political machine that helped Morrison control most aspects of New Orleans government, and concludes with the gradual decline and fall of the CCDA.