Mary Beth Rogers served as Texas Governor Ann Richards’s campaign manager and chief of staff. She also had a career as a television executive, a college professor, and government official. She is the author of several books, including Barbara Jordan: American Hero, and Turning Texas Blue: What It Will Take to Break the GOP Grip on America’s Reddest State. Her latest book is Hope and Hard Truth: A Life in Texas Politics.
Mary Beth Rogers has led an eventful life rooted in the weeds of Texas politics, occasionally savoring a few victories—particularly the 1990 governor’s race when, as campaign manager for Ann Richards, she did the impossible and put a Democratic woman in office. She also learned to absorb her losses—after all, she was a liberal feminist in America’s most aggressively conservative state. Candidly and vulnerably, she shares both public and private memories of how she tried to maintain a rich family life with growing children and a husband with a debilitating illness. She goes on to provide an insider’s account of her experiences as Richards’s first chief of staff while weaving her way through the highs and lows of political intrigue and legislative maneuvering.
