Mary Beth Rogers’ new memoir, Hope and Hard Truth: A Life in Texas Politics, begins and ends with water. To start, a stone well serves as metaphor for her many decades spent peering through the murky sediment of Texas politics, seeking a clear path to justice; to conclude, a walk along the Pacific coastline, the cold waves washing over her bare feet, symbolizes the inner peace of the last stages of a life bravely lived. In the pages between, Rogers reflects on lessons learned during her whirlwind career.
Born in 1940, Rogers—best known as campaign manager and chief of staff to ex-Governor Ann Richards—grew up in Dallas. Her early love of politics was shaped by listening to her parents’ conversations at the breakfast table. Both Democrats, they believed empathy, curiosity, and outspokenness were essential characteristics to cultivate in their children. One afternoon, Rogers’ mother took her out of school to hear Eleanor Roosevelt speak at a benefit for the United Nations. After studying journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, Rogers worked on a number of campaigns and, in addition to her work with Richards, authored several books and served as CEO of KLRU-TX (Austin’s PBS station). Her political beliefs grew out of a deep aversion to cruelty.
In the memoir, set for release on September 1, Rogers memorably illuminates crucial passages of Texas liberal history. In San Antonio, she recalls registering voters during the long era of the poll tax. “I will never forget my experience of going into a West Side meatpacking plant to sell poll taxes to Mexican American and African American workers, who were still wearing bloodstained white aprons while they folded out their crumpled dollars to buy the right to vote,” she writes. The poll tax wasn’t banned until 1966, a year after Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. She also describes the 1970 filing of Roe v. Wade and Richards’ 1991 inauguration, before which Richards’ white suit jacket had to be swiftly retailored to accommodate a bulletproof vest. As Rogers searches her memory, such details accumulate in a way somehow haunting and conversational at once.
