Hanna was the first Shreveport mayor under the mayor-council home-rule city charter, which replaced the former commission city government. He was also the first mayor in decades 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, and he did not run for a second term in 1982.