EVERY MAN A KING

- By Huey P. Long
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American politician from Louisiana "The Kingfish" redirects here. For other uses, see Kingfish (disambiguation) and Huey Long (disambiguation). Huey P. LongUnited States Senatorfrom LouisianaIn officeJanuary 25, 1932 – September 10, 1935Preceded byJoseph E. RansdellSucceeded byRose McConnell Long40th Governor of LouisianaIn officeMay 21, 1928 – January 25, 1932LieutenantPaul N. CyrAlvin KingPreceded byOramel H. SimpsonSucceeded byAlvin King Personal detailsBorn(1893-08-30)August 30, 1893Winnfield, Louisiana, U.S.DiedSeptember 10, 1935(1935-09-10) (aged 42)Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.Manner of deathAssassination (gunshot wound)Resting placeLouisiana State CapitolPolitical partyDemocraticSpouse Rose McConnell ​(m. 1913)​Children3; including RussellRelativesLong familyProfessionPolitician, lawyerSignature This article is part of a series aboutHuey Long Political views Early life Early career In culture Governor of Louisiana 1924 campaign 1928 election State Capitol Cotton-Holiday U.S. Senator from Louisiana Tenure Chaco War Share Our Wealth Assassination American Progress Every Man a King (book) Every Man a King (song) My First Days in the White House vte Huey Pierce Long Jr. (August 30, 1893 – September 10, 1935), nicknamed "The Kingfish", was an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a United States senator from 1932 until his assassination in 1935. He was a left-wing populist member of the Democratic Party and rose to national prominence during the Great Depression for his vocal criticism of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal, which Long deemed insufficiently radical. As the political leader of Louisiana, he commanded wide networks of supporters and often took forceful action. A controversial figure, Long is celebrated as a populist champion of the poor or, conversely, denounced as a fascistic demagogue. Long was born in the impoverished north of Louisiana in 1893. After working as a traveling salesman and briefly attending three colleges, he was admitted to the bar in Louisiana. Following a short career as an attorney, in which he frequently represented poor plaintiffs, Long was elected to the Louisiana Public Service Commission. As Commissioner, he prosecuted large corporations such as Standard Oil, a lifelong target of his rhetorical attacks. After Long successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, Chief Justice and former president William Howard Taft praised him as "the most brilliant lawyer who ever practiced before the United States Supreme Court". After a failed 1924 campaign, Long appealed to the sharp economic and class divisions in Louisiana to win the 1928 gubernatorial election. Once in office, he expanded social programs, organized massive public works projects, such as a modern highway system and the tallest capitol building in the nation, and proposed a cotton holiday. Through political maneuvering, Long became the political boss of Louisiana. He was impeached in 1929 for abuses of power, but the proceedings collapsed in the State Senate. His opponents argued his policies and methods were unconstitutional and authoritarian. At its climax, political opposition organized a minor insurrection. Long was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1930 but did not assume his seat until 1932. He established himself as an isolationist, arguing that Standard Oil and Wall Street orchestrated American foreign policy. He was instrumental in securing Roosevelt's 1932 nomination but split with him in 1933, becoming a prominent critic of his New Deal. As an alternative, he proposed the Share Our Wealth plan in 1934. To stimulate the economy, he advocated massive federal spending, a wealth tax, and wealth redistribution. These proposals drew widespread support, with millions joining local Share Our Wealth clubs. Poised for a 1936 presidential bid, Long was assassinated by Carl Weiss inside the Louisiana State Capitol in 1935. His assassin was immediately shot and killed by Long's bodyguards. Although Long's movement faded, Roosevelt adopted many of his proposals in the Second New Deal, and Louisiana elections would be organized along anti- or pro-Long factions until the 1960s. He left behind a political dynasty that included his wife, Senator Rose McConnell Long; his son, Senator Russell B. Long; and his brother, Governor Earl Long, among others. Early life (1893–1915)[edit] Childhood[edit] Long was born on August 30, 1893, near Winnfield, a small town in north-central Louisiana, the seat of Winn Parish.[1] Although Long often told followers he was born in a log cabin to an impoverished family, they lived in a "comfortable" farmhouse and were well-off compared to others in Winnfield.[1][2][3] Winn Parish was impoverished, and its residents, mostly Southern Baptists, were often outsiders in Louisiana's political system.[1][4] During the Civil War, Winn Parish had been a stronghold of Unionism in an otherwise Confederate state. At Louisiana's 1861 convention on secession, the delegate from Winn voted to remain in the Union saying: "Who wants to fight to keep the Negroes for the wealthy planters?"[5][note 1] In the 1890s, the parish was a bastion of the Populist Party, and in the 1912 election, Socialist presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs received 35% of the vote.[4][6] Long embraced these populist sentiments.[7] One of nine children,[5] Long was home schooled until age eleven. In the public system, he earned a reputation as an excellent student with a remarkable memory and convinced his teachers to let him skip seventh grade. At Winnfield High School, he and his friends formed a secret society, advertising their exclusivity by wearing a red ribbon. According to Long, his club's mission was "to run things, laying down certain rules the students would have to follow".[8] The faculty learned of Long's antics and warned him to obey the school's rules. Long continued to rebel, writing and distributing a flyer that criticized his teachers and the necessity of a recently state-mandated fourth year of secondary education, for which he was expelled in 1910. Although Long successfully petitioned to fire the principal, he never returned to high school.[8] As a student, Long proved a capable debater. At a state debate competition in Baton Rouge, he won a full-tuition scholarship to Louisiana State University (LSU).[9] Because the scholarship did not cover textbooks or living expenses, his family could not afford for him to attend.[9] Long was also unable to attend because he did not graduate from high school.[10] Instead, he entered the workforce as a traveling salesman in the rural South.[11] Education and marriage[edit] In September 1911, Long started attending seminary classes at Oklahoma Baptist University at the urging of his mother, a devout Baptist. Living with his brother George, Long attended for only one semester, rarely appearing at lectures. After deciding he was unsuited to preaching, Long focused on law.[12] Borrowing one hundred dollars from his brother (which he later lost playing roulette in Oklahoma City), he attended the University of Oklahoma College of Law for a semester in 1912.[12] To earn money while studying law part-time, he continued to work as a salesman. Of the four classes Long took, he received one incomplete and three C's. He later confessed he learned little because there was "too much excitement, all those gambling houses and everything".[12] Long met Rose McConnell at a baking contest he had promoted to sell Cottolene shortening.[13] The two began a two-and-a-half-year courtship and married in April 1913 at the Gayoso Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.[14] On their wedding day, Long had no cash with him and had to borrow $10 from his fiancée to pay the officiant.[15] Shortly after their marriage, Long revealed to his wife his aspirations to run for a statewide office, the governorship, the Senate, and ultimately the presidency.[16] The Longs had a daughter named Rose (1917–2006) and two sons: Russell B. Long (1918–2003), who became a U.S. senator, and Palmer Reid Long (1921–2010), who became an oilman in Shreveport, Louisiana.[17][18] Long enrolled at Tulane University Law School in New Orleans in the fall of 1914.[19] After a year of study that concentrated on the courses necessary for the bar exam, he successfully petitioned the Louisiana Supreme Court for permission to take the test before its scheduled June 1915 date. He was examined in May, passed, and received his license to practice.[20] According to Long: "I came out of that courtroom running for office."[21] Legal career (1915–1923)[edit] In 1915, Long established a private practice in Winnfield. He represented poor plaintiffs, usually in workers' compensation cases.[22][23] Long avoided fighting in World War I by obtaining a draft deferment on the grounds that he was married and had a dependent child. He successfully defended from prosecution under the Espionage Act of 1917 the state senator who had loaned him the money to complete his legal studies, and later claimed he did not serve because, "I was not mad at anybody over there."[21][24] In 1918, Long invested $1,050 (equivalent to $18,066 in 2020) in a well that struck oil. The Standard Oil Company refused to accept any of the oil in its pipelines, costing Long his investment.[25] This episode served as the catalyst for Long's lifelong hatred of Standard Oil.[26] Card for Long's 1918 campaign for railroad commissioner That same year, Long entered the race to serve on the three-seat Louisiana Railroad Commission. According to historian William Ivy Hair, Long's political message: ... would be repeated until the end of his days: he was a young warrior of and for the plain people, battling the evil giants of Wall Street and their corporations; too much of America's wealth was concentrated in too few hands, and this unfairness was perpetuated by an educational system so stacked against the poor that (according to his statistics) only fourteen out of every thousand children obtained a college education. The way to begin rectifying these wrongs was to turn out of office the corrupt local flunkies of big business ... and elect instead true men of the people, such as [himself].[27] In the Democratic primary, Long polled second behind incumbent Burk Bridges. Since no candidate garnered a majority of the votes, a run-off election was held, for which Long campaigned tirelessly across northern Louisiana. The race was close: Long defeated Burk by just 636 votes.[28] Although the returns revealed wide support for Long in rural areas, he performed poorly in urban areas.[22] On the Commission, Long forced utilities to lower rates, ordered railroads to extend service to small towns, and demanded that Standard Oil cease the importation of Mexican crude oil and use more oil from Louisiana wells.[29][30] In the gubernatorial election of 1920, Long campaigned heavily for John M. Parker; today, he is often credited with helping Parker win northern parishes.[31][32] After Parker was elected, the two became bitter rivals. Their break was largely caused by Long's demand and Parker's refusal to declare the state's oil pipelines public utilities.[31] Long was infuriated when Parker allowed oil companies, led by Standard Oil's legal team, to assist in writing severance tax laws. Long denounced Parker as corporate "chattel". The feud climaxed in 1921, when Parker tried unsuccessfully to have Long ousted from the commission.[30][31] By 1922, Long had become chairman of the commission, now called the "Public Service Commission".[24][29] That year, Long prosecuted the Cumberland Telephone & Telegraph Company for unfair rate increases; he successfully argued the case on appeal before the United States Supreme Court,[33] which resulted in cash refunds to thousands of overcharged customers.[34] After the decision, Chief Justice and former President William Howard Taft praised Long as "the most brilliant lawyer who ever practiced" before the court.[35][36] Gubernatorial campaigns (1924–1928)[edit] 1924 election[edit] Main article: 1924 Louisiana gubernatorial election Card for Long's 1924 gubernatorial campaign On August 30, 1923, Long announced his candidacy for the governorship of Louisiana.[5] Long stumped throughout the state, personally distributing circulars and posters. He denounced Governor Parker as a corporate stooge, vilified Standard Oil, and assailed local political bosses.[37] He campaigned in rural areas disenfranchised by the state's political establishment, the "Old Regulars". Since the 1877 end of Republican-controlled Reconstruction government, they had controlled most of the state through alliances with local officials.[37][38] With negligible support for Republicans, Louisiana was essentially a one party state under the Democratic Old Regulars. Holding mock elections in which they invoked the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, the Old Regulars presided over a corrupt government that largely benefited the planter class.[38][39] Consequently, Louisiana was one of the least developed states: It had just 300 miles of paved roads and the lowest literacy rate.[40][41] Despite an enthusiastic campaign, Long came third in the primary and was eliminated.[37] Although polls projected only a few thousand votes, he attracted almost 72,000, around 31% of the electorate, and carried 28 parishes—more than either opponent. Limited to sectional appeal, he performed best in the poor rural north.[5][37] The Ku Klux Klan's prominence in Louisiana was the campaign's primary issue. While the two other candidates either strongly opposed or supported the Klan, Long remained neutral, alienating both sides. He also failed to attract Catholic voters, which limited his chances in the south of the state. In majority Catholic New Orleans, he polled just 12,000 votes (17%).[37] Long blamed heavy rain on election day for suppressing voter turnout among his base in the north, where voters could not reach the polls over dirt roads that had turned to mud.[37][42] It was the only election Long ever lost.[43] 1928 election[edit] Main article: 1928 Louisiana gubernatorial election And it is here, under this oak, where Evangeline waited in vain for her lover, Gabriel, who never came. This oak is an immortal spot, made so by Longfellow's poem, but Evangeline is not the only one who has waited here in disappointment. Where are the schools that you have waited for your children to have, that have never come? Where are the roads and the highways that you sent your money to build, that are no nearer now than ever before? Where are the institutions to care for the sick and disabled? Evangeline wept bitter tears in her disappointment, but it lasted only through one lifetime. Your tears in this country, around this oak, have lasted for generations. Give me the chance to dry the eyes of those who still weep here. — An example of Long's 1928 campaign rhetoric[44][45] Long spent the intervening four years building his reputation and political organization, particularly in the heavily Catholic urban south. Despite disagreeing with their politics, Long campaigned for Catholic U.S. Senators in 1924 and 1926.[37] Government mismanagement during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 gained Long the support of Cajuns, whose land had been affected.[46][47] He formally launched his second campaign for governor in 1927, using the slogan, "Every man a king, but no one wears a crown", a phrase adopted from Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan.[48] Long developed novel campaign techniques, including the use of sound trucks and radio commercials.[37] His stance on race was unorthodox. According to T. Harry Williams, Long was "the first Southern mass leader to leave aside race baiting and appeals to the Southern tradition and the Southern past and address himself to the social and economic problems of the present".[49][note 2] The campaign sometimes descended into brutality. When the 60-year-old incumbent governor called Long a liar during a chance encounter in the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel, Long punched him in the face.[51] In the Democratic primary election, Long polled 126,842 votes: a plurality of 43.9 percent. His margin was the largest in state history, and no opponent chose to face him in a runoff. After earning the Democratic nomination, he easily defeated the Republican nominee in the general election with 96.1 percent of the vote.[52] At age 35, Long was the youngest person ever elected governor of Louisiana.[53] Some fifteen thousand Louisianians traveled to Baton Rouge for Long's inauguration.[21] He set up large tents, free drinks, and jazz bands on the capitol grounds, evoking Andrew Jackson's 1829 inaugural festivities.[54] His victory was seen as a public backlash against the urban establishment; journalist Hodding Carter described it as a "fantastic vengeance upon the Sodom and Gomorrah that was called New Orleans".[21] While previous elections were normally divided culturally and religiously, Long highlighted the sharp economic divide in the state and built a new coalition based on class.[53][55] Long's strength, said the contemporary novelist Sherwood Anderson, relied on "the terrible South ... the beaten, ignorant, Bible-ridden, white South. Faulkner occasionally really touches it. It has yet to be paid for."[21] Louisiana governorship (1928–1932)[edit] First year[edit] Long's office in the Governor's Mansion Once in office on May 21, 1928, Long moved quickly to consolidate power, firing hundreds of opponents in the state bureaucracy at all ranks from cabinet-level heads of departments to state road workers. Like previous governors, he filled the vacancies with patronage appointments from his network of political supporters.[34][56][57] Every state employee who depended on Long for a job was expected to pay a portion of their salary at election time directly into his campaign fund.[58] Once his control over the state's political apparatus was strengthened, Long pushed several bills through the 1929 session of the Louisiana State Legislature to fulfill campaign promises. His bills met opposition from legislators, wealthy citizens, and the media, but Long used aggressive tactics to ensure passage. He would appear unannounced on the floor of both the House and Senate or in House committees, corralling reluctant representatives and state senators and bullying opponents.[59][60] When an opposing legislator once suggested Long was unfamiliar with the Louisiana Constitution, he declared, "I'm the Constitution around here now."[61][62] One program Long approved was a free textbook program for schoolchildren. Long's free school books angered Catholics, who usually sent their children to private schools. Long assured them that the books would be granted directly to all children, regardless of whether they attended public school. Yet this assurance was criticized by conservative constitutionalists, who claimed it violated the separation of church and state and sued Long. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in Long's favor.[63][64] Irritated by "immoral" gambling dens and brothels in New Orleans, Long sent the National Guard to raid these establishments with orders to "shoot without hesitation". Gambling equipment was burned, prostitutes were arrested, and over $25,000 (equivalent to $376,793 in 2020) was confiscated for government funds. Local newspapers ran photos of National Guardsmen forcibly searching nude women. City authorities had not requested military force, and martial law had not been declared. The Louisiana attorney general denounced Long's actions as illegal but Long rebuked him, saying: "Nobody asked him for his opinion."[65] Despite wide disapproval, Long had the Governor's Mansion, built in 1887, razed by convicts from the State Penitentiary under his personal supervision.[57] In its place, Long had a much larger Georgian mansion built. It bore a strong resemblance to the White House; he reportedly wanted to be familiar with the residence when he became president.[66][67] Impeachment[edit] Long's impeachment was conducted at the Old Louisiana State Capitol. In 1929, Long called a special legislative session to enact a five-cent per barrel tax on refined oil production to fund his social programs.[68] The state's oil interests opposed the bill. Long declared in a radio address that any legislator who refused to support the tax had been "bought" by oil companies. Instead of persuading the legislature, the accusation infuriated many of its members.[69] The "dynamite squad", a caucus of opponents led by freshman lawmakers Cecil Morgan and Ralph Norman Bauer, introduced an impeachment resolution against Long.[70][71] Nineteen charges were listed, ranging from blasphemy to subornation of murder.[72][note 3] Even Long's lieutenant governor, Paul Cyr, supported impeachment; he accused Long of nepotism and alleged he had made corrupt deals with a Texas oil company.[73][note 4] Concerned, Long tried to close the session. Pro-Long Speaker John B. Fournet called for a vote to adjourn. Despite most representatives opposing adjournment, the electronic voting board tallied 68 ayes and 13 nays. This sparked confusion; anti-Long representatives began chanting that the voting machine had been rigged.[note 5] Some ran for the speaker's chair to call for a new vote but met resistance from their pro-Long colleagues,[77] sparking a brawl later known as "Bloody Monday".[72] In the scuffle, legislators threw inkwells, allegedly attacked others with brass knuckles, and Long's brother Earl bit a legislator's neck.[5][78] Following the fight, the legislature voted to remain in session and proceed with impeachment.[79] Proceedings in the house took place with dozens of witnesses, including a hula dancer who claimed that Long had been "frisky" with her.[34] Impeached on eight of the 19 charges,[note 6] Long was the third Louisiana governor charged in the state's history, following Reconstruction Republicans Henry Clay Warmoth and William Pitt Kellogg.[70][78] Long was frightened by the prospect of conviction, for it would force him from the governorship and permanently disqualify him from holding public office in Louisiana.[81] He took his case to the people with a mass meeting in Baton Rouge, where he alleged that impeachment was a ploy by Standard Oil to thwart his programs.[78] The House referred the charges to the Louisiana Senate, in which conviction required a two-thirds majority. Long produced a round robin statement signed by fifteen senators pledging to vote "not guilty" regardless of the evidence. The impeachment process, now futile, was suspended without holding an impeachment trial. It has been alleged that both sides used bribes to buy votes and that Long later rewarded the round robin signers with positions or other favors.[82][83] Following the failed impeachment attempt, Long treated his opponents ruthlessly. He fired their relatives from state jobs and supported their challengers in elections. Long concluded that extra-legal means would be needed to accomplish his goals: "I used to try to get things done by saying 'please.' Now... I dynamite 'em out of my path."[84] Receiving death threats, he surrounded himself with bodyguards.[85] Now a resolute critic of the "lying" press,[57] Long established his own newspaper in March 1930: the Louisiana Progress. The paper was extremely popular, widely distributed by policemen, highway workers, and government truckers.[57][86][87] Senate campaign[edit] Shortly after the impeachment, Long—now nicknamed "The Kingfish" after an Amos 'n' Andy character—announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in the 1930 Democratic primary.[5][88] He framed his campaign as a referendum. If he won, he presumed the public supported his programs over the opposition of the legislature. If he lost, he promised to resign.[5] His opponent was incumbent Joseph E. Ransdell, the Catholic senator whom Long endorsed in 1924.[89] At 72 years old, Ransdell had served in the U.S. Congress since Long was aged six. Aligned with the establishment, Ransdell had the support of all 18 of the state's daily newspapers.[5][90] To combat this, Long purchased two new $30,000 sound trucks and distributed over two million circulars.[91] Although promising not to make personal attacks, Long seized on Ransdell's age, calling him "Old Feather Duster".[90] The campaign became increasingly vicious, with The New York Times calling it "as amusing as it was depressing".[92] Long critic Sam Irby,[note 7] set to testify on Long's corruption to state authorities, was abducted by Long's bodyguards shortly before the election. Irby emerged after the election; he had been missing for four days. Surrounded by Long's guards, he gave a radio address in which he "confessed" that he had actually asked Long for protection.[5][34][93] The New Orleans mayor labelled it "the most heinous public crime in Louisiana history".[34] Ultimately, on September 9, 1930, Long defeated Ransdell by 149,640 (57.3 percent) to 111,451 (42.7 percent).[94][95] There were accusations of voter fraud against Long; voting records showed people voting in alphabetical order, among them celebrities like Charlie Chaplin, Jack Dempsey and Babe Ruth.[51] Although his Senate term began on March 4, 1931, Long completed most of his four-year term as governor, which did not end until May 1932. He declared that leaving the seat vacant would not hurt Louisiana: "[W]ith Ransdell as Senator, the seat was vacant anyway." By occupying the governorship until January 25, 1932, Long prevented Lieutenant Governor Cyr, who threatened to undo Long's reforms, from succeeding to the office.[96][97] In October 1931, Cyr learned Long was in Mississippi and declared himself the state's legitimate governor.[98] In response, Long ordered National Guard troops to surround the Capitol to block Cyr's "coup d'état" and petitioned the Louisiana Supreme Court.[96][89] Long successfully argued that Cyr had vacated the office of lieutenant-governor when trying to assume the governorship and had the court eject Cyr.[96][99] Senator-elect[edit] Now governor and senator-elect, Long returned to completing his legislative agenda with renewed strength. He continued his intimidating practice of presiding over the legislature,[note 8] shouting "Shut up!" or "Sit down!" when legislators voiced their concerns. In a single night, Long passed 44 bills in just two hours: one every three minutes. He later explained his tactics: "The end justifies the means."[100] Long endorsed pro-Long candidates and wooed others with favors; he often joked his legislature was the "finest collection of lawmakers money can buy".[21] He organized and concentrated his power into a political machine: "a one-man" operation, according to Williams.[101] He placed his brother Earl in charge of allotting patronage appointments to local politicians and signing state contracts with businessmen in exchange for loyalty. Long appointed allies to key government positions, such as giving Robert Maestri the office of Conservation Commissioner and making Oscar K. Allen head of the Louisiana Highway Commission. Maestri would deliberately neglect the regulation of energy companies in exchange for industry donations to Long's campaign fund, while Allen took direction from Earl on which construction and supply companies to contract for road work.[102] Concerned by these tactics, Long's opponents charged he had become the virtual dictator of the state.[103] To address record low cotton prices amid a Great Depression surplus, Long proposed the major cotton-producing states mandate a 1932 "cotton holiday", which would ban cotton production for the entire year.[104] He further proposed that the holiday be imposed internationally, which some nations, such as Egypt, supported.[105] In 1931, Long convened the New Orleans Cotton Conference, attended by delegates from every major cotton-producing state.[106] The delegates agreed to codify Long's proposal into law on the caveat that it would not come into effect until states producing three-quarters of U.S. cotton passed such laws.[107] As the proposer, Louisiana unanimously passed the legislation.[108] When conservative politicians in Texas—the largest cotton producer in the U.S.—rejected the measure, the holiday movement collapsed.[109] Although traditional politicians would have been ruined by such a defeat, Long became a national figure and cemented his image as a champion of the poor.[110] Senator Carter Glass, although a fervid critic of Long, credited him with first suggesting artificial scarcity as a solution to the depression.[111] Accomplishments[edit] Long constructed a new capitol building, which, at 450 feet (140 m), remains the tallest capitol in the United States. Long was unusual among southern populists in that he achieved tangible progress. Williams concluded "the secret of Long's power, in the final analysis, was not in his machine or his political dealings but in his record—he delivered something".[112] Referencing Long's contributions to Louisiana, Robert Penn Warren, a professor at LSU during Long's term as governor,[113] stated: "Dictators, always give something for what they get."[112] Long created a public works program that was unprecedented in the South, constructing roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, and state buildings. During his four years as governor, Long increased paved highways in Louisiana from 331 to 2,301 miles (533 to 3,703 km) and constructed 2,816 miles (4,532 km) of gravel roads. By 1936, the infrastructure program begun by Long had completed some 9,700 miles (15,600 km) of new roads, doubling Louisiana's road system. He built 111 bridges and started construction on the first bridge over the Mississippi entirely in Louisiana, the Huey P. Long Bridge. These projects provided thousands of jobs during the depression: Louisiana employed more highway workers than any other state.[114] Long built a State Capitol, which at 450 feet (140 m) tall remains the tallest capitol, state or federal, in the United States.[115] Long's infrastructure spending increased the state government's debt from $11 million in 1928 to $150 million in 1935.[116] Long was an ardent supporter of the state's flagship public university, Louisiana State University (LSU). Having been unable to attend, Long now regarded it as "his" university.[117] He increased LSU's funding and intervened in the university's affairs, expelling seven students who criticized him in the school newspaper.[118][119] He constructed new buildings, including a fieldhouse that reportedly contained the longest pool in the United States.[117][120][118] Long founded an LSU Medical School in New Orleans.[121][note 9] To raise the stature of the football program, he converted the school's military marching band into the flashy "Show Band of the South" and hired Costa Rican composer Castro Carazo as the band director.[117] As well as nearly doubling the size of the stadium,[117] he arranged for lowered train fares, so students could travel to away games. Long's contributions resulted in LSU gaining a class A accreditation from the Association of American Universities.[117] Long's night schools taught 100,000 adults to read.[21] His provision of free textbooks contributed to a 20-percent increase in school enrollment.[122] He modernized public health facilities and ensured adequate conditions for the mentally ill.[118] He established Louisiana's first rehabilitation program for penitentiary inmates.[123] Through tax reform, Long made the first $2,000 in property assessment free, waiving property taxes for half the state's homeowners.[124] Some historians have criticized other policies, like high consumer taxes on gasoline and cigarettes, a reduced mother's pension, and low teacher salaries.[125] U.S. Senate (1932–1935)[edit] Main article: United States Senate career of Huey Long Senator[edit] Long delivering a speech When Long arrived in the Senate, America was in the throes of the Great Depression.[126] With this backdrop, Long made characteristically fiery speeches that denounced wealth inequality. He criticized the leaders of both parties for failing to address the crisis adequately, notably attacking conservative Senate Democratic Leader Joseph Robinson of Arkansas for his apparent closeness with President Herbert Hoover and big business.[127] In the 1932 presidential election, Long was a vocal supporter of New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt.[128] At that year's Democratic National Convention, Long kept the delegations of several wavering Southern states in the Roosevelt camp.[5][21] Due to this, Long expected to be featured prominently in Roosevelt's campaign but was disappointed with a peripheral speaking tour limited to four Midwestern states.[129][130] Not discouraged after being snubbed, Long found other venues for his populist message. He endorsed Senator Hattie Caraway of Arkansas, a widow and the underdog candidate in a crowded field and conducted a whirlwind, seven-day tour of that state.[131][132][note 10] During the campaign, Long gave 39 speeches, traveled 2,100 miles (3,400 km), and spoke to over 200,000 people.[133] In an upset win, Caraway became the first woman elected to a full term in the Senate.[134] Returning to Washington, Long gave theatrical speeches which drew wide attention. Public viewing areas were crowded with onlookers, among them a young Lyndon B. Johnson, who later said he was "simply entranced" by Long.[34][135] Long obstructed bills for weeks, launching hour-long filibusters and having the clerk read superfluous documents. Long's antics, one editorial claimed, had made the Senate "impotent".[136] In May 1932, The Washington Post called for his resignation.[34] Long's behavior and radical rhetoric did little to endear him to his fellow senators. None of his proposed bills, resolutions, or motions were passed during his three years in the Senate.[5][137][138] Roosevelt and the New Deal[edit] Further information: New Deal During the first 100 days of Roosevelt's presidency in spring 1933, Long's attitude toward Roosevelt and the New Deal was tepid.[139] Aware that Roosevelt had no intention of radically redistributing the country's wealth, Long became one of the few national politicians to oppose Roosevelt's New Deal policies from the left.[note 11] He considered them inadequate in the face of the escalating economic crisis but still supported some of Roosevelt's programs in the Senate, explaining: "Whenever this administration has gone to the left I have voted with it, and whenever it has gone to the right I have voted against it."[141] Long opposed the National Recovery Act, claiming it favored industrialists.[142] In an attempt to prevent its passage, Long held a lone filibuster, speaking for 15 hours and 30 minutes, the second longest filibuster at the time.[143][144] He also criticized Social Security, calling it inadequate and expressing his concerns that states would administer it in a way discriminatory to African Americans.[145] In 1933, he was a leader of a three-week Senate filibuster against the Glass banking bill, which he later supported as the Glass–Steagall Act after provisions extended government deposit insurance to state banks as well as national banks.[146][147] Roosevelt considered Long a radical demagogue and stated that Long, along with General Douglas MacArthur, "was one of the two most dangerous men in America".[21][148][149] In June 1933, in an effort to undermine Long's political dominance, Roosevelt cut him out of consultations on the distribution of federal funds and patronage in Louisiana and placed Long's opponents in charge of federal programs in the state. Roosevelt supported a Senate inquiry into the election of Long ally John H. Overton to the Senate in 1932. The Long machine was accused of election fraud and voter intimidation, but the inquiry came up empty, and Overton was seated.[150] To discredit Long and damage his support base, Roosevelt had Long's finances investigated by the Internal Revenue Service in 1934.[151][note 12] Although they failed to link Long to any illegality, some of his lieutenants were charged with income tax evasion.[21][153] Roosevelt's son, Elliott, would later note that in this instance, his father "may have been the originator of the concept of employing the IRS as a weapon of political retribution".[154] Chaco War and foreign policy[edit] See also: Latin America–United States relations On May 30, 1934, Long took to the Senate floor to debate the abrogation of the Platt Amendment.[155] But instead of debating the amendment, Long declared his support for Paraguay against Bolivia in the Chaco War. He maintained that U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes had awarded the oil-rich Chaco region to Paraguay in 1878.[156] He attested Standard Oil had corrupted the Bolivian government and organized the war and that Wall Street orchestrated American foreign policy in Latin America.[157] For his speech, Long received praise in Paraguay: after capturing a Bolivian fort in July 1934, they renamed it Fort Long.[158] Long's allegations were widely publicized in Latin American newspapers. This drew the concern of the State Department, who believed that Long was damaging the reputation of the United States. Throughout the summer of 1934, they waged a sustained public relations campaign against Long throughout Latin America.[159] This speech and others established Long as one of the most ardent isolationists in the Senate. He further argued that American involvement in the Spanish–American War and the First World War had been deadly mistakes conducted on behalf of Wall Street.[160][161] Consequently, Long demanded the immediate independence of the Philippines, which the United States had occupied since 1898.[136][162] He also opposed American entry into the World Court.[163] Share Our Wealth[edit] Main article: Share Our Wealth Long speaking from behind his desk at the Capitol, 1935 In March 1933, Long revealed a series of bills collectively known as "the Long plan" to redistribute wealth. Together, they would cap fortunes at $100 million, limit annual income to $1 million, and cap individual inheritances at $5 million.[164][165] External videos Long's "Share the Wealth" speech on YouTube In a nationwide February 1934 radio broadcast, Long introduced his Share Our Wealth plan.[166][167] The legislation would use the wealth from the Long plan to guarantee every family a basic household grant of $5,000 and a minimum annual income of one-third of the average family homestead value and income. Long supplemented his plan with proposals for free college and vocational training, veterans' benefits, federal assistance to farmers, public works projects, greater federal economic regulation, a $30 monthly elderly pension, a month's vacation for every worker, a thirty-hour workweek, a $10 billion land reclamation project to end the Dust Bowl, and free medical service and a "war on disease" led by the Mayo brothers.[168][169] These reforms, Long claimed, would end the Great Depression.[170] The plans were widely criticized and labeled impossible by economists.[171][172] With the Senate unwilling to support his proposals, in February 1934 Long formed the Share Our Wealth Society, a national network of local clubs that operated in opposition to the Democratic Party and Roosevelt. By 1935, the society had over 7.5 million members in 27,000 clubs.[173] Long's Senate office received an average of 60,000 letters a week, resulting in Long's hiring 48 stenographers to type responses.[5] Of the two trucks that delivered mail to the Senate, one was devoted solely to mail for Long.[174] Long's newspaper, now renamed American Progress, averaged a circulation of 300,000, some issues reaching over 1.5 million.[145] Long drew international attention: English writer H. G. Wells interviewed Long, noting he was "like a Winston Churchill who has never been at Harrow. He abounds in promises."[21] Some historians believe that pressure from Share Our Wealth contributed to Roosevelt's "turn to the left" in the Second New Deal (1935), which consisted of the Social Security Act, the Works Progress Administration, the National Labor Relations Board, Aid to Dependent Children, and the Wealth Tax Act of 1935.[21][175] Roosevelt reportedly admitted in private to trying to "steal Long's thunder".[176] Continued control over Louisiana[edit] Long continued to maintain effective control of Louisiana while he was a senator, blurring the boundary between federal and state politics.[177] Long chose his childhood friend, Oscar K. Allen, to succeed King in the January 1932 election. With the support of Long's voter base, Allen won easily, permitting Long to resign as governor and take his seat in the U.S. Senate in January 1932.[178][179] Allen, widely viewed as a puppet, dutifully enacted Long's policies.[180] When Long visited Louisiana, Allen would relinquish his office for the Senator, working instead at his receptionist's desk.[174] Though he had no constitutional authority, Long continued to draft and press bills through the Louisiana State Legislature.[181] One of the laws passed was what Long called "a tax on lying"—a 2 percent tax on newspaper advertising revenue.[182] In 1934, Long and James A. Noe, an independent oilman and member of the Louisiana State Senate from Ouachita Parish, formed the controversial Win or Lose Oil Company. The firm was established to obtain leases on state-owned lands so that its directors might collect bonuses and sublease the mineral rights to the major oil companies. Although ruled legal, these activities were done in secret, and the stockholders were unknown to the public. Long made a profit on the bonuses and the resale of those state leases and used the funds primarily for political purposes.[183] 1935: Final year[edit] 1936 presidential ambitions[edit] See also: 1936 United States presidential election "Candidate Long" on the cover of Time magazine, April 1935 Popular support for Long's Share Our Wealth program raised the possibility of a 1936 presidential bid against incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt.[21][184][note 13] When questioned by the press, Long gave conflicting answers on his plans for 1936.[187] Long's son Russell believed his father would have run on a third-party ticket.[188] This is evidenced by Long's writing of a speculative book, My First Days in the White House, which laid out his plans for the presidency after the 1936 election.[189][190][note 14] In spring 1935, Long undertook a national speaking tour and regular radio appearances, attracting large crowds and increasing his stature.[191] At a well-attended Long rally in Philadelphia, a former mayor told the press, "There are 250,000 Long votes" in this city.[192] Regarding Roosevelt, Long boasted to the New York Times' Arthur Krock: "He's scared of me. I can out-promise him, and he knows it."[193] As the 1936 election approached, the Roosevelt Administration grew increasingly concerned by Long's popularity.[192] Democratic National Committee chairman James Farley commissioned a secret poll in early 1935.[194] Farley's poll revealed that if Long ran on a third-party ticket, he would win about four million votes, 10% of the electorate.[195] In a memo to Roosevelt, Farley expressed his concern that Long could split the vote, allowing the Republican nominee to win.[195] Diplomat Edward M. House warned Roosevelt, "many people believe that he can do to your administration what Theodore Roosevelt did to the Taft Administration in '12".[196] Many, including Hair, Roosevelt, and Williams speculated that Long expected to lose in 1936, allowing the Republicans to take the White House. They believed the Republicans would worsen the Great Depression, deepening Long's appeal. According to Roosevelt, "That would bring the country to such a state by 1940 that Long thinks he would be made dictator."[197] Increased tensions in Louisiana[edit] Long after giving a successful five-hour filibuster, about two weeks before his death By 1935, Long's consolidation of power led to talk of armed opposition from his enemies in Louisiana. Opponents increasingly invoked the memory of the Battle of Liberty Place (1874), in which the White League staged an uprising against Louisiana's Reconstruction-era government. In January 1935, an anti-Long paramilitary organization called the Square Deal Association was formed. Its members included former governors John M. Parker and Ruffin Pleasant and New Orleans Mayor T. Semmes Walmsley.[95][198] Standard Oil threatened to leave the state when Long finally passed the five-cent-per-barrel oil tax for which he had been impeached in 1929. Concerned Standard Oil employees formed a Square Deal association in Baton Rouge, organizing themselves in militia companies and demanding "direct action".[199] On January 25, 1935, these Square Dealers, now armed, seized the East Baton Rouge Parish courthouse. Long had Governor Allen execute emergency measures in Baton Rouge: he called in the National Guard, declared martial law, banned public gatherings of two or more persons, and forbade the publication of criticism of state officials. The Square Dealers left the courthouse, but there was a brief armed skirmish at the Baton Rouge Airport. Tear gas and live ammunition were fired; one person was wounded, but there were no fatalities.[198][199][200] At a legal hearing, an alleged spy within the Square Dealers testified they were conspiring to assassinate Long.[201] In summer 1935, Long called two special legislative sessions in Louisiana; bills were passed in rapid-fire succession without being read or discussed. The new laws further centralized Long's control over the state by creating new Long-appointed state agencies: a state bond and tax board holding sole authority to approve loans to local governments, a new state printing board which could withhold "official printer" status from uncooperative newspapers, a new board of election supervisors which would appoint all poll watchers, and a State Board of Censors. They stripped away the remaining powers of the mayor of New Orleans. Long boasted he had "taken over every board and commission in New Orleans except the Community Chest and the Red Cross".[202] A September 7 special session passed 42 bills. The most extreme, likely aimed at Roosevelt and his federal agents, authorized Louisiana to fine and imprison anyone who infringed on the powers reserved to the state in the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.[203] Assassination[edit] Main article: Assassination of Huey Long Long's grave and statue in front of the capitol On September 8, 1935, Long traveled to the State Capitol to pass a bill that would gerrymander the district of an opponent, Judge Benjamin Pavy, who had held his position for 28 years.[203] At 9:20 p.m., just after passage of the bill effectively removing Pavy, Pavy's son-in-law, Carl Weiss, approached Long, and, according to the generally accepted version of events, fired a single shot with a handgun from four feet (1.2 m) away, striking Long in the torso. Long's bodyguards, nicknamed the "Cossacks" or "skullcrushers", then fired at Weiss with their pistols, killing him. An autopsy found Weiss had been shot at least 60 times.[204] Long ran down a flight of stairs and across the capitol grounds, hailing a car to take him to Our Lady of the Lake Hospital.[205] He was rushed to the operating room where surgery closed perforations in his intestines but failed to stop internal bleeding.[206] Long died at 4:10 a.m. on September 10, 31 hours after being shot.[207] According to different sources, his last words were either, "I wonder what will happen to my poor university boys", or "God, don't let me die. I have so much to do."[208][209] Over 200,000 people traveled to Baton Rouge to attend Long's September 12 funeral.[210] His remains were buried on the grounds of the Capitol; a statue depicting Long was constructed on his grave.[204][205] Although Long's allies alleged he was assassinated by political opponents, a federal probe found no evidence of conspiracy.[207] Long's death brought relief to the Roosevelt Administration, which would win in a landslide in the 1936 election. Farley publicly admitted his apprehension of campaigning against Long: "I always laughed Huey off, but I did not feel that way about him." Roosevelt's close economic advisor Rexford Tugwell wrote that, "When he was gone it seemed that a beneficent peace had fallen on the land. Father Coughlin, Reno, Townsend, et al., were after all pygmies compared with Huey. He had been a major phenomenon." Tugwell also said that Roosevelt regarded Long's assassination as a "providential occurrence".[21] Evidence later surfaced that suggests Long was accidentally shot by his bodyguards.[211] Proponents of this theory assert Long was caught in the crossfire as his bodyguards shot Weiss, and a bullet that ricocheted off the marble walls hit him.[204][212][213][214] Legacy[edit] Politics[edit] Further information: Long family Long's son Russell (left), pictured with President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 Long's assassination may have contributed to his reputation as a legendary figure in parts of Louisiana. In 1938, Swedish sociologist Gunnar Myrdal encountered rural children who not only insisted Long was alive, but that he was president.[34] Although no longer governing, Long's policies continued to be enacted in Louisiana by his political machine,[215] which supported Roosevelt's re-election to prevent further investigation into their finances.[216] The machine remained a powerful force in state politics until the 1960 elections. Within the Louisiana Democratic Party, Long set in motion two durable factions—"pro-Long" and "anti-Long"—which diverged meaningfully in terms of policies and voter support. For decades after his death, Long's political style inspired imitation among Louisiana politicians who borrowed his rhetoric and promises of social programs.[215][217][218] After Long's death, a family dynasty emerged: his brother Earl was elected lieutenant-governor in 1936 and governor in 1948 and 1956. Long's widow, Rose Long, replaced him in the Senate, and his son, Russell, was a U.S. senator from 1948 to 1987. As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Russell shaped the nation's tax laws, advocating low business taxes and passing legislation beneficial to the poor like the Earned Income Credit.[5][219][220] Other relatives, including George, Gillis, and Speedy, have represented Louisiana in Congress.[221][222][223] Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, was named after Long.[224][225] Historical reputation[edit] Academics and historians have found difficulty categorizing Long and his ideology.[226][227] His platform has been compared to ideologies ranging from McCarthyism to European Fascism and Stalinism.[228] When asked about his own philosophy, Long simply replied: "Oh, hell, say that I'm sui generis and let it go at that."[21] In a 1981 New York Times, Robert Penn Warren wrote of Long:My guess is that he was a remarkable set of contradictions, still baffling to biographers. But I had a great interest in what Huey did in his world, and a greater interest in Huey as a focus of myth. Without this gift for attracting myth he would not have been the power he was, for good and evil. And this gift was fused, indissolubly, with his dramatic sense, with his varying roles and perhaps, ultimately, with the atmosphere of violence which he generated.[229] A majority of academics, biographers, and writers who have examined Long view him negatively, typically as a demagogue or dictator.[45][230][note 15] Reinhard H. Luthin said that he was the epitome of an American demagogue.[232] David Kennedy wrote that Long's regime in Louisiana was "the closest thing to a dictatorship that America has ever known".[7] Journalist Hodding Carter described him as "the first true dictator out of the soil of America" and his movement the "success of fascism in one American state".[51][233] Peter Viereck categorized Long's movement as "chauvinist thought control"; Victor Ferkiss called it "incipient fascism".[234] One of the few biographers to praise Long was T. Harry Williams, who classified Long's ideas as neo-populist.[235][236] He labeled Long a democratic "mass leader", rather than a demagogue.[236][237] Besides Williams, intellectual Gore Vidal expressed admiration for Long, even naming him as his favorite contemporary U.S. politician.[238] Long biographer Thomas O. Harris espoused a more nuanced view of Long: "neither saint nor devil, he was a complex and heterogenous mixture of good and bad, genius and craft, hypocrisy and candor, buffoonery and seriousness".[239] Media[edit] Main article: Huey Long in culture 1936 poster for the WPA stage adaptation of It Can't Happen Here In popular culture, Long has served as a template for multiple dictatorial politicians in novels.[240] Notable works include Sinclair Lewis's novel It Can't Happen Here (1935),[241][242] Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel All the King's Men (1946),[243][244][245] and Adria Locke Langley's 1945 novel A Lion Is in the Streets.[246] The latter two were adapted into films.[247][248] As well as two television docudramas,[249][250] Long was the subject of a 1985 Ken Burns-directed documentary.[251][252] In music, Randy Newman featured Long in two songs on the 1974 album Good Old Boys.[253][254] Long has been the subject of dozens of biographies and academic texts. In fact, more has been written about Long than any other Louisianan.[255] Most notable is the 1969 biography Huey Long by Williams, which won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.[256][257] Alan Brinkley won the National Book Award in 1983 for Voices of Protest, a study of Long, Coughlin, and populist opposition to Roosevelt.[258][259] Works[edit] Written works[edit] Constitutions of the State of Louisiana, 1930[260] Every Man a King, 1933 My First Days in the White House, 1935 Recorded works[edit] Long collaborated with composer Castro Carazo on the following songs:[261][262] "Darling of LSU", 1935 "Every Man a King", 1935 "The LSU Cadets March", 1935 "Touchdown for LSU", 1935 See also[edit] List of United States Congress members killed or wounded in office Charles Coughlin Francis Townsend References[edit] Notes ^ Long's grandfather did not fight in the Civil War, instilling Union sympathies in his son, Huey P. Long Sr. Also a populist, Long's father said in an interview at the age of 83, "There wants to be a revolution, I tell you. I seen the domination of capital, seen it for seventy years. What do these rich folks care for the poor man? They care nothing—not for his pain, nor his sickness, nor his death ... Maybe you're surprised to hear talk like that. Well, it was just such talk that my boy was raised under, and that I was raised under."[5] ^ The conclusion that Long was progressive on the issue of race, widely repeated in the decades after Long's death, has faced increased scrutiny in recent years.[49][50] ^ One of Long's subordinates claimed in an affidavit that an intoxicated Long had told him to kill Representative J. Y. Sanders Jr., the son of a former governor, and "leave him in the ditch where nobody will know how or when he got there". Long allegedly promised him "a full pardon and many gold dollars".[70][72] ^ Cyr's public turn against Long was largely motivated by Cyr's opposition to the executions of alleged murderers Thomas Dreher and Ada LeBoeuf, the first white woman executed in Louisiana's history. Cyr was a personal friend of Dreher and sat on the Board of Pardons, which had reversed their death sentence. Long wholeheartedly supported their execution, ultimately overruling the Board's decision.[73][74][75] ^ Fournet later apologized for the confusion caused by the inaccurate tally but denied rigging the outcome. According to Hair, "there is no evidence that he did; electrical contrivances of that sort were primitive, and apparently the machine simply repeated the roll call vote of a few minutes earlier".[76] ^ The charges were: attempted bribery of state legislators, demanding and receiving undated letters of resignation from appointees, intimidating publisher Charles P. Manship by threatening to disclose his brother's poor mental condition, misappropriating portions of a $6,000 fund allocated for receiving other governors, forcing a state board to dismiss its secretary to open up a position for a political ally and paying the incumbent secretary $5,400 in hush money, illegally paying his cousin W. O. Long $728.25 from the governor's office expense fund, using $1,112.40 from the office expense fund to purchase personal law books, forcing the Highway Commission to accede to a contractor's demand for $4,000 in payment for their installation of defective curbs, and incompetency.[80] ^ Irby was the uncle of Alice Lee Grosjean, Long's young personal secretary, whom he had appointed to the position of Secretary of State. She was rumored to be his mistress.[5][34] ^ Long would stand directly below the Speaker's podium while strong-arming the legislators into passing his agenda.[100] ^ Although he claimed it was to educate poor doctors, it may have been based on a personal vendetta against Tulane University, which had declined to grant him an honorary degree.[121] ^ According to Brinkley, "Long's reasons for this decision were not entirely clear." Long noted that he felt a chivalric impulse to help this "brave little woman" and that Caraway was one of the few senators to vote for his wealth-limiting proposals. Long appreciated that she often voted against her senior colleague from Arkansas, Robinson. Many observers speculate that Long's true intent was to further establish a national reputation for himself. The New York Times contemporarily suggested that he was plotting to "yield him control of the [Senate] minority—or perhaps the majority". Brinkley claims that it was Long's first effort to propel himself to national leadership, which required him to appeal directly to the people rather than through political channels in Washington.[132] ^ The other most notable critic was Catholic preacher and radio-host Father Coughlin.[140] ^ The investigation into Long's finances was initiated in 1932 by Hoover but had been temporarily halted by the incoming Roosevelt to amend relations with Long.[152] ^ There was contemporary speculation that a Long campaign would collaborate with Father Coughlin and his National Union for Social Justice.[185] Despite some common political goals, the two men were of vastly different backgrounds and personalities, expressed contempt for one another, and had only met once.[186] ^ The book was published posthumously in 1935.[189] ^ In 1946, Russell—yet to be a Senator—convinced Senator Overton to submit a motion titled "In Defense of My Father". Beginning with the sentence, "I venture the assertion that no man of our times has been more abused, vilified, and misrepresented by the American press to its reading public than my father, Huey P Long.", the motion was passed without objection and published in Congressional Review.[231] Citations ^ a b c White (2006), p. 5. ^ Williams (1981) [1969], p. 10. ^ Brinkley (1983) [1982], p. 11. ^ a b Kennedy (2005) [1999], p. 235. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Hess, Stephen (August 1966). "The Long, Long Trail". American Heritage. Archived from the original on June 21, 2020. Retrieved June 30, 2020. ^ "Socialist Party Votes by Counties and States 1904–1948". Mapping American Social Movements through the 20th Century. University of Washington. 2015. Archived from the original on November 3, 2019. Retrieved March 4, 2019. ^ a b Kennedy (2005) [1999], p. 236. ^ a b White (2006), p. 8. ^ a b White (2006), pp. 122–23. ^ Hair, William Ivy (1991). 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(subscription required) ——— (1994). "Huey Long and The Historians". The History Teacher. 27 (2): 120–25. doi:10.2307/494713. JSTOR 494713. (subscription required) Kane, Thomas Harnett (1941). Huey Long's Louisiana Hayride: the American Rehearsal for Dictatorship, 1928–1940. New York: William Morrow. OCLC 678902460. Kennedy, David (2005) [1999]. Freedom From Fear The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-514403-1. Key, V.O.; Heard, Alexander (1949). Southern Politics in State and Nation. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. Kuhn, Joseph. "Flesh and the Common Man: Robert Penn Warren's Huey Long Drama." Journal of American Studies 53.4 (2019): 953-971. Kurtz, Michael L.; Peoples, Morgan D. (1991). Earl K. Long: The Saga of Uncle Earl and Louisiana Politics (reprint ed.). Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-1765-1. Archived from the original on February 1, 2021. Retrieved September 9, 2020. Long, Huey (1996) [1933]. Every Man a King: The Autobiography of Huey P. Long. New Orleans: Da Capo Press. OCLC 818855173. Lowe, John, ed. (2008). Louisiana Culture from the Colonial Era to Katrina. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-3337-8. Archived from the original on December 24, 2020. Retrieved August 22, 2020. McGuire, Jack B. "Huey Long a Fascist?" Louisiana History 63.4 (2022): 457-472. online Archived August 13, 2023, at the Wayback Machine Mann, Robert. Kingfish U: Huey Long and LSU (LSU Press, 2023) online Archived October 3, 2023, at the Wayback Machine. Mathy, Gabriel, and Nicolas L. Ziebarth. "How much does political uncertainty matter? The case of Louisiana under Huey Long." Journal of Economic History 77.1 (2017): 90-126. online Moreau, John Adam (Spring 1965). "Huey Long and His Chroniclers". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. 6 (2): 121–39. JSTOR 4230837. (subscription required) Parrish, Michael E. (1994). Anxious Decades: America in Prosperity and Depression, 1920–1941. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-31134-1. Perry, Keith (2004). The Kingfish in Fiction: Huey P. Long and the Modern American Novel. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-2942-5. Pleasant, John R. Jr. (Autumn 1974). "Ruffin G. Pleasant and Huey P. Long on the Prisoner-Stripe Controversy". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. 15 (4): 357–66. JSTOR 4231428. (subscription required) Sanson, Jerry P. (Summer 2006). ""What He Did and What He Promised to Do...": Huey Long and the Horizons of Louisiana Politics". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. 47 (3): 261–76. JSTOR 4234200. (subscription required) Seidemann, Ryan M. "Did the State Win or Lose in its Mineral Dealings with Huey Long, Oscar Allen, James Noe, and the Win or Lose Oil Company?" Louisiana History 59.2 (2018): 196-225. online Archived August 13, 2023, at the Wayback Machine Snyder, Robert E. (Spring 1975). "Huey Long and the Presidential Election of 1936". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. 16 (2): 117–43. JSTOR 4231456. (subscription required) ——— (Spring 1977). "Huey Long and the Cotton-Holiday Plan of 1931". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. 18 (2): 133–60. JSTOR 4231670. (subscription required) Vaughn, Courtney (Winter 1979). "The Legacy of Huey Long". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. 20 (1): 93–101. JSTOR 4231871. (subscription required) Warren, Kenneth F. (2008). Encyclopedia of U.S. Campaigns, Elections, and Electoral Behavior: A–M. Vol. 1. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-1-4129-5489-1. White, Richard D. (2006). Kingfish: The Reign of Huey P. Long. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-8129-7383-9. Williams, T. Harry (1981) [1969]. Huey Long. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-394-74790-3. External links[edit] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Huey P. Long. Wikiquote has quotations related to Huey Long. "Huey Long Official Website". Long Legacy Project. "Huey P. Long Annotated Resource Set". The Historic New Orleans Collection. "Huey P. Long Photograph Album, 1928–1935". Louisiana Digital Library. Rich Lowry "Donald Trump is our Huey Long" Politico Aug 10, 2023 vteHuey Long 40th Governor of Louisiana (1928–1932) United States Senate (1932–1935) Political career Senate tenure Share Our Wealth Cotton-Holiday Assassination Political views Nicknames Homes and infrastructure Huey P. Long Mansion Huey P. Long House (Forest Ave., Shreveport, Louisiana) Huey P. Long House (Laurel St., Shreveport, Louisiana) Huey P. Long Field House Huey P. Long Bridge (Baton Rouge) Huey P. Long Bridge (Jefferson Parish) Works Every Man a King (1933) "Every Man a King" (1935) My First Days in the White House (1935) American Progress Legacy In culture It Can't Happen Here (1935) Huey Long (1941) All the King's Men (1946) All the King's Men (1949 film) (1949) A Lion Is in the Streets (1953) Huey Long (1969) Voices of Protest (1982) Huey Long (1986) Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long (1995) All the King's Men (2006) Memorials Long family Rose McConnell Long (wife) Russell B. Long (son) George S. Long (brother) Earl Long (brother) Gillis William Long (nephew) Jimmy D. Long (cousin) Speedy Long (cousin) vteGovernors of LouisianaState (1812–1861) Claiborne Villeré Robertson Thibodaux H. Johnson Derbigny Beauvais Dupré Roman White Roman Mouton I. Johnson Walker Hébert Wickliffe Moore Confederate (1861–1865) Moore H. Allen Union (1862–1865) Shepley Hahn Reconstruction (1865–1868) Wells Flanders Baker State (since 1868) Warmoth Pinchback J. McEnery Kellogg Packard Nicholls Wiltz S. McEnery Nicholls M. J. Foster Heard Blanchard Sanders Hall Pleasant Parker Fuqua Simpson H. Long King O. Allen Noe Leche E. Long Jones Davis E. Long Kennon E. Long Davis McKeithen E. Edwards Treen E. Edwards Roemer E. Edwards M. Foster Blanco Jindal J. Edwards Landry vteUnited States senators from LouisianaClass 2 Destréhan Posey Brown Claiborne Johnson Bouligny Livingston Waggaman Nicholas Barrow Soulé Downs Benjamin Harris West Kellogg Gibson Caffery Foster Ransdell H. Long R. M. Long Ellender Edwards B. Johnston Landrieu Cassidy Class 3 Magruder Fromentin Brown J. S. Johnston Porter Mouton Conrad Porter Johnson Soulé Slidell Kellogg Eustis Jonas Eustis White Blanchard McEnery Thornton R. Broussard Guion Gay E. Broussard Overton Feazel R. B. Long Breaux Vitter Kennedy vteNew DealCauses and legacy Great Depression New Deal Coalition Brain Trust American Liberty League Criticism New Deal Emergency Banking Act Economy Act Agricultural Adjustment Act Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Civil Works Administration Communications Act Executive Order 6102 Homeowners Refinancing Act Farm Credit Administration Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Federal Emergency Relief Administration Frazier–Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act Glass–Steagall Act National Industrial Recovery Act National Housing Act National Recovery Administration National Youth Administration Public Works Administration (PWA) Public Works of Art Project Reciprocal Tariff Act Railroad Retirement Act Securities Act Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Second New Deal Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Project Number One Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Farm Security Administration Judicial Procedures Reform Act National Bituminous Coal Conservation Act National Labor Relations Board (Act) Rural Electrification Act Rural Electrification Administration Social Security United States Housing Authority Fair Labor Standards Act Individuals Franklin D. Roosevelt Harold L. Ickes Frances Perkins Harry Hopkins Henry Morgenthau Jr. Huey Long Herbert Hoover Francis Townsend Robert F. Wagner Category Commons vteLouisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame1990s1993 Hale Boggs William C. C. Claiborne Jimmie Davis Pap Dean Edwin Edwards Dudley LeBlanc Earl Long Huey Long Russell B. Long 1994 A. Leonard Allen Lindy Boggs Victor Bussie Allen J. Ellender Gillis William Long 1995 Camille Gravel Sam Hanna Sr. deLesseps Story Morrison Zachary Taylor Edward Douglass White 1996 Louis Berry James Carville Mary Evelyn Parker Leander Perez Gus Weill 1997 Oscar K. Allen Murphy J. Foster J. Bennett Johnston Melinda Schwegmann David C. Treen 1998 Speedy Long John H. Overton Joe Waggonner T. Harry Williams 1999 Cat Doucet Jimmy Fitzmorris Douglas Fowler Iris Kelso Ed Renwick 2000s2000 Jefferson Caffery William J. Jefferson Jeannette Knoll Jimmy D. Long Buddy Roemer 2001 Wiley W. Hilburn Robert F. Kennon Harry Lee Harold McSween Wade O. Martin Jr. Victor H. Schiro 2002 Jesse Bankston Kenny Bowen Harley Bozeman Nathan Burl Cain Bill Dodd Francis Grevemberg John Hainkel Henson Moore Joe Sampite Lillian Walker 2003 John Alario John Breaux Jay Chevalier Harry Connick Sr. Mike Foster Carolyn Huntoon Raymond Laborde Bob Livingston Richard Stalder Billy Tauzin 2004 Billy Boles Charles W. DeWitt Jr. Dudley A. Guglielmo Moon Landrieu Edgar G. "Sonny" Mouton Jr. Doris Lindsey Holland Rhodes Virginia Shehee Jack Wardlaw 2005 Robert W. Bates Carlos Roberto Flores Mary Flake Flores Eddie J. Jordan Jr. Curtis Joubert Barbara Boggs Sigmund Francis C. Thompson 2006 Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Charlie Cook Sylvan Friedman Donald E. Hines W. Fox McKeithen Cecil J. Picard Vic Stelly 2007 Diana E. Bajoie Sally Clausen Charles deGravelles Virginia deGravelles Hunt Downer Theodore "Ted" Jones Mary Landrieu Sean O'Keefe 2008 Richard Baker Bobby Freeman Melvin "Kip" Holden James A. Joseph Donald G. Kelly John LaPlante Bob Odom Ned Randolph Joe R. Salter 2009 Al Ater Foster Campbell Chris John Walter Lee Jessel Ourso Patrick F. Taylor 2010s2010 Rodney Alexander Randy Ewing Charlton Lyons Samuel B. Nunez Jr. William Nungesser Risley C. Triche 2011 James H. "Jim" Brown Lucille May Grace Catherine D. Kimball J. Kelly Nix Ralph Perlman Charlie Smith 2012 Fred Baden Felix Edward Hébert E. L. Henry Jerry Huckaby Adras LaBorde Billy Montgomery 2013 Charles C. Barham Leonard J. Chabert Marty J. Chabert Norby Chabert George Dement Leonard R. "Pop" Hataway Angelo Roppolo Raymond Strother 2014 J. Marshall Brown John Bel Edwards John B. Fournet Richard P. "Dick" Guidry John S. Hunt II Rose McConnell Long Robert "Bob" Mann Harvey Peltier Jr. 2015 Peppi Bruneau Buddy Caldwell Juba Diez Noble Ellington John Maginnis Charles A. Marvin Scott family: Albin Provosty, Nauman Scott and Jock Scott 2016 Boysie Bollinger Randy K. Haynie Richard Ieyoub Sam Houston Jones John Mamoulides Braxton Moody III Kaliste Saloom Jr. 2017 Jim Beam Jimmy Dimos T. 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EVERY MAN A KING

"8a16229" by C. Thomas Anderson is licensed under CC by-SA 2.0.

Is that a right of life, when the young children of this country are being reared into a sphere which is more owned by 12 men that is by 120 million people?

Ladies and gentlemen, I have only 30 minutes in which to speak to you this evening, and I, therefore, will not be able to discuss in detail so much as I can write when I have all of the time and space that is allowed me for the subjects, but I will undertake to sketch them very briefly without manuscript or preparation, so that you can understand them so well as I can tell them to you tonight.

I contend, my friends, that we have no difficult problem to solve in America, and that is the view of nearly everyone with whom I have discussed the matter here in Washington and elsewhere throughout the United States - that we have no very difficult problem to solve.

It is not the difficulty of the problem which we have; it is the fact that the rich people of this country - and by rich people I mean the super-rich - will not allow us to solve the problems, or rather the one little problem that is afflicting this country, because in order to cure all of our woes it is necessary to scale down the big fortunes, that we may scatter the wealth to be shared by all of the people.

We have a marvelous love for this Government of ours; in fact, it is almost a religion, and it is well that it should be, because we have a splendid form of government and we have a splendid set of laws. We have everything here that we need, except that we have neglected the fundamentals upon which the American Government was principally predicated.

How may of you remember the first thing that the Declaration of Independence said? It said, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that there are certain inalienable rights of the people, and among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"; and it said, further, "We hold the view that all men are created equal."

Now, what did they mean by that? Did they mean, my friends, to say that all me were created equal and that that meant that any one man was born to inherit $10,000,000,000 and that another child was to be born to inherit nothing?

Did that mean, my friends, that someone would come into this world without having had an opportunity, of course, to have hit one lick of work, should be born with more than it and all of its children and children's children could ever dispose of, but that another one would have to be born into a life of starvation?

That was not the meaning of the Declaration of Independence when it said that all men are created equal of "That we hold that all men are created equal."

Now was it the meaning of the Declaration of Independence when it said that they held that there were certain rights that were inalienable - the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Is that right of life, my friends, when the young children of this country are being reared into a sphere which is more owned by 12 men than it is by 120,000,000 people?

Is that, my friends, giving them a fair shake of the dice or anything like the inalienable right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, or anything resembling the fact that all people are created equal; when we have today in America thousands and hundreds of thousands and millions of children on the verge of starvation in a land that is overflowing with too much to eat and too much to wear? I do not think you will contend that, and I do not think for a moment that they will contend it.

Now let us see if we cannot return this Government to the Declaration of Independence and see if we are going to do anything regarding it. Why should we hesitate or why should we quibble or why should we quarrel with one another to find out what the difficulty is, when we know what the Lord told us what the difficulty is, and Moses wrote it out so a blind man could see it, then Jesus told us all about it, and it was later written in the Book of James, where everyone could read it?

I refer to the Scriptures, now, my friends, and give you what it says not for the purpose of convincing you of the wisdom of myself, not for the purpose ladies and gentlemen, of convincing you of the fact that I am quoting the Scripture means that I am to be more believed than someone else; but I quote you the Scripture, rather refer you to the Scripture, because whatever you see there you may rely upon will never be disproved so long as you or your children or anyone may live; and you may further depend upon the fact that not one historical fact that the Bible has ever contained has ever yet been disproved by any scientific discovery or by reason of anything that has been disclosed to man through his own individual mind or through the wisdom of the Lord which the Lord has allowed him to have.

But the Scripture says, ladies and gentlemen, that no country can survive, or for a country to survive it is necessary that we keep the wealth scattered among the people, that nothing should be held permanently by any one person, and that 50 years seems to be the year of jubilee in which all property would be scattered about and returned to the sources from which it originally came, and every seventh year debt should be remitted.

Those two things the Almighty said to be necessary - I should say He knew to be necessary, or else He would not have so prescribed that the property would be kept among the general run of the people and that everyone would continue to share in it; so that no one man would get half of it and hand it down to a son, who takes half of what was left, and that son hand it down to another one, who would take half of what was left, until, like a snowball going downhill, all of the snow was off of the ground except what the snowball had.

I believe that was the judgment and the view and the law of the Lord, that we would have to distribute wealth every so often, in order that there could not be people starving to death in a land of plenty, as there is in America today. We have in American today more wealth, more goods, more food, more clothing, more houses than we have ever had. We have everything in abundance here. We have the farm problem, my friends, because we have too much cotton, because we have too much wheat, and have too much corn, and too much potatoes. We have a home-loan problem because we have too many houses, and yet nobody can buy them and live in them.

We have trouble, my friends, in the country, because we have too much money owing, the greatest indebtedness that has ever been given to civilization, where it has been shown that we are incapable of distributing to the actual things that are here, because the people have not money enough to supply themselves with them, and because the greed of a few men is such that they think it is necessary that they own everything, and their pleasure consists in the starvation of the masses, and in their possessing things they cannot use, and their children cannot use, but who bask in the splendor of sunlight and wealth, casting darkness and despair and impressing it on everyone else.

"So, therefore," said the Lord, in effect, "if you see these things that now have occurred and exist in this and other countries, there must be a constant scattering of wealth in any country if this country is to survive."

"Then," said the Lord, in effect, "every seventh year there shall be a remission of debts; there will be no debts after 7 years." That was the law.

Now, let us take America today. We have in American today, ladies and gentlemen, $272,000,000,000 of debt. Two hundred and seventy-two thousand millions of dollars of debts are owed by the various people of this country today. Why, my friends, that cannot be paid. It is not possible for that kind of debt to be paid.

The entire currency of the United States is only $6,000,000,000. That is all of the money that we have got in America today. All the actual money you have got in all of your banks, all that you have got in the Government Treasury, is $6,000,000,000; and if you took all that money and paid it out today you would still owe $266,000,000,000; and if you took all that money and paid again you would still owe $260,000,000,000; and if you took it, my friends, 20 times and paid it you would still owe $150,000,000,000.

You would have to have 45 times the entire money supply of the United States today to pay the debts of the people of America, and then they would just have to start out from scratch, without a dime to go on with.

So, my friends, it is impossible to pay all of these debts, and you might as well find out that it cannot be done. The United States Supreme Court has definitely found out that it could not be done, because, in a Minnesota case, it held that when a State has postponed the evil day of collecting a debt it was a valid and constitutional exercise of legislative power.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, if I may proceed to give you some other words that I think you can understand - I am not going to belabor you by quoting tonight - I am going to tell you what the wise men of all ages and all times, down even to the present day, have all said: That you must keep the wealth of the country scattered, and you must limit the amount that any one man can own. You cannot let any man own $300,000,000,000 or $400,000,000,000. If you do, one man can own all of the wealth that they United States has in it.

Now, my friends, if you were off on an island where there were 100 lunches, you could not let one man eat up the hundred lunches, or take the hundred lunches and not let anybody else eat any of them. If you did, there would not be anything else for the balance of the people to consume.

So, we have in America today, my friends, a condition by which about 10 men dominate the means of activity in at least 85 percent of the activities that you own. They either own directly everything or they have got some kind of mortgage on it, with a very small percentage to be excepted. They own the banks, they own the steel mills, they own the railroads, they own the bonds, they own the mortgages, they own the stores, and they have chained the country from one end to the other, until there is not any kind of business that a small, independent man could go into today and make a living, and there is not any kind of business that an independent man can go into and make any money to buy an automobile with; and they have finally and gradually and steadily eliminated everybody from the fields in which there is a living to be made, and still they have got little enough sense to think they ought to be able to get more business out of it anyway.

If you reduce a man to the point where he is starving to death and bleeding and dying, how do you expect that man to get hold of any money to spend with you? It is not possible. Then, ladies and gentlemen, how do you expect people to live, when the wherewith cannot be had by the people?

In the beginning I quoted from the Scriptures. I hope you will understand that I am not quoting Scripture to convince you of my goodness personally, because that is a thing between me and my Maker, that is something as to how I stand with my Maker and as to how you stand with your Maker. That is not concerned with this issue, except and unless there are those of you who would be so good as to pray for the souls of some of us. But the Lord gave his law, and in the Book of James they said so, that the rich should weep and howl for the miseries that had come upon them; and, therefore, it was written that when the rich hold goods they could not use and could not consume, you will inflict punishment on them, and nothing but days of woe ahead of them.

Then we have heard of the great Greek philosopher, Socrates, and the greater Greek philosopher, Plato, and we have read the dialog between Plato and Socrates, in which one said that great riches brought on great poverty, and would be destructive of a country. Read what they said. Read what Plato said; that you must not let any one man be too poor, and you must not let any one man be too rich; that the same mill that grinds out the extra rich is the mill that will grind out the extra poor, because, in order that the extra rich can become so affluent, they must necessarily take more of what ordinarily would belong to the average man.

It is a very simple process of mathematics that you do not have to study, and that no one is going to discuss with you.

So that was the view of Socrates and Plato. That was the view of the English statesmen. That was the view of American statesmen. That was the view of American statesmen like Daniel Webster, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, William Jennings Bryan, and Theodore Roosevelt, and even as late as Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Both of these men, Mr. Hoover and Mr. Roosevelt, came out and said there had to be a decentralization of wealth, but neither one of them did anything about it. But, nevertheless, they recognized the principle. The fact that neither one of them ever did anything about it is their own problem that I am not undertaking to criticize; but had Mr. Hoover carried out what he says ought to be done, he would be retiring from the President's office, very probably, 3 years from now, instead of 1 year ago; and had Mr. Roosevelt proceeded along the lines that he stated were necessary for the decentralization of wealth, he would have gone, my friends, a long way already, and within a few months he would have probably reached a solution of all of the problems that afflict this country.

But I wish to warn you now that nothing that has been done up to this date has taken one dime away from these big-fortune holders; they own just as much as they did, and probably a little bit more; they hold just as many of the debts of the common people as they ever held, and probably a little bit more; and unless we, my friends, are going to give the people of this country a fair shake of the dice, by which they will all get something out of the funds of this land, there is not a chance on the topside of this God's eternal earth by which we can rescue this country and rescue the people of this country.

It is necessary to save the Government of the country, but is much more necessary to save the people of America. We love this country. We love this Government. It is a religion, I say. It is a kind of religion people have read of when women, in the name of religion, would take their infant babes and throw them into the burning flame, where they would be instantly devoured by the all-consuming fire, in days gone by; and there probably are some people of the world even today, who, in the name of religion, throw their tear-dimmed eyes into the sad faces of their fathers and mothers, who cannot given them food and clothing they both needed, and which is necessary to sustain them, and that goes on day after day, and night after night, when day gets into darkness and blackness, knowing those children would arise in the morning without being fed, and probably to bed at night without being fed.

Yet in the name of our Government, and all alone, those people undertake and strive as hard as they can to keep a good government alive, and how long they can stand that no one knows. If I were in their place tonight, the place where millions are, I hope that I would have what I might say - I cannot give you the word to express the kind of fortitude they have; that is the word - I hope that I might have the fortitude to praise and honor my Government that had allowed me here in this land, where there is too much to eat and too much to wear, to starve in order that a handful of men can have so much more than they can ever eat or they can ever wear.

Now, we have organized a society, and we call it "Share Our Wealth Society," a society with the motto "every man a king."

Every man a king, so there would be no such thing as a man or woman who did not have the necessities of life, who would not be dependent upon the whims and caprices and ipsi dixit of the financial martyrs for a living. What do we propose by this society? We propose to limit the wealth of big men in the country. There is an average of $15,000 in wealth to every family in America. That is right here today.

We do not propose to divide it up equally. We do not propose a division of wealth, but we propose to limit poverty that we will allow to be inflicted upon any man's family. We will not say we are going to try to guarantee any equality, or $15,000 to families. No; but we do say that one third of the average is low enough for any one family to hold, that there should be a guaranty of a family wealth of around $5,000; enough for a home, and automobile, a radio, and the ordinary conveniences, and the opportunity to educate their children; a fair share of the income of this land thereafter to that family so there will be no such thing as merely the select to have those things, and so there will be no such thing as a family living in poverty and distress.

We have to limit fortunes. Our present plan is that we will allow no one man to own more than $50,000,000. We think that with that limit we will be able to carry out the balance of the program. It may be necessary that we limit it to less than $50,000,000. It may be necessary, in working out of the plans, that no man's fortune would be more than $10,000,000 or $15,000,000. But be that as it may, it will still be more than any one man, or any one man and his children and their children, will be able to spend in their lifetimes; and it is not necessary or reasonable to have wealth piled up beyond that point where we cannot prevent poverty among the masses.

Another thing we propose is old-age pension of $30 a month for everyone that is 60 years old. Now, we do not give this pension to a man making $1,000 a year, and we do not give it to him if he has $10,000 in property, but outside of that we do.

We will limit hours of work. There is not any necessity of having over-production. I think all you have got to do, ladies and gentlemen, is just limit the hours of work to such an extent as people will work only so long as is necessary to produce enough for all of the people to have what they need. Why, ladies and gentleman, let us say that all of these labor-saving devices reduce hours down to where you do not have to work but 4 hours a day; that is enough for these people, and then praise be the name of the Lord, if it gets that good. Let it be good and not a curse, and then we will have 5 hours a day and 5 days a week, or even less that that, and we might give a man a whole month off during a year, or give him months; and we might do what other countries have seen fit to do, and what I did in Louisiana, by having schools by which adults could go back and learn the things that have been discovered since they went to school.

We will not have any trouble taking care of the agricultural situation. All you have to do is balance your production with your consumption. You simply have to abandon a particular crop that you have too much of, and all you have to do is store the surplus for the next year, and the Government will take it over. When you have good crops in the area in which the crops that have been planted are sufficient for another year, put in your public works in the particular year when you do not need to raise any more, and by that means you get everybody employed. When the Government has enough of any particular crop to take care of all of the people, that will be all that is necessary; and in order to do all of this, our taxation is going to be to take the billion-dollar fortunes and strip them down to frying size, not to exceed $50,000,000, and it is necessary to come to $10,000,000, we will come to $10,000,000. We have worked the proposition out to guarantee a limit upon property (and no man will own less than one third the average), and guarantee a reduction of fortunes and a reduction of hours to spread wealth throughout this country. We would care for the old people above 60 and take them away from this thriving industry and give them a chance to enjoy the necessities and live in ease, and thereby lift from the market the labor which would probably create a surplus of commodities.

Those are the things we propose to do. "Every man a king." Every man to eat when there is something to eat; all to wear something when there is something to wear. That makes us all sovereign.

You cannot solve these things through these various and sundry alphabetical codes. You can have the N.R.A. and P.W.A. and C.W.A. and the U.U.G. and G.I.N. and any other kind of "dad-gummed" lettered code. You can wait until doomsday and see 25 more alphabets, but that is not going to solve this proposition. Why hide? Why quibble? You know what the trouble is. The man that says he does not know what the trouble is just hiding his face to keep from seeing the sunlight.

God told you what the trouble was. The philosophers told you what the trouble was; and when you have a country where one man owns more than 100,000 people, or a million people, and when you have a country where there are four men, as in America, that have got more control over things than all the 120,000,000 people together, you know what the trouble is.

We had these great incomes in this country; but the farmer, who plowed from sunup to sundown, who labored here from sunup to sundown for 6 days a week, wound up at the end of time with practically nothing.

And we ought to take care of the veterans of the wars in this program. That is a small matter. Suppose it does cost a billion dollars a year - that means that the money will be scattered throughout this country. We ought to pay them a bonus. We can do it. We ought to take care of every single one of the sick and disabled veterans. I do not care whether a man got sick on the battlefield or did not; every man that wore the uniform of this country is entitled to be taken care of, and there is money enough to do it; and we need to spread the wealth of the country, which you did not do in what you call the N.R.A.

If the N.R.A. has done any good, I can put it all in my eye without having it hurt. All I can see that N.R.A. has done is to put the little man out of business - the little merchant in his store, the little Dago that is running a fruit stand, or the Greek shoe-shining stand, who has to take hold of a code of 275 pages and study with a spirit level and compass and looking-glass; he has to hire a Philadelphia lawyer to tell him what is in the code; and by the time he learns what the code is, he is in jail or out of business; and they have got a chain code system that has already put him out of business. The N.R.A. is not worth anything, and I said so when they put it through.

Now, my friends, we have got to hit the root with the axe. Centralized power in the hands of a few, with centralized credit in the hands of a few, is the trouble.

Get together in your community tonight or tomorrow and organize one of our Share Our Wealth societies. If you do not understand it, write me and let me send you the platform; let me give you the proof of it.

This is Huey P. Long talking, United States Senator, Washington, D.C. Write me and let me send you the data on this proposition. Enroll with us. Let us make known to the people what we are going to do. I will send you a button, if I have got enough of them left. We have got a little button that some of our friends designed, with our message around the rim of the button, and in the center "Every man a king." Many thousands of them are meeting through the United States, and every day we are getting hundreds and hundreds of letters. Share Our Wealth societies are now being organized, and people have it within their power to relieve themselves from this terrible situation.

Look at what the Mayo brothers announced this week, these greatest scientists of all the world today, who are entitled to have more money than all the Morgans and the Rockefellers, or anyone else, and yet the Mayos turn back their big fortunes to be used for treating the sick, and said they did not want to lay up fortunes in this earth, but wanted to turn them back where they would do some good; but the other big capitalists are not willing to do that, are not willing to do what these men, 10 times more worthy, have already done, and it is going to take a law to require them to do it.

Organize your Share Our Wealth Society and get your people to meet with you, and make known your wishes to your Senators and Representatives in Congress.

Now, my friends, I am going to stop. I thank you for this opportunity to talk to you. I am having to talk under the auspices and by the grace and permission of the National Broadcasting System tonight, and they are letting me talk free. If I had the money, and I wish I had the money, I would like to talk to you more often on this line, but I have not got it, and I cannot expect these people to give it to me free except on some rare instance. But, my friends, I hope to have the opportunity to talk with you, and I am writing to you, and I hope that you will get up and help in the work, because the resolution and bills are before Congress, and we hope to have your help in getting together and organizing your Share Our Wealth society.

Now, that I have but a minute left, I want to say that I suppose my family is listening in on the radio in New Orleans, and I will say to my wife and three children that I am entirely well and hope to be home before many more days, and I hope they have listened to my speech tonight, and I wish them and all their neighbors and friends everything good that may be had.

I thank you, my friends, for your kind attention, and I hope you will enroll with us, take care of your own work in the work of this Government, and share or help in our Share Our Wealth society.

I thank you.

Current Page: 1

GRADE:9

Additional Information:

Rating: Words in the Passage: 1390 Unique Words: 934 Sentences: 184
Noun: 1165 Conjunction: 583 Adverb: 310 Interjection: 7
Adjective: 213 Pronoun: 527 Verb: 928 Preposition: 605
Letter Count: 20,011 Sentiment: Positive / Positive / Positive Tone: Neutral Difficult Words: 520
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