Governor Huey Pierce Long of Louisiana
The Louisiana Populist Who Tried to End the Great Depression
Oct 22, 2009
Huey Pierce Long used his charisma and his vast political network to help further his personal agendas to provide textbooks to thousands of Louisiana schoolchildren, build over a hundred bridges and thousands of miles of new roads throughout the state, while simultaneously elevating his status in the political arena.
While Long imposed martial law on towns whose officials disagreed with him and freely removed dissenters from local and state boards, his efforts in education and infrastructure created generations of admirers among Louisiana’s poor and offers background on current economic debates in shortening recessions. Long's legacy remains a combination of self-interest and education, self-promotion and helping the poor, and moving Louisiana forward even as he tried to capture the ultimate national office.
Winnfield, Louisiana, in Hilly North Louisiana
Born in impoverished Winn Parish on August 30, 1893, Long was one of nine children and grew up on a farm later partially sold in parcels after the railroad depot was built on his family’s land in Winnfield. After being expelled from high school, Long traveled to Oklahoma and New Orleans as a salesman, discovering his love for gambling along the way. He married quiet Rose McConnell and became a lawyer without finishing a year of law school at Tulane by passing the bar.
New Orleans Political Machine
An inveterate salesman, Long managed to thwart the New Orleans political machine and became governor in 1928. He was almost impeached in 1929 for using state assets for his personal use and after surviving the attempt, his temper grew and Long continued to use the state militia and fired at will anyone who served on state commissions, or were otherwise on the state’s payroll, who disagreed with him.
By the end of his term as governor, the New Orleans machine became the Long machine and he campaigned for his chosen candidates. As a masterful politician, Long was the first in Louisiana to use the radio to spread his message and freely attacked his opponents using his passionate preacher-like style and his persuasive sales methods.
Educational Improvements in Louisiana
At the same time, nearly 500,000 children received textbooks in both public and parochial schools because Long made education a priority in spite of his own deficit. The parents of the children often became Long devotees because many could not pay for the books before, resulting in uneducated children who were not able to attend school.
Long’s Relentless Efforts to Build Infrastructure
Long also paved thousands of miles of dirt and gravel roads or built new roadways that would not wash out during Louisiana’s repeated rainstorms and hurricanes. This positively affected the people who traveled throughout the very different terrains found in the state.
Long’s native North Louisiana features pine-heavy hills and valleys, while South Louisiana stays swampy, with bayous connecting to major rivers such as the Mississippi and Atchafalaya, routinely causing flooding and making boat travel popular.
Louisiana’s New State Capitol
As a visible sign of Louisiana’s progress, Long built a new state capitol building, which he partially built, with the contemporary Art Deco lines and a soaring central tower that offered comprehensive views of the Baton Rouge skyline and Mississippi River. As further proof of his abilities, he ensured that the state capital would be completed within one year.
Even though he was no longer governor when it was finished, he maintained an apartment in the new state capitol so that he could stay heavily involved in the state’s legislative machinations and guide his chosen successor, Oscar K Allen, who was known as OK Allen for saying “OK” to Huey’s demands.
Long as US Senator
By 1932, he became a US Senator, shocking Washington, DC., with his uncouth ways that made him popular in Louisiana and his unforgivingly strident social policies, using the realities of the Great Depression to curry favor with laborers and other blue collar workers while competing politicians first paid attention to others in power. He spent his days unsuccessfully advocating legislation for the poor and his evenings in DC nightclubs, returning to New Orleans and Baton Rouge as much as possible.
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Huey P. Long
Long initially spoke highly of presidential candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt and even campaigned for him in several states, but after meeting him, Long believed that the obviously blue-blooded president would not go far enough either to promote aid to the poor or to promote Long.
While President Franklin D. Roosevelt implemented the New Deal programs, Long derided them as not progressive enough and became one of FDR’s harshest critics. He organized the national Share Our Wealth Society with the goal of limiting individuals’ wealth and granting pensions to the elderly needy.
As he had planned as a young man, Long intended to run for President in the 1936 election. To do so, he would have to defeat Roosevelt at the Democratic national convention so Long continued to tour throughout the country to spread his message and garner attention. Long followed his 1933 autobiography, Every Man a King, with the optimistically titled My First Days in the White House.
The Assassination of Huey P. Long
On September 8, 1935, Huey P. Long had spent a long Sunday involved in the Louisiana legislative session when Dr. Carl Weiss shot him in Long’s beloved State Capitol. Return fire from Long’s bodyguards ricocheted off the marble hallways causing mayhem.
Long stumbled from the hall and was rushed to the hospital where a young doctor attempted to save him. Long died two days later on September 10, 1935, and remains a polarizing figure whose advocacy for aggressive economic attention for blue-collar Americans continues to be a topic of discussion today.
Bibliography:
Hair, William Ivy. The Kingfish and His Realm: The Life and Times of Huey P. Long. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1997.
Long, Huey P. Every Man a King. New Orleans: National Book Company, 1933.
White, Jr., Richard D. Kingfish:The Reign of Huey P. Long. New York: Random House, 2006.
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