Huey Long - WikiHQ

Huey Pierce Long Jr. (August 30, 1893September 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, in contrast, 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 often 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 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, Long's political opposition organized a minor insurrection in 1935.

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 Franklin Roosevelt's 1932 presidential 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 politics 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)

Childhood

Huey Pierce Long Jr. was born on August 30, 1893, near Winnfield, a small town in north-central Louisiana, the seat of Winn Parish. 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. Winn Parish was impoverished, and its residents, mostly Southern Baptists, were often outsiders in Louisiana's political system. Long embraced these populist sentiments.

One of nine children, 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". 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. Long was also unable to attend because he did not graduate from high school. Instead, he entered the workforce as a traveling salesman in the rural South.

Education and marriage

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. 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. The two began a two-and-a-half-year courtship and married in April 1913 at the Gayoso Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. On their wedding day, Long had no cash with him and had to borrow $10 from his fiancée to pay the officiant. 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. 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.

Long enrolled at Tulane University Law School in New Orleans in the fall of 1914. 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. According to Long: "I came out of that courtroom running for office."

Legal career (1915–1923)

In 1915, Long established a private practice in Winnfield. He represented poor plaintiffs, usually in workers' compensation cases. 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." In 1918, Long invested $1,050 () in a well that struck oil. The Standard Oil Company refused to accept any of the oil in its pipelines, costing Long his investment. This episode served as the catalyst for Long's lifelong hatred of Standard Oil.

thumb|upright=0.8|alt=A card sporting Long's face surrounded by the text, "I respectfully ask for your vote for railroad commissioner, Huey P. Long"|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:

<blockquote>... 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].</blockquote>

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. Although the returns revealed wide support for Long in rural areas, he performed poorly in urban areas. 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.

In the gubernatorial election of 1920, Long campaigned heavily for John M. Parker; today, he is often credited with helping Parker win northern parishes. 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. which resulted in cash refunds to thousands of overcharged customers.

Gubernatorial campaigns (1924–1928)

1924 election

thumb|upright=0.8|alt=Card sporting Long's face surrounded by the text "Give the people a governor, Huey P. Long"|Card for Long's 1924 gubernatorial campaign

On August 30, 1923, Long announced his candidacy for the governorship of Louisiana.

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. Consequently, Louisiana was one of the least developed states: It had just 300 miles of paved roads and the lowest literacy rate.

Despite an enthusiastic campaign, Long came third in the primary and was eliminated. It was the only election Long ever lost.

1928 election

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. 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.

Long developed novel campaign techniques, including the use of sound trucks and radio commercials. 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.

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.

Some fifteen thousand Louisianians traveled to Baton Rouge for Long's inauguration. 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". 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."

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. When an opposing legislator once suggested Long was unfamiliar with the Louisiana Constitution, he declared, "I'm the Constitution around here now."

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.

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 () 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."

Despite wide disapproval, Long had the Governor's Mansion, built in 1887, razed by convicts from the State Penitentiary under his personal supervision.

Impeachment

thumb|left|alt=Photograph of the Old Louisiana State Capitol, a Gothic style building|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. 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. The "dynamite squad", a caucus of opponents led by freshman lawmakers Cecil Morgan and Ralph Norman Bauer, introduced an impeachment resolution against Long. Nineteen charges were listed, ranging from blasphemy to subornation of murder.

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. Some ran for the speaker's chair to call for a new vote but met resistance from their pro-Long colleagues, sparking a brawl later known as "Bloody Monday". In the scuffle, legislators threw inkwells, allegedly attacked others with brass knuckles, and Long's brother Earl bit a legislator's neck. Following the fight, the legislature voted to remain in session and proceed with impeachment. Proceedings in the house took place with dozens of witnesses, including a hula dancer who claimed that Long had been "frisky" with her. Long was the third Louisiana governor charged in the state's history, following Reconstruction Republicans Henry Clay Warmoth and William Pitt Kellogg. 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.

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." Receiving death threats, he surrounded himself with bodyguards. Now a resolute critic of the "lying" press,  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.

Senate campaign

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. 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. 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. Although promising not to make personal attacks, Long seized on Ransdell's age, calling him "Old Feather Duster". The campaign became increasingly vicious, with The New York Times calling it "as amusing as it was depressing". Long critic Sam Irby,