After watching a particularly interesting video of one of Huey Long's speeches I decided to learn a little more about the man behind the drunken speeches.
Huey Pierce Long was born on August 30, 1893, in Louisiana, becoming the seventh child in his family. He would go on to serve as the governor and senator of Louisiana whose social reforms and radical welfare proposals would be overshadowed by the actions he took to ensure authoritarian control over his state.
Despite having never graduated high school, Long obtained enough of a formal schooling to pass the bar exam (a test that assesses whether someone is qualified to practice law) in 1915. At the age of 25, he won an election to become part of the state railroad commission. He demanded fair regulation of the state utility (gas and power) companies and attacked Standard Oil which earned him widespread popularity. In 1928, four years after a failed attempt to secure Louisiana governorship, Long became the governor of his home state largely due to the support of the discontented rural population. His unconventional speeches earned him the nickname "Kingfish" (someone seen as an authority figure/an influential leader). He created ambitious programs for public works and welfare legislation in a state whose road system and social services were neglected by the wealthy elite.
As a champion of poor whites, he effected a free-textbook law, launched a program of road and bridge building, expanded state university facilites, and erected a state hospital where free treatment for all was provided. He opposed excessive privileges for the rich and funded his improvements with increased taxes on the wealthy as well as a severance tax on oil.
His folksy manner and sympathy for the underprivileged succeeded in diverting attention from his many autocratic actions. He surrounded himself with gangsterlike bodyguards and ordered members of the legislature around outright, even using intimidation when necessary. When he was about to leave office to serve in the Senate, he fired the newly elected lieutenant governor and replaced him with two of his chosen successors that would obey him. In order to fend off local challenges, Long abolished local government and took control of all educational, police, and fire job appointments throughout the state. He achieved absolute control of the militia, state judiciary, and election and tax-assessing organizations while also denying citizens legal or electoral results/solutions they wanted.
Once in the senate, he sought national power with his Share the Wealth program that appealed to the Depression-shocked American public. If he had been able to unite various nationwide radical movements, Long may have been able to win the presidency. At the height of his power, Long was assassinated by Carl Austin Weiss, the son of Judge Benjamin Pavy whom Long vilified when he revived a rumor of black children in the Pavy family. His political legacy would be carried on by his brother who would serve as Louisiana's governor and his son who served in the Senate.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Huey-Long-American-politician
https://www.history.com/topics/crime/huey-long
I found this pretty interesting because I think that Long's authoritarian control of Louisiana show's how radical and extreme the Great Depression caused politics to be in America. The Fact that someone could intimidate his legislation into submission shows how much democracy had decayed in that time period. I also find it interesting that such an Authoritarian figure had sympathies for the poor as normally once reaching a position fo power politicians forget the people that voted them in.
ReplyDeleteI find Long very captivating due to his demonstration of the desperation in the American people. Long originally supported FD Roosevelt, the more liberal candidate of the 1932 presidential election. Yet Long eventually saw even Roosevelt's policies as too conservative, with his own policies being radically liberal. Even so, despite his radical views, Long was disproportionately popular, posing a threat to Roosevelt's own presidency. Long's popularity showed that the extreme situation of the Great Depression truly led people to lend their support to extreme leaders, similar to the situations of Russia and Germany. Even though Long's policies were idealistic and far from possible, the mass unemployment across the country brought his demagoguery much support.
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