A real conflict developed between Huey p. Long and Franklin D. Roosevelt to the point when Roosevelt recognized: “He [Huey Long] is one of the two most dangerous men in the country.” And he reasoned that “We must tame these fellows [Long and his political allies] and make them useful to us.” At this moment a secret poll had already shown that 11 percent of the people preferred Kingfish to Roosevelt or a republican and Long had become a serious power for an election. Nobody can know how the relationship between both would have developed without the assassination and if Huey Long could have changed his mind according the New Deal, if Roosevelt had offered him a position on the national level in exchange. But apparently a lot of Long’s opposition to Roosevelt’s bills came from his interests in gaining power. He tried to establish his own Share Our Wealth program not only for Louisiana, but for the whole country. It seems that both reasons come together: Huey Long selected those New Deal bills that he considered useful from the others. Later the conflict with president Roosevelt became increasingly important to his policy.
Table Of Contents
1. Introduction – Extraordinary Times
2. A Visionary and his Self-Perception
3. An Historical Perspective
3.1. The Benefactor
3.2. The Dictator
4. Conclusion – Extraordinary Men
5. Prospects – Prophecy without Fulfilling
Sources
Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
1. Introduction – Extraordinary Times
This essay deals with a populist who was able to rally a huge allegiance in times of the poverty and social unrest, to gain power and to harm democracy from within. But we are not dealing with a German or an Italian in this case. Furthermore we are talking about a man who made promises about social equality, about a fair redistribution of wealth. This man made the rich his enemies and the poor his patronage. But we are neither dealing with a German nor with a Russian in this case. The time is about the same as the times of the European Dictators Hitler, Mussolini or Stalin. However, the place that we are talking about is right between the Sabine River and the Mississippi.
The Great Depression brought high unemployment and a constant decrease of the economy to the United States. The agriculture industry, fundamental for each society, was affected worst and in the year 1932 about 25 percent of the Americans were unemployed. These years have created serious change in America and the whole world. In some places remarkable politicians have entered the stage of Democracies and the social conditions allowed populists to gain followers. It was that time, when one of the most curious characters in US-History appeared. Huey Pierce Long, one of those characters, began his political career in Louisiana where he later became governor and finally US-senator. He even planned on running for president in 1936 before his sudden assassination in 1935. His career benefited from the uncertainness in the depression era. The economic crisis had developed to such an extreme level by March, 1933 when Roosevelt was inaugurated “that even the most entrenched conservatives and the most impatient progressives seemed willing at first to follow the new president almost blindly. But not Huey Long.”[1] He opposed much of the New Deal heading which was far to conservative for him.
His Share Our Wealth program proposed to redistribute Americas wealth and to fight the few who owned so much. As governor, he improved Louisiana’s infrastructure by building paved roads and highways as well as new bridges. Furthermore, he fought illiteracy and enhanced the funding for the public health. However his work was and is not without controversy. His appearances were characterized by populist rhetoric and by extending his influence as governor and senator he blurred the line between federal and state politics. He abolished local governments and centralized his control over the State. He seemed to seek more and more power without giving up any position that he had achieved. In political conflicts, he fired relatives of his opponents, supported other candidates to defeat them in elections and even used armed forces (Bureau of Criminal Identification) to protect his own powers. While preaching of spending money for the poor, he ordered the construction of a new governor’s mansion and the Louisiana State Capitol – clearly monuments of his own power. Despite his early death, elections in Louisiana have been carried out by pro-Long and anti-Long politicians for much longer.
Which one is the real Huey Long? Is it the benefactor for the poor, the sick, and the uneducated? Did he really try to show an alternative way to solve the Great Depression? Or was he just another populist, seeking power, a man who would do anything to defeat his political opponents? What were his ambitions and why did he walk that line between legal government and despotic dictatorship? Many see Long as some kind of Messiah, others as one of the two most dangerous men in the country. Is that line to be drawn or is there an essential composition of aspects from both these extremes to create an extraordinary politician?
Many authors have dealt with Long and tried to figure out what intentions motivated him. As early as in 1946, Robert Penn Warren based his Novel “All the King's Men” on Long and described Willie Stark as a southern demagogue, who manipulated the masses. Later, in 1969 T. Harry Williams wrote the biography “Huey Long” and concluded that the idea of the redistribution of wealth was the main motivation for Long. However, William Ivy Hair took a rather negative position in 1991. In “The Kingfish and his Realm: The Life and Times of Huey P. Long” he stated that the most important thing for Long was “power and more power for himself.”[2] Finally, Richard Downing White focussed on how Long used his abilities in a ruthless way to acquire dictatorial powers in Louisiana, when he published “Kingfish: The Reign of Huey P. Long” in 2006.
But Huey Pierce Long was an author himself. In his autobiographic works, he tried to influence the picture which ensuing ages would draw of him. H e presented his own point of view in “Every Man a King” which he published in 1933. Although this is just an autobiography, T. Harry Williams called this “an important political testament that deserves the attention of all serious students an politics.”[3] In the posthumously published “ My First Days in the White House”, Long illustrated his presidential ambitions.
All these sources together might provide a more balanced view on Long and blur the lines between benefactor and tyrant or demagogue and democrat.
2. A Visionary and his Self-Perception
“I pursued the work of paving highways and building of farm gravel roads. I delved closely into the affairs of education; I worked to improve the institutions of the State.”[4] That is the benefactor of Long’s self-portrayal.
In his autobiography, he drew a straight line from growing up in poverty, helping other students during his times at college to his engagement in law and then politics. He described the poverty and inequity which he witnessed in his early years. And as he became a lawyer, his duty became obvious. He wrote: „My legal and political opposition to the vested interests took on larger proportions from month to month.”[5] His favourite enemy, to show his representation of the poor, was the oil industry. He „never stopped opposition to Governor Parker and the big oil interests.“[6] His answer to deal with the gap between the rich and the poor was to share all the wealth. Therefore, he even referred to his opponent F.D. Roosevelt and declares that this was needed for a secure country. He does not keep quiet his tricks in the political campaigns. Instead, he is rather proud of them. When it comes to the impeachment process, he interprets this again as the fight between the elites and the ordinary people. While those capitalist elites tried to get rid of him, people “in no manner connected with state administration”[7] contributed money to support Long. This impeachment was aspired by members of the Legislature “against the wishes of their people”[8] Long himself seemed always to be fighting for those people. He never asked for a return service. To prove that, he quoted a man who asked him for help and carried on with saying: „I will be for you for life.“[9] But Long answered: „Never mind about your being for me ; do whatever you please about that.“[10] That is the benefactor of “Every Man a King”, the man who raised the number of students at Louisiana State University from 1600 to 5000,[11] who “pursued diligently such things as were consistent with [his] ideas of popular government.“[12]
[...]
[1] Alan Brinkley, Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression (New York, NY: Knopf, 1982), 59.
[2] William Ivy Hair, The Kingfish and his Realm: The Life and Times of Huey P. Long (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1991), 226.
[3] Huey P. Long, Every Man a King: The Autobiography of Huey P. Long,
Introduction by T. Harry Williams (Chicago, IL: Quadrangle books Inc., 1964), xxvi.
[4] Long, Every Man a King, 183.
[5] Ibidem, 37.
[6] Ibidem, 52.
[7] Ibidem, 147.
[8] Ibidem, 182.
[9] Long, Every Man a King, 242.
[10] Ibidem, 242.
[11] Ibidem, 249.
[12] Ibidem, 319.
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