Huey Long
by T. Harry Williams

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Book Reviews of Huey Long

Book Review: Great Political Biography
Summary: 5 Stars

Long was seen at the time as a populist and a radical. The issues he fought for however would now seem main stream. He was elected on a platform of providing free schoolbooks to children and in surfacing the states roads. (At the time he was elected only some 600 miles of Louisiana's' roads were surfaced.) Other projects he was involved in were the construction of bridges in especially to allow commercial access to New Orleans the upgrading of its port and the provision of natural gas to city dwellers. In addition he also spent funds on education and opened a medical school to increase the number of available medical practitioners. One of his achievements was to expand University Placements in such a way that poorer students would have access to higher education.

His interest in education extended to attempts to provide equality of opportunity in public schools. The quality of education varied from district to district and he set up an equalization fund in an attempt to overcome the problem. He also set up adult literacy classes and reduced adult literacy amongst both white and Afro-Americans substantially.

During the depression he kept highway constructions projects going and these employed large numbers of people. He also personally intervened to protect banks from closing and Louisiana only lost seven banks in the period a very low number.

A range of these projects required revenue. Louisiana was at the time when he became governor a state with a very small revenue base. Long started to expand the revenue base by using regulatory powers to tax mineral extraction and goods movement. His changes led to the richer paying more tax. Prior to his time most income came from a regressive property tax. During his period of government expenditure doubled as the state took on responsibility for infrastructure.

As a result Long was strongly opposed by the political establishment of the state. During his first term he was the subject of an impeachment hearing. It also seemed that some business channeled large sums of money into the hands of his opponents. He was vilified in the press and subject to two inquires when he was elected to the senate.

Often radical politicians know little about the reality of power and its dynamics. They are elected to power and have little understanding of the opposition that they will face and hope that the utterance of a few cliches will not lead to the passing of a program or solid achievement. They assume that decency will be met by decency and are often disappointed. Long however was an absolute realist and from the moment of starting a political career he realized that he had to create a power base and to destroy the old power structures of his state. Prior to Long Louisiana was part of the old democratic South. It was a one party state controlled basically by a wealthy elite in New Orleans. Their view of the role of government was keeping the Negro's out of the system and not taxing big companies.

Long destroyed this group and built his own political machine. This was not easy and he had to fight every inch of the way against entrenched interests. He had amazing political toughness.

Towards the end of his life he was elected to the senate and was attempting to develop a radical movement so that he could become president. His platform was "share out wealth". He wanted to limit individual personal wealth to $1m and to redistribute sums above that amount to the poorer members of society. This was his means of dealing with the depression. He was assassinated in 1935 and if he had not been killed he might have either won the presidential election in 1936 or else split the vote ensuring a republican victory.

The book is quite long being over 800 pages but is easy to read. Some of the material is hilarious. For example in the 30's it seemed that one of New Orleans major banks might collapse due to rumors about its financial status. Long organized a bail out package from President Roosevelt. The problem was that there would the time interval of a day before the money would arrive. Long decided that the only way out was to declare a holiday so that the bank could close for a day prior to the money arriving. The only problem was that the day in question the 4th of February was an unremarkable day in American History. He had historians from a local university up all night trying to find some event to celebrate on this proposed holiday. At last they found that President Wilson had broken diplomatic relations with Germany on that day some 17 years ago. The holiday was proclaimed and the bank was saved.

The book is fascinating and it is about a remarkable figure who towered like a colossus in the history of his state. It is also a book about the reality of political power and is illustrative of how hard vested interests will fight to prevent political change.

Summary of Huey Long

Political Books

• Books > Subjects > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People
• History > Americas > United States > State & Local
• Social Sciences