Kingfish: The Reign of Huey P. Long
by Jr. Richard D. White
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jr. Richard D. WhiteEdition: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2006-04-04
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Random House
Book Reviews of Kingfish: The Reign of Huey P. Long
Book Review: A man of Contradictions
Summary: 4 Stars
Huey Long is a compelling historical figure. Reading his biography covers both a point in time and tells the reader about Southern politics. Huey Long was a fascinating man, in a fast moving historical time in a place that was polarized. It makes for highly intersesting reading.
Mr. White does not bring the deftness of pen that A.J. Liebling brought to bear in writing a biography of Huey's brother, and lineal successor, Earl. But that is a bit like saying that today's heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko, does not bring the same flair into the ring as Muhammad Ali. Isn't going to happen.
But Mr. White gives us a chronological timeline of Huey Long's life and career, and a very balanced assessment of his accomplishments, his weaknesses, and eventually his legacy.
Was Huey Long a populist man of the people? Yes. Was he a demogogue? Yes. Was he a crook? Yes. Was he drunk with his own power? Yes.
He is hard to buttonhole because he was so many things to so many different people. This is what makes him a unique political figure, and still, almost seventy five years past his death, a polarizing legend.
A worthwhile perusal for any curious student of Southern politics, and of the great Huey Long.
Summary of Kingfish: The Reign of Huey P. Long
From the moment he took office as governor in 1928 to the day an assassin?s bullet cut him down in 1935, Huey Long wielded all but dictatorial control over the state of Louisiana. A man of shameless ambition and ruthless vindictiveness, Long orchestrated elections, hired and fired thousands at will, and deployed the state militia as his personal police force. And yet, paradoxically, as governor and later as senator, Long did more good for the state?s poor and uneducated than any politician before or since. Outrageous demagogue or charismatic visionary? In this powerful new biography, Richard D. White, Jr., brings Huey Long to life in all his blazing, controversial glory.White taps invaluable new source material to present a fresh, vivid portrait of both the man and the Depression era that catapulted him to fame. From his boyhood in dirt-poor Winn Parish, Long knew he was destined for power?the problem was how to get it fast enough to satisfy his insatiable appetite. With cunning and crudity unheard of in Louisiana politics, Long crushed his opponents in the 1928 gubernatorial race, then immediately set about tightening his iron grip. The press attacked him viciously, the oil companies howled for his blood after he pushed through a controversial oil processing tax, but Long had the adulation of the people. In 1930, the Kingfish got himself elected senator, and then there was no stopping him.
White?s account of Long?s heyday unfolds with the mesmerizing intensity of a movie. Pegged by President Roosevelt as ?one of the two most dangerous men in the country,? Long organized a radical movement to redistribute money through his Share Our Wealth Society?and his gospel of pensions for all, a shorter workweek, and free college spread like wildfire. The Louisiana poor already worshiped him for building thousands of miles of roads and funding schools, hospitals, and universities; his outrageous antics on the Senate floor gained him a growing national base. By 1935, despite a barrage of corruption investigations, Huey Long announced that he was running for president.
In the end, Long was a tragic hero?a power addict who squandered his genius and came close to destroying the very foundation of democratic rule. Kingfish is a balanced, lucid, and absolutely spellbinding portrait of the life and times of the most incendiary figure in the history of American politics.
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