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Huey Long
Who was Huey Long? He was an extraordinary figure in American political history – a great natural politician who looked, and often seemed to behave, like a caricature of the redneck Southern politico. Yet, at the time of his death, he had become a serious rival to Franklin Roosevelt for the presidency. In this biography, the first full-scale analysis of Long, this intriguing and incredible man stands wholly revealed and understood.
The eminent historian T. Harry Williams has created a work masterly in its scope and detail. This award-winning biography brings fresh life to the sensation-ridden years when Long became a figure of national importance. Huey Long was winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award.
The eminent historian T. Harry Williams has created a work masterly in its scope and detail. This award-winning biography brings fresh life to the sensation-ridden years when Long became a figure of national importance. Huey Long was winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award.
944 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1969
About the author
T. Harry Williams
63 books25 followersT. Harry Williams (Thomas Harry Williams) was an historian at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge whose writing career began in 1941 and extended for thirty-eight years until his death in 1979. Williams is perhaps best known for his American Civil War study, Lincoln and His Generals, a "Book of the Month" selection from 1952, and Huey Long, winner of both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize in 1970.
Williams passed away approximately two months after retirement due to complications from pneumonia.
In 1998, Williams was posthumously inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.
Williams passed away approximately two months after retirement due to complications from pneumonia.
In 1998, Williams was posthumously inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.
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November 10, 2018
UPDATE:
Johnathan Alter was wrong. See his quote below.
DICTATOR – in politics, a leader who rules a country with absolute power, usually by force
FASCIST – an individual who favors dictatorial government, centralized control of private enterprise, repression of all opposition, and extreme nationalism
DEMAGOGUE – a political leader who gains power by appealing to people’s emotions, instincts, and prejudices in a way that is considered manipulative and dangerous
POPULIST – an advocate of the rights and interests of ordinary people, e.g. in politics or the arts
I don’t know which is more forbidding: T. Harry Williams’ massive biography (994 pages) or the political career of the colorful, charismatic, controversial legend that is its focus.
Huey Pierce “Kingfish” Long served as the 40th governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932, and represented his state in the U.S. Senate from 1932 to 1935. His term in the Senate was cut short at age forty-two when he was assassinated in the halls of the state capitol in Baton Rouge, ironically, a building that he made possible.
At one time or the other, he was branded with all of the political labels mentioned at the beginning of the review, sometimes two or three simultaneously, and in the same breath. And the truth is, he was a little of all of them. However, Williams, in his critically acclaimed and award winning biography, which was published in 1969, leans more toward the populist label.
Williams was born in Illinois and grew up in Wisconsin. He eventually moved south where he taught American history at Louisiana State University (LSU) from 1941 to 1979. Since Long had been dead only six years when Williams took the position and the controversy surrounding him had hardly abated at all in the interim, it is only natural that historians, especially in Louisiana, would still be keenly interested in his legacy, though they might differ on the nature of that legacy.
Williams was also able to interview many of Long’s champions and enemies who were still alive when he was conducting his research and that gives the book an air of immediacy that later biographies would not have. His research also leaned heavily on oral histories that had interviewed people in both camps.
Williams’ biography is surprisingly sympathetic toward its subject. Although he doesn’t gloss over Long’s many faults or his heavy handed tactics, he does respect what Long attempted to do and, in many cases, did do for the poor people of his state. And he did accomplish a great deal. This is not the place to list all the things that Long did for his state and its people – especially the poor – for it is a long list, but there is no doubt that the populist label does fit.
I do not know any man who has accomplished so much that I approve of in one state in four years, at the same time that he has done so much that I dislike. It is a thoroughly perplexing, paradoxical record.-– Raymond Gram Swing (one of the most influential print and broadcast journalists during the time of Huey Long's heyday)
It is also true that Long was a demagogue and that he did become a virtual dictator in his state, controlling it with an iron hand in a fashion that no state before or since has ever experienced. Furthermore, that control did not let up with his election to the U.S. Senate but, on the contrary, it intensified. In his short tenure in that office he spent more time in Baton Rouge micromanaging the affairs of his state than he did in Washington, D.C. It wasn’t in his personal makeup to leave the state’s business in the hands of the new governor, even though that individual was his handpicked successor and carried out each and every one of his wishes.
[Huey Long’s] clownish humor and acerbic tongue make Donald Trump look like Michael Dukakis. – Johnathan Alter, Newsweek
As a senator, he at first supported FDR and the New Deal, but the two men became estranged because Huey didn’t think that the president’s economic policies went far enough. At the time of his death, he was positioning himself to run for president on a third party ticket.
He never got that chance, but he did force FDR to propose legislation that he favored. The president did so because, as he privately stated, he wanted to steal some of Huey’s thunder. The result was the so-called “Second New Deal” that was proposed by FDR and passed by Congress in 1935. It included the Social Security Act and the Works Progress Administration (WPA), two programs advocated by Long.
This was my second reading of Williams’ book and each time I was struck by the similarities that I thought Long shared with another politician. Lyndon Johnson grew up under similar circumstances and he possessed the same burning ambition to be somebody and he was also known to be ruthless and to demagogue on occasion, but he also accomplished greatness. Both were bigger than life personalities whose lives read like something out of a Greek tragedy. And as someone once said of LBJ, they both "knew what made the mule plow."
It doesn’t surprise me that upon his retirement from LSU in 1979, T. Harry Williams began immediately to write a biography of Lyndon Johnson. Unfortunately, just two months after his retirement and after completing the first two chapters of the book, Williams died at age seventy.
It is impossible to summarize his biography of Long, but needless to say it is a thorough documentation of the life and times of one of the most fascinating politicians this country has ever produced. And Williams leaves no stone unturned or fact unexamined in making that abundantly clear. There have been a number of Huey Long biographies published since and most have been less sympathetic toward its subject, but they all have to be measured against Williams’ monumental work.
Johnathan Alter was wrong. See his quote below.
DICTATOR – in politics, a leader who rules a country with absolute power, usually by force
FASCIST – an individual who favors dictatorial government, centralized control of private enterprise, repression of all opposition, and extreme nationalism
DEMAGOGUE – a political leader who gains power by appealing to people’s emotions, instincts, and prejudices in a way that is considered manipulative and dangerous
POPULIST – an advocate of the rights and interests of ordinary people, e.g. in politics or the arts
I don’t know which is more forbidding: T. Harry Williams’ massive biography (994 pages) or the political career of the colorful, charismatic, controversial legend that is its focus.
Huey Pierce “Kingfish” Long served as the 40th governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932, and represented his state in the U.S. Senate from 1932 to 1935. His term in the Senate was cut short at age forty-two when he was assassinated in the halls of the state capitol in Baton Rouge, ironically, a building that he made possible.
At one time or the other, he was branded with all of the political labels mentioned at the beginning of the review, sometimes two or three simultaneously, and in the same breath. And the truth is, he was a little of all of them. However, Williams, in his critically acclaimed and award winning biography, which was published in 1969, leans more toward the populist label.
Williams was born in Illinois and grew up in Wisconsin. He eventually moved south where he taught American history at Louisiana State University (LSU) from 1941 to 1979. Since Long had been dead only six years when Williams took the position and the controversy surrounding him had hardly abated at all in the interim, it is only natural that historians, especially in Louisiana, would still be keenly interested in his legacy, though they might differ on the nature of that legacy.
Williams was also able to interview many of Long’s champions and enemies who were still alive when he was conducting his research and that gives the book an air of immediacy that later biographies would not have. His research also leaned heavily on oral histories that had interviewed people in both camps.
Williams’ biography is surprisingly sympathetic toward its subject. Although he doesn’t gloss over Long’s many faults or his heavy handed tactics, he does respect what Long attempted to do and, in many cases, did do for the poor people of his state. And he did accomplish a great deal. This is not the place to list all the things that Long did for his state and its people – especially the poor – for it is a long list, but there is no doubt that the populist label does fit.
I do not know any man who has accomplished so much that I approve of in one state in four years, at the same time that he has done so much that I dislike. It is a thoroughly perplexing, paradoxical record.-– Raymond Gram Swing (one of the most influential print and broadcast journalists during the time of Huey Long's heyday)
It is also true that Long was a demagogue and that he did become a virtual dictator in his state, controlling it with an iron hand in a fashion that no state before or since has ever experienced. Furthermore, that control did not let up with his election to the U.S. Senate but, on the contrary, it intensified. In his short tenure in that office he spent more time in Baton Rouge micromanaging the affairs of his state than he did in Washington, D.C. It wasn’t in his personal makeup to leave the state’s business in the hands of the new governor, even though that individual was his handpicked successor and carried out each and every one of his wishes.
[Huey Long’s] clownish humor and acerbic tongue make Donald Trump look like Michael Dukakis. – Johnathan Alter, Newsweek
As a senator, he at first supported FDR and the New Deal, but the two men became estranged because Huey didn’t think that the president’s economic policies went far enough. At the time of his death, he was positioning himself to run for president on a third party ticket.
He never got that chance, but he did force FDR to propose legislation that he favored. The president did so because, as he privately stated, he wanted to steal some of Huey’s thunder. The result was the so-called “Second New Deal” that was proposed by FDR and passed by Congress in 1935. It included the Social Security Act and the Works Progress Administration (WPA), two programs advocated by Long.
This was my second reading of Williams’ book and each time I was struck by the similarities that I thought Long shared with another politician. Lyndon Johnson grew up under similar circumstances and he possessed the same burning ambition to be somebody and he was also known to be ruthless and to demagogue on occasion, but he also accomplished greatness. Both were bigger than life personalities whose lives read like something out of a Greek tragedy. And as someone once said of LBJ, they both "knew what made the mule plow."
It doesn’t surprise me that upon his retirement from LSU in 1979, T. Harry Williams began immediately to write a biography of Lyndon Johnson. Unfortunately, just two months after his retirement and after completing the first two chapters of the book, Williams died at age seventy.
It is impossible to summarize his biography of Long, but needless to say it is a thorough documentation of the life and times of one of the most fascinating politicians this country has ever produced. And Williams leaves no stone unturned or fact unexamined in making that abundantly clear. There have been a number of Huey Long biographies published since and most have been less sympathetic toward its subject, but they all have to be measured against Williams’ monumental work.
June 23, 2017
With this magisterial biography, the late T. Harry Williams did for Huey Long what David McCullough did for Truman, Robert Remini did for Andrew Jackson, and Douglas Southall Freeman did for R. E. Lee – he crafted the definitive biography. Huey Long is a sterling example of biography as history. It is notable too as an early academic foray into oral history. Williams interviewed 295 people, including Long's family, friends, enemies, journalists, elected officials and private citizens, and delved deeply into numerous manuscript collections and official archives to shape a complete portrait of Louisiana's renowned “Kingfish.” The results were admirable. Among Williams' talents was that of a skillful prose stylist. With 896 pages of text, followed by a bibliographical essay and index, Williams' book appeared daunting, but read well and never flagged. This was not just a biography of a politician, but a perceptive history of politics in Louisiana, the American South, and the United States from the beginning of the 20th century until just before World War II.
Professor Williams received the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1970 for Huey Long. Both awards were well-deserved. Any reader with a deep interest in American politics or Depression-era history should pick up a copy of Williams' Huey Long. It earned Five Stars from me.
Professor Williams received the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1970 for Huey Long. Both awards were well-deserved. Any reader with a deep interest in American politics or Depression-era history should pick up a copy of Williams' Huey Long. It earned Five Stars from me.
November 8, 2023
My father was a big reader. After he finished reading this first rate biography about Long, he urged me to read it myself. It's a fat book, but never a dull moment with Long! Utterly fascinating. If Long had not been assassinated, he have may have beat FDR to become president.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
March 6, 2014
This was one of the best biographies I've ever read--and I've read lots of biographies. Such praise is especially noteworthy in that its author was an academic historian. Few biographies I've seen combine the virtues of great writing with high standards of scholarship. Few biographies of such length have so captivated me that I poured through them so quickly.
Of course, I'd heard about Huey Long, Governor, the Senator of Louisiana. I'd seen both filmed versions of All the King's Men, read one biographical book combining the stories of Huey and Coughlin, 'the radio priest', read many references to Long in histories of the thirties--all of which left me with the unattractive two-dimensional picture of a fascistic populist demagogue.
Williams' portrayal of Long, while fleshing out what his critics were objecting to, is generally sympathetic, if a little bewildered. Williams' Long sincerely wanted to help the masses and did, in fact, do so, concretely. His manipulations (even creations) of the instrumentalities of power, his 'politics' as it were, were most often tactically brilliant, but they were not very 'democratic' in a parliamentary sense. They had, however, profoundly democratic effects and were reconfirmed by the voters at the polls in election after election. How far, then, Williams' wonders, can one go, ethically speaking, in amassing power through questionable means towards commendable ends? This question hangs over the whole book. It is a profound one, never answered by the author, but its presence is a factor in making this biography more than just a good read.
Of course, I'd heard about Huey Long, Governor, the Senator of Louisiana. I'd seen both filmed versions of All the King's Men, read one biographical book combining the stories of Huey and Coughlin, 'the radio priest', read many references to Long in histories of the thirties--all of which left me with the unattractive two-dimensional picture of a fascistic populist demagogue.
Williams' portrayal of Long, while fleshing out what his critics were objecting to, is generally sympathetic, if a little bewildered. Williams' Long sincerely wanted to help the masses and did, in fact, do so, concretely. His manipulations (even creations) of the instrumentalities of power, his 'politics' as it were, were most often tactically brilliant, but they were not very 'democratic' in a parliamentary sense. They had, however, profoundly democratic effects and were reconfirmed by the voters at the polls in election after election. How far, then, Williams' wonders, can one go, ethically speaking, in amassing power through questionable means towards commendable ends? This question hangs over the whole book. It is a profound one, never answered by the author, but its presence is a factor in making this biography more than just a good read.
August 26, 2023
An excellent biography of Huey "The Kingfish" Long. A controversial figure to this day (for those who are political history buffs) and probably the only man who might have been able to mount a serious challenge to FDR in 1936. However we'll never know because he was gunned-down in 1935. Professor Williams was a professor of history and approached this biography from the perspective of an academic. The amount of research that went into this book is impressive. Though Mr. Williams seems to have admired Huey Pierce Long he is not blind to the man's faults either. The biography achieves a good balance and that's important when considering Huey Long. The writing is very solid and never seems to drag - which is saying something considering that the bulk of this 800 + paged book is dedicated to covering his political career (this book could have been an instant cure for insomnia, but it isn't).
Finally Mr. Williams accomplishes what I believe the best historians can accomplish. He doesn't romanticize or tear apart the time period that Huey Long lived in. Mr. Williams shows that when Long lived people were no better and no worse than the present. The era was not "simpler" nor were those living during that time somehow stronger or more capable. They were just people doing the best (and worst) that they could. This is a massive work and I didn't rush my way through it, but I never put it aside and forgot about it either. I've read a few Pulitzer Prize winning books in the past and (in my opinion) "Huey Long" is one of the better winners.
Finally Mr. Williams accomplishes what I believe the best historians can accomplish. He doesn't romanticize or tear apart the time period that Huey Long lived in. Mr. Williams shows that when Long lived people were no better and no worse than the present. The era was not "simpler" nor were those living during that time somehow stronger or more capable. They were just people doing the best (and worst) that they could. This is a massive work and I didn't rush my way through it, but I never put it aside and forgot about it either. I've read a few Pulitzer Prize winning books in the past and (in my opinion) "Huey Long" is one of the better winners.
February 3, 2019
Mr. Williams has written an excellent biography of one of America's greatest politicians, a man whose importance, I sense, has slowly eroded given time's tidal forces. Mr. Williams' research reminds me of Robert Caro's efforts in The Power Broker and his volumes on Lyndon Johnson. I felt I was living with Huey.
After finishing this work, I think Huey Long defies description. He was a character set to a time and place long passed. You'll find the word demagogue often used in this book. Sure, there's some similarity to the Donald Trumps (or Hugo Chavez's) of this world; Huey, however, was a different character altogether. I was struck with his dedication to remediating poverty, yet his dedication knew a degree of racial boundaries; this was the South, and the pre civil rights South at that, after all.
And what of Huey's family life? His wife, his children? I come away with the impression that family was, at best, an after-thought. Was it really? What would have become of Huey Long, or this country, had he survived, rather than dying at the hand of a 29-year old ear, nose and throat specialist turned assassin?
Was Huey a good person? Would I have voted for him? I'm left to ponder those thoughts. Truly, a great book, worthy of five stars.
After finishing this work, I think Huey Long defies description. He was a character set to a time and place long passed. You'll find the word demagogue often used in this book. Sure, there's some similarity to the Donald Trumps (or Hugo Chavez's) of this world; Huey, however, was a different character altogether. I was struck with his dedication to remediating poverty, yet his dedication knew a degree of racial boundaries; this was the South, and the pre civil rights South at that, after all.
And what of Huey's family life? His wife, his children? I come away with the impression that family was, at best, an after-thought. Was it really? What would have become of Huey Long, or this country, had he survived, rather than dying at the hand of a 29-year old ear, nose and throat specialist turned assassin?
Was Huey a good person? Would I have voted for him? I'm left to ponder those thoughts. Truly, a great book, worthy of five stars.
May 22, 2021
This was a major investment of my precious personal time, but I’m glad I did. My reading habits are on weekends and in bed, but this dense tome was especially difficult late at night, after long day of work, with its long chapters and tedious details. Of course, baseball season has started, so I’m also losing time in the evenings watching my Saint Louis Cardinals. And I made strawberry freezer jam last weekend because, as everyone knows, only locally grown berries are worth eating and they are only shortly in season (I grew up on a strawberry farm and know a thing or two from my Dad’s enterprise). My work on the vaccine for the pandemic, along with our other new drugs in development, is also exhausting, taxing my creative energy from some of my loves, e.g. reading. But, I did enjoy this book and must acknowledge it as a remarkable achievement in scholarship. And it was entertaining too, as the author based a good deal on personal interviews with people who lived and worked with the flesh and blood Huey Long. Williams, the author, also consumed vast quantities of newspapers, no doubt toiling in microfiche back in 1969, and read all the key sources. It must have taken thousands of hours to write this book, itself weighing in at almost 900 pages in my edition. Today I write, gnawing stomach (I’m not hungry normally till noon), stiff and aching in the arthritic joints, but laying this down for the record. Someone, someday, may stumble across my printed review in the book itself, lost deep in my pile of books. I write, in my clumsy way, for my own peace of mind, not caring (too much) if it is lost in obscurity. This puerile, self-serving diatribe is annoying, is it not? I think of my grandparents’ passionate letters back and forth, where did they go? Will anyone appreciate their brilliance and intensity so many years ago?
Huey Long was one of a kind. Or, probably more accurately, was one of those rare breeds who is innately intelligent in manipulation of human sentiment in the political arena. He would have thrived in the Greek and Roman tribunals, where one held sway due to popular appeal. I’ve always idolized Robert Penn Warren’s All The King’s Men, loosely based on Huey, but I found the real man quite different. Williams explains Huey’s upbringing, which was not that remarkable, and from which he clawed out to indulge his enormous appetites and challenge himself upon the greatest stage. He was an egomaniac, of course, the world is full of them. But this doesn’t explain how he became governor of Louisiana, senator, and then a very likely president had he not been gunned down in 1935. It is not a stretch to state that he might likely have defeated Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1936 (another master politician) – and one can only wonder how the world would be different had that occurred. It is important to understand just how powerful this one man became in the US, since America is currently in thrall of another would-be authoritarian, the lurking Donald J Trump. If nothing else, this book shows just how vulnerable are the “rails of democracy” when a human being is able to create popular support through various means. This book focused on those means, and illuminate the man in splendid detail. My only criticism, and it is mild, is that the detailed political events and legislative details are drawn out to the point of sheer tedium – but as a historical public record they are one of a kind. Surely, no one will ever work this hard to capture the events of a time and place. The author is to be commended for the sheer effort.
I could write paragraphs describing the similarities of Huey Long and Donald Trump, but I won’t. Both upset the power structures (political, business) and created enemies – and both understood this as an effective strategy in the way that artists understand pitting sides is entertaining. And people want entertainment, not organization, they revel in gossip and vicariously through the interpersonal squabblings of others. Long created conflict, sowed the seeds of animosity, changed his message to his audience, created a fable out of thin air about himself. Like a great showman, he manipulated the mainstream and use the modern media (printed circulars back in 1930) by controlling the printers and pasting his words all over the state of Louisiana – and I mean he literally went through towns with paper & nails & plastered them (later it was his lackeys, but often he himself). He was the first to equip the newest technical innovation, the automobile, with a public address system and go town to town reaching thousands of listeners in the small towns – where before the human voice could reach only a fraction. Later he used the radio address, even before FDR, to speak directly to the people, thereby avoiding control and filtration by the powers that be (does this sound familiar?).
Huey understood instinctively how petty and easily manipulated most people are – he was a master of the nickname, coining brilliant and memorable ones for his opponents. He made enemies purposefully, choosing those he could later destroy, thereby accruing power to himself and claiming to be the victim. He was immensely ambitious (he sought the presidency even as a very young man before entering politics) and not for money, it was personal power and he just could never get enough of it. Like other great men, he had a hole in his center that could never be filled. But this man worked, he was indefatigable and literally out-worked his opponents. He loved music, often taking time away to compose songs, often leading the band himself in parades while governor! He could talk for hours on end on any topic, such as how to make proper potlikker (look it up😊). As a senator, he became the most prolific member to use the filibuster, droning on for hours and hours. His intellect was keen, he could quote from memory like few others, and studied what he needed to in depth, and would use quotes from the bible like a dagger. He always carried bibles on him, understanding their symbolic meaning to the populace of 1930s America (especially the south), and used religion brilliantly on the masses (while privately quaffing liquor and indulging in many of the traditional vices).
So powerful was this man, that he could turn nearly any crowd to his cause and awas able to get his cronies and lackeys elected, ultimately amassing massive personal power. Even as senator, he essentially ran the state of Louisiana through his control of the people he put in place through “patronage”. He was a lawyer and pushed to the limit every legal angle, fearless about what he could get away with. Yes, there was corruption, it was inevitable, and massive war chests and cash in safes to maintain control and to ward off the attacks of his enemies (largely in the city of New Orleans). He upended politics in the south. George Wallace was one of his proteges. Huey was a democrat, he was a progressive (yes, that term is what they used, not liberal), and he was obsessed with re-distribution of wealth. He got elected by promising many things (free books for schoolchildren, bridges, roads, etc) and then he delivered, often by nefarious means (he survived impeachment, was always under investigation). His opponents had violent plans for his execution, and he finally fell at the age of 41, apparently from a lone gunman (a medical doctor) on a suicide mission who believed the danger Huey represented was worth dying for. FDR had feared the rising senator from Louisiana, and the author makes a strong case that the socialist agenda would not have been nearly so progressive without the constant pressure from the “Long-ites” and Huey himself, who wanted a much more expansive use of the government resources and proposed much more spending. Huey was labeled a socialist, he pitted the people against big business. In many respects it is no different than what we see emerging today in various political party positioning.
This most interesting man, who threatened traditional form of government and the workings of democracy iteslf, accomplished some great things. But the risk is high – and should caution us to the danger of a skillful authoritarian who can easily gain power through popular appeal. It is easy to see how the “Kingfish” (as he was known), or anyone like him, through free and fair elections is capable of changing the course of our nation’s history.
Another pleasantry, this reminded me of the small farming community of my grandparents in Missouri, I could imagine them as young people. My father was born the year that Huey was assassinated in the capital. I had expected to learn more about the causes of the death of the man, but it turns out there were many plots & it was a miracle he hadn’t been murdered sooner. The violence of these groups, bent on his destruction, reminded me of another aspect of American life that seems omnipresent.
It is also hard to imagine very many people able to get through this ponderous tome – but those of you who do, there are hilarious and insightful gems and nuggets to be enjoyed.
Huey Long was one of a kind. Or, probably more accurately, was one of those rare breeds who is innately intelligent in manipulation of human sentiment in the political arena. He would have thrived in the Greek and Roman tribunals, where one held sway due to popular appeal. I’ve always idolized Robert Penn Warren’s All The King’s Men, loosely based on Huey, but I found the real man quite different. Williams explains Huey’s upbringing, which was not that remarkable, and from which he clawed out to indulge his enormous appetites and challenge himself upon the greatest stage. He was an egomaniac, of course, the world is full of them. But this doesn’t explain how he became governor of Louisiana, senator, and then a very likely president had he not been gunned down in 1935. It is not a stretch to state that he might likely have defeated Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1936 (another master politician) – and one can only wonder how the world would be different had that occurred. It is important to understand just how powerful this one man became in the US, since America is currently in thrall of another would-be authoritarian, the lurking Donald J Trump. If nothing else, this book shows just how vulnerable are the “rails of democracy” when a human being is able to create popular support through various means. This book focused on those means, and illuminate the man in splendid detail. My only criticism, and it is mild, is that the detailed political events and legislative details are drawn out to the point of sheer tedium – but as a historical public record they are one of a kind. Surely, no one will ever work this hard to capture the events of a time and place. The author is to be commended for the sheer effort.
I could write paragraphs describing the similarities of Huey Long and Donald Trump, but I won’t. Both upset the power structures (political, business) and created enemies – and both understood this as an effective strategy in the way that artists understand pitting sides is entertaining. And people want entertainment, not organization, they revel in gossip and vicariously through the interpersonal squabblings of others. Long created conflict, sowed the seeds of animosity, changed his message to his audience, created a fable out of thin air about himself. Like a great showman, he manipulated the mainstream and use the modern media (printed circulars back in 1930) by controlling the printers and pasting his words all over the state of Louisiana – and I mean he literally went through towns with paper & nails & plastered them (later it was his lackeys, but often he himself). He was the first to equip the newest technical innovation, the automobile, with a public address system and go town to town reaching thousands of listeners in the small towns – where before the human voice could reach only a fraction. Later he used the radio address, even before FDR, to speak directly to the people, thereby avoiding control and filtration by the powers that be (does this sound familiar?).
Huey understood instinctively how petty and easily manipulated most people are – he was a master of the nickname, coining brilliant and memorable ones for his opponents. He made enemies purposefully, choosing those he could later destroy, thereby accruing power to himself and claiming to be the victim. He was immensely ambitious (he sought the presidency even as a very young man before entering politics) and not for money, it was personal power and he just could never get enough of it. Like other great men, he had a hole in his center that could never be filled. But this man worked, he was indefatigable and literally out-worked his opponents. He loved music, often taking time away to compose songs, often leading the band himself in parades while governor! He could talk for hours on end on any topic, such as how to make proper potlikker (look it up😊). As a senator, he became the most prolific member to use the filibuster, droning on for hours and hours. His intellect was keen, he could quote from memory like few others, and studied what he needed to in depth, and would use quotes from the bible like a dagger. He always carried bibles on him, understanding their symbolic meaning to the populace of 1930s America (especially the south), and used religion brilliantly on the masses (while privately quaffing liquor and indulging in many of the traditional vices).
So powerful was this man, that he could turn nearly any crowd to his cause and awas able to get his cronies and lackeys elected, ultimately amassing massive personal power. Even as senator, he essentially ran the state of Louisiana through his control of the people he put in place through “patronage”. He was a lawyer and pushed to the limit every legal angle, fearless about what he could get away with. Yes, there was corruption, it was inevitable, and massive war chests and cash in safes to maintain control and to ward off the attacks of his enemies (largely in the city of New Orleans). He upended politics in the south. George Wallace was one of his proteges. Huey was a democrat, he was a progressive (yes, that term is what they used, not liberal), and he was obsessed with re-distribution of wealth. He got elected by promising many things (free books for schoolchildren, bridges, roads, etc) and then he delivered, often by nefarious means (he survived impeachment, was always under investigation). His opponents had violent plans for his execution, and he finally fell at the age of 41, apparently from a lone gunman (a medical doctor) on a suicide mission who believed the danger Huey represented was worth dying for. FDR had feared the rising senator from Louisiana, and the author makes a strong case that the socialist agenda would not have been nearly so progressive without the constant pressure from the “Long-ites” and Huey himself, who wanted a much more expansive use of the government resources and proposed much more spending. Huey was labeled a socialist, he pitted the people against big business. In many respects it is no different than what we see emerging today in various political party positioning.
This most interesting man, who threatened traditional form of government and the workings of democracy iteslf, accomplished some great things. But the risk is high – and should caution us to the danger of a skillful authoritarian who can easily gain power through popular appeal. It is easy to see how the “Kingfish” (as he was known), or anyone like him, through free and fair elections is capable of changing the course of our nation’s history.
Another pleasantry, this reminded me of the small farming community of my grandparents in Missouri, I could imagine them as young people. My father was born the year that Huey was assassinated in the capital. I had expected to learn more about the causes of the death of the man, but it turns out there were many plots & it was a miracle he hadn’t been murdered sooner. The violence of these groups, bent on his destruction, reminded me of another aspect of American life that seems omnipresent.
It is also hard to imagine very many people able to get through this ponderous tome – but those of you who do, there are hilarious and insightful gems and nuggets to be enjoyed.
October 4, 2022
"Had Long lived he might have well brought fascism to America."---Journalist John Gunther
"If fascism ever comes to America it will be called Americanism".---Huey Long, attributed
Does the following political portrait sound familiar? A scoundrel, egomaniac, possible embezzler and clownish showman rises to the top of the political ladder by turning all those vices into virtues the public eats up. Huey Long, Governor and then Senator from Louisiana during the 1930s casts such a long shadow over American politics, up until this day, that he is the subject of not one but two Pulitzer Prize winning books; ALL THE KING'S MEN by Robert Penn Warren, the greatest American political novel, portrays Long as the fictional "Willie Stark", while HUEY LONG by T. Harry Williams, among the greatest American political biographies, won the author the Pulitzer in biography. How could Huey ascend to such splendid heights by being such a despicable character? Long was born into poverty, although not as miserable a life as he would later claim, trained himself in the law, assumed a middling position in the Louisiana Railroad Company, then proceeded to use that obscure office to amass both wealth and political contacts. (Notice the parallel to both Juan Peron and Stalin; dictators and would-be dictators have much in common.) In a state that was energy-rich and dirt poor for its citizens Long promised and built schools, hospitals and other good works while allowing the oil companies, which subsidized his campaigns, to go untaxed and unregulated. Long even wrote the Louisiana State University fight song and often led football parades himself! This made him the gargoyle of the rich and saint of the poor. "I don't recall one weekend party in 1935 where at least one guest didn't say out-loud 'someone should shoot the s.o.b.' recalled Mrs. Hodding Carter, mother of the future Jimmy Carter aide. Long moved easily from Governor to the U.S. Senate and planned a serious third party run against Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1936, hoping to split the Democrat vote and then...we will never know since Huey was shot down that year by a young doctor. What can be said for sure is that in America, if you want to be a fascist, you have to be folksy. Williams is a first-class biographer with the gripping prose of a novelist.
"If fascism ever comes to America it will be called Americanism".---Huey Long, attributed
Does the following political portrait sound familiar? A scoundrel, egomaniac, possible embezzler and clownish showman rises to the top of the political ladder by turning all those vices into virtues the public eats up. Huey Long, Governor and then Senator from Louisiana during the 1930s casts such a long shadow over American politics, up until this day, that he is the subject of not one but two Pulitzer Prize winning books; ALL THE KING'S MEN by Robert Penn Warren, the greatest American political novel, portrays Long as the fictional "Willie Stark", while HUEY LONG by T. Harry Williams, among the greatest American political biographies, won the author the Pulitzer in biography. How could Huey ascend to such splendid heights by being such a despicable character? Long was born into poverty, although not as miserable a life as he would later claim, trained himself in the law, assumed a middling position in the Louisiana Railroad Company, then proceeded to use that obscure office to amass both wealth and political contacts. (Notice the parallel to both Juan Peron and Stalin; dictators and would-be dictators have much in common.) In a state that was energy-rich and dirt poor for its citizens Long promised and built schools, hospitals and other good works while allowing the oil companies, which subsidized his campaigns, to go untaxed and unregulated. Long even wrote the Louisiana State University fight song and often led football parades himself! This made him the gargoyle of the rich and saint of the poor. "I don't recall one weekend party in 1935 where at least one guest didn't say out-loud 'someone should shoot the s.o.b.' recalled Mrs. Hodding Carter, mother of the future Jimmy Carter aide. Long moved easily from Governor to the U.S. Senate and planned a serious third party run against Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1936, hoping to split the Democrat vote and then...we will never know since Huey was shot down that year by a young doctor. What can be said for sure is that in America, if you want to be a fascist, you have to be folksy. Williams is a first-class biographer with the gripping prose of a novelist.
August 24, 2012
Definitely one of the best political biographies of all time.
When T. Harry Williams published the book back in 1969, he was one of the first academically-trained historians to use oral history sources to compliment his research, and unlike academic historians today who use oral histories to beat to death some tired theory, he uses them to create a stunning political yarn.
Williams understood early on that Huey Long was not one to leave many written notes, so he interviewed everyone from his bodyguards to his sisters to his political opponents. The picture he gets from them is of a remarkable political genius who came to run Louisiana like it was his own personal fiefdom.
Huey understood how to use every board or committee as a political tool. Though he started out as a personal injury lawyer suing for workmen's comp, he quickly moved into a spot on the Public Service Commission, a new regulatory board that was supposed to enshrine good-government principles in an objective, nonpartisan body. Yet with authority over the rates of railroads, oil and gas pipelines, and telephone companies, Long used it to browbeat companies to provide services and lower prices for political friends and attack enemies. When someone wanted a telephone installed in their house in Louisiana in the early 1920s, they didn't go to the company, they went to Long. Same with a town that wanted a train station. With this power, and with constant semi-libelous attacks on the established power structure, he built up a machine that catapulted him to the governorship in 1928. Within a few years he increasingly broke down local government in the state, passing laws that allowed him to appoint members of the New Orleans Dock Board, the Highway Commission, local police deputies, and even, by the end, local teachers. His Civil Service Commission extended its power over almost every job in the state, and he used that patronage and the "deducts" from his appointees to move himself to the Senate. From there he hoped to challenge Roosevelt in 1936 and become President, as he had predicted since he was a child, but an assassin's bullet from the son-in-law of a jilted political rival ended his dreams. The Roosevelt administration, which considered Long a leftist demagogue and the most dangerous man in the country, was not so secretly thrilled.
Williams is less interested in the policy aspects of Long's career than the constant machinations. Like some of the best political writers he takes a real thrill in divining every underhanded trick or piece of legislative legerdemain. He ranks right up there with Caro in terms of beautifully elucidating how power works in America.
May 23, 2021
I begin this book with a vague idea of Huey Long. I thought he was a crook who became popular and flamed out. I was ignorant. Huey Long was a genius who should be as well known to Americans as any other great American. He was no choir boy, but his accomplishments awed me in this terrific biography that is a roller coaster read. Huey Long's story extends the limit of what one person can accomplish beyond what I thought possible.
Throughout history there has been a balancing act between the extremes of tyranny and chaos. From the murder of Julius Caesar to the rise of Hitler the question has always been how much power to give to one person over others.
On the side of tyranny have come individuals who in their own estimation cannot have enough power. A strength of democracy has been the ability of the people to get rid of those who take too much power. But democracy is no guarantee that this ability will be used and individuals have come along that have proven adept in working the machinery of democracy to their own advantage. Meet Huey Long, a great intellect that presented himself as a regular guy and always had the down and out in mind. He was perfectly suited to rise in a nation strapped by the Depression. He never lost an election to office. He was a tyrant the people enthusiastically endorsed.
Long's story is one of an undeniably self-made man. Coming from a small town in Louisiana, free of any mentors and beholden to no one, Long stumbled around in his youth but early on showed the characteristics that would typify his life: a love of attention, an eagerness to make a scene to get it and a complete lack of fear in challenging power starting with that of his high school principal. As a result he did not graduate from high school but undeterred went on to law school providing the foundation for the political career that started with his election to the lowly Louisiana Railroad Commission.
He had a clear idea of what he wanted to do: to help the little guy while always enhancing his authority to do so, finding it intolerable that anyone should try to stop his plans. Think of Huey as the bowling ball and his opponents as the pins. The idea that he could be president of the United States was never far from his mind and he came quite close, within a year, of making the attempt against no less than FDR as an opponent. As much a man of the people as one could be, he leveraged it to become governor of Louisiana and then a Senator from that state, dominating every office he held. Incredibly, he ventured into Arkansas and campaigned successfully to get a woman elected Senator from Arkansas who shared his progressive views.
Huey had a gift for reaching people through speaking. He could be the good old boy or the legal professional at the bar with equal ease. He had an uncanny ability to see the right path to follow to achieve objectives, both short and long term. Most remarkable of all, time and again he could turn what appeared to be setbacks into advances to the great frustration of a multitude of opponents. He was so gifted that his opponents right up to the members of the U.S. Senate essentially gave up trying to knock him down, fearing to even stand and speak against his efforts because all knew that in reply he would not only rip them to shreds but make them look like fools as well.
No stranger to technology, Huey pioneered the national radio address. He perfected a technique of traveling a state with sound trucks that allowed him to be heard in person by thousands of people as he raced from a crowd in one small town to another, using one sound truck to speak as another was at his next stop being set up for his arrival.
What else did he do? I'll mention just a few things among many.
He fell in love with Louisiana State University and raised it from a third rate school to one in the top rank with a football team to match...happily grabbing a baton to be band leader, writing fight songs for the team, submitting plays for the coach to use, running to the locker room at half time to fire up the team until a new coach prohibited it as part of his contract. Oh, and he got the medical school top rated too with new facilities and a nationally recognized faculty
He gave Louisiana new roads and bridges and had free textbooks distributed to all elementary school students, including the previously forgotten black students. He inspired not just Louisianans but Americans as a whole who would crowd his every appearance and rush to their radios when he was scheduled to speak. FDR feared him.
Huey Long was a phenomenon and a dangerous man. He knew how to work democracy and never showed an interest in fascism like others on the world scene at the time. There was no need because he was a master in getting the vote. People can freely choose a tyrant. Pick up this book and be amazed at a man who might well have become president.
Throughout history there has been a balancing act between the extremes of tyranny and chaos. From the murder of Julius Caesar to the rise of Hitler the question has always been how much power to give to one person over others.
On the side of tyranny have come individuals who in their own estimation cannot have enough power. A strength of democracy has been the ability of the people to get rid of those who take too much power. But democracy is no guarantee that this ability will be used and individuals have come along that have proven adept in working the machinery of democracy to their own advantage. Meet Huey Long, a great intellect that presented himself as a regular guy and always had the down and out in mind. He was perfectly suited to rise in a nation strapped by the Depression. He never lost an election to office. He was a tyrant the people enthusiastically endorsed.
Long's story is one of an undeniably self-made man. Coming from a small town in Louisiana, free of any mentors and beholden to no one, Long stumbled around in his youth but early on showed the characteristics that would typify his life: a love of attention, an eagerness to make a scene to get it and a complete lack of fear in challenging power starting with that of his high school principal. As a result he did not graduate from high school but undeterred went on to law school providing the foundation for the political career that started with his election to the lowly Louisiana Railroad Commission.
He had a clear idea of what he wanted to do: to help the little guy while always enhancing his authority to do so, finding it intolerable that anyone should try to stop his plans. Think of Huey as the bowling ball and his opponents as the pins. The idea that he could be president of the United States was never far from his mind and he came quite close, within a year, of making the attempt against no less than FDR as an opponent. As much a man of the people as one could be, he leveraged it to become governor of Louisiana and then a Senator from that state, dominating every office he held. Incredibly, he ventured into Arkansas and campaigned successfully to get a woman elected Senator from Arkansas who shared his progressive views.
Huey had a gift for reaching people through speaking. He could be the good old boy or the legal professional at the bar with equal ease. He had an uncanny ability to see the right path to follow to achieve objectives, both short and long term. Most remarkable of all, time and again he could turn what appeared to be setbacks into advances to the great frustration of a multitude of opponents. He was so gifted that his opponents right up to the members of the U.S. Senate essentially gave up trying to knock him down, fearing to even stand and speak against his efforts because all knew that in reply he would not only rip them to shreds but make them look like fools as well.
No stranger to technology, Huey pioneered the national radio address. He perfected a technique of traveling a state with sound trucks that allowed him to be heard in person by thousands of people as he raced from a crowd in one small town to another, using one sound truck to speak as another was at his next stop being set up for his arrival.
What else did he do? I'll mention just a few things among many.
He fell in love with Louisiana State University and raised it from a third rate school to one in the top rank with a football team to match...happily grabbing a baton to be band leader, writing fight songs for the team, submitting plays for the coach to use, running to the locker room at half time to fire up the team until a new coach prohibited it as part of his contract. Oh, and he got the medical school top rated too with new facilities and a nationally recognized faculty
He gave Louisiana new roads and bridges and had free textbooks distributed to all elementary school students, including the previously forgotten black students. He inspired not just Louisianans but Americans as a whole who would crowd his every appearance and rush to their radios when he was scheduled to speak. FDR feared him.
Huey Long was a phenomenon and a dangerous man. He knew how to work democracy and never showed an interest in fascism like others on the world scene at the time. There was no need because he was a master in getting the vote. People can freely choose a tyrant. Pick up this book and be amazed at a man who might well have become president.
July 3, 2019
Excellent! Huey Long was astounding. He was a huge presence not only in Louisiana, but also in the nation during early 1930s especially. He was probably the only person who could have possibly challenged FDR for the Democratic nomination in 1936. Roosevelt considered him one of the two most dangerous people in the country. Is this why I've only heard of him in passing in books on FDR?
The power that Long held over Louisiana politics, not only when he was Governor, but as a Senator was really almost hard to believe. Williams tells us early in the book that Louisiana politics is unlike any other state in the nation and goes on to show us how. Tom Connally said, "I advise anyone who things he knows something about politics to go down to Louisiana and take a postgraduate course." (p 686)
Many called Long a demagogue. Williams disagrees and says "He was different from all other Southern politicians of his time and from most contemporary politicians anywhere in the nation." He quotes historian Eric Hoffer in describing the type of leader Long is - a mass leader. To set a popular movement in motion, "He articulates and justifies the resentment damned up in the souls of the frustrated. He kindles the vision of a breathtaking future." He harnesses "man's hungers and fears to weld a following and make it zealous unto death in the service of a holy cause." (p 414)
Long was brilliant, a natural politician, but also one who did research on his issues and knew what he was talking about. He loved power, and at some point wanted it for its own sake, but he never seemed to lose sight of who he was working for. That being said, his methods were questionable to say the least.
Williams writes in a wonderful narrative style, yet still documents all his research very well. I highly recommend this if you have an interest in American politics, or the depression era in general.
The power that Long held over Louisiana politics, not only when he was Governor, but as a Senator was really almost hard to believe. Williams tells us early in the book that Louisiana politics is unlike any other state in the nation and goes on to show us how. Tom Connally said, "I advise anyone who things he knows something about politics to go down to Louisiana and take a postgraduate course." (p 686)
Many called Long a demagogue. Williams disagrees and says "He was different from all other Southern politicians of his time and from most contemporary politicians anywhere in the nation." He quotes historian Eric Hoffer in describing the type of leader Long is - a mass leader. To set a popular movement in motion, "He articulates and justifies the resentment damned up in the souls of the frustrated. He kindles the vision of a breathtaking future." He harnesses "man's hungers and fears to weld a following and make it zealous unto death in the service of a holy cause." (p 414)
Long was brilliant, a natural politician, but also one who did research on his issues and knew what he was talking about. He loved power, and at some point wanted it for its own sake, but he never seemed to lose sight of who he was working for. That being said, his methods were questionable to say the least.
Williams writes in a wonderful narrative style, yet still documents all his research very well. I highly recommend this if you have an interest in American politics, or the depression era in general.
November 15, 2017
T. Harry Williams has written what is and will most likely forever remain the most detailed biography on Huey Long. It is difficult to imagine someone delving further into the minutiae of Long's highly interesting, yet tragically short, life. Williams, who invested more than a decade into the research and writing of this book, was in a unique position to do so: he was a Louisiana native and thus familiar with Long's period of power and his accomplishments while both Governor and Senator. But he was also conducting his research from the mid-1950s to the late 1960s, when many of the people who knew Long intimately were still alive. Thus, he was able to gain first-hand (although possibly embellished with the passage of time) knowledge of what type of person Long was, both out in the public spotlight and behind closed doors. The result is a vivid and engaging portrait of a larger than life persona who inspired many and scared more.
While by no means fawning, it does seem that Williams held a great deal of respect for Long. He does not condone the methods that Long uses to gain control, but makes sure to emphasize that the opposition was no less unscrupulous and ruthless than Long himself was. It seems clear that early on Long turned his back on his family, some of whose support he relied on heavily when first starting out in the world. If not for the intervention of his brother Julius – who gave money to Huey when he literally had nowhere to go and no means to get anywhere if he did have a place to go – it is hard to see how Huey would have been able to subsequently have the amazing career that he did. Williams is none to kind to Julius, however, instead painting him as a bitter older brother who was upstaged by the more devious Huey. As well, his younger brother Earl also looks less than saintly for flip-flopping repeatedly between supporting and opposing Huey.
Williams seems to tacitly approve of Huey's handling of his brothers, and no doubt they were not angels. But Huey's treatment of his wife, Rose, does not stand up well to scrutiny. Theirs was not a close marriage, with Rose spending lengthy periods of time away from Huey. Rose and their children often remained in Shreveport while Huey was Governor, where he spent most of his time in either Baton Rouge or New Orleans. Likewise, when Long went to Washington D.C. as Senator, for the most part Rose remained in Louisiana, only coming to Washington periodically, and even then her time spent there was brief. It is clear that Long subordinated any attempt at family life to politics. And he loved politics because it gave him power. He wanted power more than anything else (even more than his Share the Wealth campaign that he constantly preached about). Long wanted to redistribute wealth throughout the country to everyone, but he wanted to consolidate power to himself alone. Ultimately, his insatiable quest for power led to his sudden demise.
Williams fills the book with so many interesting anecdotes that, all together, they provide the reader with a good flavor of what Long's life was like, and how he operated. They contain colorful language, tales of intimidation and bribery, and Long's flair for the dramatic. Williams also shows long to be a completely polarizing figure; people were either committed to him and his program wholeheartedly, or they despised him and went to extraordinary (and illegal) means to try to thwart him. An example of the former comes on page 700, when Williams is talking about the also polarizing minister Gerald L.K. Smith: “He worshiped Huey... He sometimes even went into a hotel room where Huey was sleeping and curled up on the floor beside the bed.”
The final chapter deals with Huey's assassination at the Louisiana state capitol. For years Huey had feared for his life, and it turned out with good reason. Williams details how there were many people and groups who literally hated Huey and were willing to do whatever was needed to stop him – even if it meant killing him. It is sadly ironic that a man who fretted about being killed, constantly surrounded himself with bodyguards and never went anywhere alone for fear of someone stepping out of the shadows to kill him was nonetheless shot by someone emerging from behind a pillar. At the time of his death, Huey was a powerful and menacing figure to many politicians, not the least of whom was Franklin Roosevelt. Huey fully intended to run for the presidency, possibly as early as the following year (1936). That he never got the chance to do so is yet another one of history's what-if questions.
Reading the book, it was hard to like Huey because he treated so many people so cruelly. He used people, and had no compunction about doing so – boasted about it, in fact. Yet there did seem to be a part of him that genuinely wished to help poor people in America. Huey grew up poor and started with basically nothing, and he did not want other people to have to experience such hardship. Unfortunately, he got carried away with his own sense of grandiosity, and obtaining power became a thing in and of itself. Ultimately, his never-ending crusade to obtain and wield greater and greater power cost him his life. While one can make the point that Williams is overly-detailed (parsing through 1920s Louisiana Public Service Commission meetings does not make for enthralling reading), there are so many interesting stories involving Huey that the narrative, except for a few places, moves quickly. Huey was a colorful and flamboyant figure; reading about his life is, if nothing else, entertaining.
Grade: A-
While by no means fawning, it does seem that Williams held a great deal of respect for Long. He does not condone the methods that Long uses to gain control, but makes sure to emphasize that the opposition was no less unscrupulous and ruthless than Long himself was. It seems clear that early on Long turned his back on his family, some of whose support he relied on heavily when first starting out in the world. If not for the intervention of his brother Julius – who gave money to Huey when he literally had nowhere to go and no means to get anywhere if he did have a place to go – it is hard to see how Huey would have been able to subsequently have the amazing career that he did. Williams is none to kind to Julius, however, instead painting him as a bitter older brother who was upstaged by the more devious Huey. As well, his younger brother Earl also looks less than saintly for flip-flopping repeatedly between supporting and opposing Huey.
Williams seems to tacitly approve of Huey's handling of his brothers, and no doubt they were not angels. But Huey's treatment of his wife, Rose, does not stand up well to scrutiny. Theirs was not a close marriage, with Rose spending lengthy periods of time away from Huey. Rose and their children often remained in Shreveport while Huey was Governor, where he spent most of his time in either Baton Rouge or New Orleans. Likewise, when Long went to Washington D.C. as Senator, for the most part Rose remained in Louisiana, only coming to Washington periodically, and even then her time spent there was brief. It is clear that Long subordinated any attempt at family life to politics. And he loved politics because it gave him power. He wanted power more than anything else (even more than his Share the Wealth campaign that he constantly preached about). Long wanted to redistribute wealth throughout the country to everyone, but he wanted to consolidate power to himself alone. Ultimately, his insatiable quest for power led to his sudden demise.
Williams fills the book with so many interesting anecdotes that, all together, they provide the reader with a good flavor of what Long's life was like, and how he operated. They contain colorful language, tales of intimidation and bribery, and Long's flair for the dramatic. Williams also shows long to be a completely polarizing figure; people were either committed to him and his program wholeheartedly, or they despised him and went to extraordinary (and illegal) means to try to thwart him. An example of the former comes on page 700, when Williams is talking about the also polarizing minister Gerald L.K. Smith: “He worshiped Huey... He sometimes even went into a hotel room where Huey was sleeping and curled up on the floor beside the bed.”
The final chapter deals with Huey's assassination at the Louisiana state capitol. For years Huey had feared for his life, and it turned out with good reason. Williams details how there were many people and groups who literally hated Huey and were willing to do whatever was needed to stop him – even if it meant killing him. It is sadly ironic that a man who fretted about being killed, constantly surrounded himself with bodyguards and never went anywhere alone for fear of someone stepping out of the shadows to kill him was nonetheless shot by someone emerging from behind a pillar. At the time of his death, Huey was a powerful and menacing figure to many politicians, not the least of whom was Franklin Roosevelt. Huey fully intended to run for the presidency, possibly as early as the following year (1936). That he never got the chance to do so is yet another one of history's what-if questions.
Reading the book, it was hard to like Huey because he treated so many people so cruelly. He used people, and had no compunction about doing so – boasted about it, in fact. Yet there did seem to be a part of him that genuinely wished to help poor people in America. Huey grew up poor and started with basically nothing, and he did not want other people to have to experience such hardship. Unfortunately, he got carried away with his own sense of grandiosity, and obtaining power became a thing in and of itself. Ultimately, his never-ending crusade to obtain and wield greater and greater power cost him his life. While one can make the point that Williams is overly-detailed (parsing through 1920s Louisiana Public Service Commission meetings does not make for enthralling reading), there are so many interesting stories involving Huey that the narrative, except for a few places, moves quickly. Huey was a colorful and flamboyant figure; reading about his life is, if nothing else, entertaining.
Grade: A-
June 25, 2017
An amazing biography and analysis of the life and politics of Huey Long, the governor of Louisiana and political rival to Franklin D. Roosevelt. So well written that it was hard to put down.
July 14, 2017
Read this years ago shortly after it came out. It explains a lot about Southern politics! Fascinating.
February 16, 2013
On a trip to New York with my dad and my brother several years ago, we met his old college professor for dinner and he then kindly bought this book for me at a used bookstore (I think in the Village, maybe?). It's sat on my self since then but I figured that now that I'm living in Louisiana I had to finally read it.
And I'm glad I did!
This book is a detailed examination of Long's life. Strangely, however, after reading it I didn't necessarily feel like I really knew him all that well. He's at the center of everything -- crusading, looming larger than life, picking fights, and consolidating power -- but I never had a sense of who he really was.
Williams is clearly trying to rehabilitate Long's reputation. In some ways, that is welcome -- I admire many of Long's fundamental instincts (concern about income inequality, most crucially) and he did indeed consistently advocate for policies aligned with these instincts. He also was clearly a quick thinker and not some deep-over-his-head country bumpkin, as some have apparently believed.
And yet the defense is too instinctive at times. Williams cannot help but admit that Long's methods often were crazy (Williams would probably try to be more measured and say it was over-the-top) -- this is a man who had a citizen with a potential "October surprise" kidnapped and held until after an election!, and a man who consolidated power and used it so broadly that his retribution (largely using the mechanisms of patronage) was brutal and that his use of power often seemed to do little other than perpetuate Long's power -- but Williams tries to pass everything as a deviation from the true core of Long's political identity. Williams also tries (mostly successfully) to argue that Long's rhetoric and policies were less racist than usual for a Southern politician of his time -- but then argues (unsuccessfully) that we should therefore largely ignore Long's still-rather frequent use of racist rhetoric and his exclusionary, segregationist policies. And Williams doesn't even really address the significance on this front of Long's close ties to noted bigots like Father Coughlin and Theodore Bilbo.
So I had some complaints, but all in all I'm really glad I read this biography. I learned a lot about my current home state's history and about a truly fascinating political personage. I'm grateful to my father's old professor, Paul Wice.
And I'm glad I did!
This book is a detailed examination of Long's life. Strangely, however, after reading it I didn't necessarily feel like I really knew him all that well. He's at the center of everything -- crusading, looming larger than life, picking fights, and consolidating power -- but I never had a sense of who he really was.
Williams is clearly trying to rehabilitate Long's reputation. In some ways, that is welcome -- I admire many of Long's fundamental instincts (concern about income inequality, most crucially) and he did indeed consistently advocate for policies aligned with these instincts. He also was clearly a quick thinker and not some deep-over-his-head country bumpkin, as some have apparently believed.
And yet the defense is too instinctive at times. Williams cannot help but admit that Long's methods often were crazy (Williams would probably try to be more measured and say it was over-the-top) -- this is a man who had a citizen with a potential "October surprise" kidnapped and held until after an election!, and a man who consolidated power and used it so broadly that his retribution (largely using the mechanisms of patronage) was brutal and that his use of power often seemed to do little other than perpetuate Long's power -- but Williams tries to pass everything as a deviation from the true core of Long's political identity. Williams also tries (mostly successfully) to argue that Long's rhetoric and policies were less racist than usual for a Southern politician of his time -- but then argues (unsuccessfully) that we should therefore largely ignore Long's still-rather frequent use of racist rhetoric and his exclusionary, segregationist policies. And Williams doesn't even really address the significance on this front of Long's close ties to noted bigots like Father Coughlin and Theodore Bilbo.
So I had some complaints, but all in all I'm really glad I read this biography. I learned a lot about my current home state's history and about a truly fascinating political personage. I'm grateful to my father's old professor, Paul Wice.
September 4, 2011
Definitely pro-Huey on the balance, but Williams seems to make an effort to show both sides. Very worthwhile read about an amazing politician. Great (and frequently humorous) anecdotes scattered throughout.
July 21, 2018
They don't make politicians like Huey Long anymore -- idiosyncratic to the bone, frequently profane, sometimes comic, always shrewd and intelligent, bursting with radical ideas and the will to bring them to fruition. Huey was ruthless in his campaign to destroy the conservative power base that had ruled Louisiana since Reconstruction, sincere in his desire to help the poor, selfish in his lust for power, and willing to play fast and loose with democracy in order to achieve his goals. He certainly was a dangerous man -- but for whom?
A true iconoclast who desecrated the feudal institutions of the South and was lambasted in the conservative press of his day, Huey deserved a big book and a fair hearing, which is exactly what T. Harry Williams gave him.
However, this is less a biography than a monumental work of history, taking as its subject 1920s & 30s Louisiana politics, of which Huey Long was unassailably the central figure. It ought to be preserved and studied 2000 years in the future, they way we now study Tacitus and Herodotus, as a first-rate window into the institutions and psychology of a very particular American scene. Williams' pioneering use of oral history, combined with exhaustive research and just enough editorial judgment, makes for a compelling tale and an essential record.
The reason I say that it's not really a biography is that it hardly deals with Huey's personal life at all. Only a few sentences in the entire tome mention his wife and family, and Williams makes no attempt to pry into such matters. On the other hand, give him a lawsuit or a backroom alliance to investigate and Williams transforms into Columbo, dredging up every last detail.
The recounting of various legal cases, legislative acts, and political machinations might seem boring, but I actually found the book riveting throughout. A big reason for that is Williams' writing style, marked by clarity, precision, a great eye for detail, and an extremely dry wit. He describes complex events, ideas, and people very accessibly without stripping them of nuance, and always helps you weigh their importance.
He also knows when to spice things up with an anecdote, using these to portray a man who was as absurd and funny as he was terrifying and charismatic. In a number of hilarious set pieces, Williams shows Huey leading the LSU marching band with a baton, addressing the media in his pajamas, and diagramming plays for the LSU football team despite having only a cursory understanding of the rules of the game. The story of Huey Long and Louisiana politics is rife with kidnappings, beatings, congressional fistfights, underworld connections, and colorful speechmaking.
On another level, it's a sobering story of how a single person can consolidate power through little more than personal magnetism and sheer guts. Though Huey repudiated fascism and his charismatic contemporaries such as Hitler and Mussolini, you can see why the American fascist movement saw in him a likely leader. ("Don't liken me to that sonofabitch," Huey said of Hitler.) The truth, according to Williams, is that he could easily have been much more of a dictator than he was -- his mandate from the people of Louisiana was that strong. He actually showed significant restraint even as he gained a vise-like grip on the state.
The book is also an interesting look at how American politics, and the domestic issues we face, haven't changed much. Progressives still decry the 1% - 99% wealth divide, though no one today is proposing a solution nearly as radical as the wealth redistribution plan Huey nearly made a reality.
Conservatives have changed even less. Consider this passage describing Huey's political opponents: "[They] would consent to no compromise with him on any issue but would resist any measure he proposed, regardless of its merits, merely because he proposed it...Their revulsion toward him was fundamentally social and personal. They might have tolerated [him]...if he had come from the right class and had 'belonged'...[They] offered no platform that would appeal to the people, no program to improve the life of the masses, but iterated only that [they] stood for honest and democratic government."
Now who does that remind you of?
In the end, I don't know how to feel about the fact that Huey Long was developing into a serious third-party challenger for the presidency. His lack of interest, and frankly his ignorance, toward foreign policy issues is alarming considering the cataclysmic events that would soon shake the world. No doubt FDR was a better hand on the tiller. Domestically, however, Huey Long might have been the only progressive president capable of making real economic reforms. Today FDR is seen as a liberal champion of the poor, but Huey made him look like Ronald Reagan.
They were both brilliant politicians in their way, and a presidential campaign between them would have been one for the ages. But we were robbed of that spectacle by a deranged doctor named Carl Weiss, who shot Huey on the marble floor of the grand Louisiana capitol building he had built. Huey's last words are not as well known as they should be, considering their perfection: "God, don't let me die. I have so much to do."
These are also the final words of Williams' landmark book, eschewing the usual "legacy" chapter and leaving the reader to grapple with what it all means. It's hard to set Huey aside after living with him as a constant companion for so long. But perhaps this in itself is a lesson, a reminder that there will never be another Kingfish, and that perhaps the work he left behind will never be done.
A true iconoclast who desecrated the feudal institutions of the South and was lambasted in the conservative press of his day, Huey deserved a big book and a fair hearing, which is exactly what T. Harry Williams gave him.
However, this is less a biography than a monumental work of history, taking as its subject 1920s & 30s Louisiana politics, of which Huey Long was unassailably the central figure. It ought to be preserved and studied 2000 years in the future, they way we now study Tacitus and Herodotus, as a first-rate window into the institutions and psychology of a very particular American scene. Williams' pioneering use of oral history, combined with exhaustive research and just enough editorial judgment, makes for a compelling tale and an essential record.
The reason I say that it's not really a biography is that it hardly deals with Huey's personal life at all. Only a few sentences in the entire tome mention his wife and family, and Williams makes no attempt to pry into such matters. On the other hand, give him a lawsuit or a backroom alliance to investigate and Williams transforms into Columbo, dredging up every last detail.
The recounting of various legal cases, legislative acts, and political machinations might seem boring, but I actually found the book riveting throughout. A big reason for that is Williams' writing style, marked by clarity, precision, a great eye for detail, and an extremely dry wit. He describes complex events, ideas, and people very accessibly without stripping them of nuance, and always helps you weigh their importance.
He also knows when to spice things up with an anecdote, using these to portray a man who was as absurd and funny as he was terrifying and charismatic. In a number of hilarious set pieces, Williams shows Huey leading the LSU marching band with a baton, addressing the media in his pajamas, and diagramming plays for the LSU football team despite having only a cursory understanding of the rules of the game. The story of Huey Long and Louisiana politics is rife with kidnappings, beatings, congressional fistfights, underworld connections, and colorful speechmaking.
On another level, it's a sobering story of how a single person can consolidate power through little more than personal magnetism and sheer guts. Though Huey repudiated fascism and his charismatic contemporaries such as Hitler and Mussolini, you can see why the American fascist movement saw in him a likely leader. ("Don't liken me to that sonofabitch," Huey said of Hitler.) The truth, according to Williams, is that he could easily have been much more of a dictator than he was -- his mandate from the people of Louisiana was that strong. He actually showed significant restraint even as he gained a vise-like grip on the state.
The book is also an interesting look at how American politics, and the domestic issues we face, haven't changed much. Progressives still decry the 1% - 99% wealth divide, though no one today is proposing a solution nearly as radical as the wealth redistribution plan Huey nearly made a reality.
Conservatives have changed even less. Consider this passage describing Huey's political opponents: "[They] would consent to no compromise with him on any issue but would resist any measure he proposed, regardless of its merits, merely because he proposed it...Their revulsion toward him was fundamentally social and personal. They might have tolerated [him]...if he had come from the right class and had 'belonged'...[They] offered no platform that would appeal to the people, no program to improve the life of the masses, but iterated only that [they] stood for honest and democratic government."
Now who does that remind you of?
In the end, I don't know how to feel about the fact that Huey Long was developing into a serious third-party challenger for the presidency. His lack of interest, and frankly his ignorance, toward foreign policy issues is alarming considering the cataclysmic events that would soon shake the world. No doubt FDR was a better hand on the tiller. Domestically, however, Huey Long might have been the only progressive president capable of making real economic reforms. Today FDR is seen as a liberal champion of the poor, but Huey made him look like Ronald Reagan.
They were both brilliant politicians in their way, and a presidential campaign between them would have been one for the ages. But we were robbed of that spectacle by a deranged doctor named Carl Weiss, who shot Huey on the marble floor of the grand Louisiana capitol building he had built. Huey's last words are not as well known as they should be, considering their perfection: "God, don't let me die. I have so much to do."
These are also the final words of Williams' landmark book, eschewing the usual "legacy" chapter and leaving the reader to grapple with what it all means. It's hard to set Huey aside after living with him as a constant companion for so long. But perhaps this in itself is a lesson, a reminder that there will never be another Kingfish, and that perhaps the work he left behind will never be done.
June 3, 2010
An objective and thorough book that tells the story of one of the most controversial and colorful leaders in American history, it is a must read for anyone interested in politics.
Huey Long genuninely cared for the working class and when he was elected governor he gave them things they always wanted but never dreamed they'd have. He gave students free textbooks, built free highways and bridges, educated the adult illiterate, built a reputable hospital, and brought respectability to LSU. But it came at the cost of democratic government. He lived in an age when corruption was an accepted part of political life and machine politics were rampant, but Huey's brilliant political mind and ability to to advantage of new technology to communicate his agenda took it to a new extreme. At the time of his death he was at the height of his power, the unquestioned leader of Louisiana who could have any legislation he wanted passed and did not need to fear any opposition for he had already eliminated them.
Huey Long is either remembered today as a potential dictator or a champion of the poor. While he truly cared for the working class, it is clear that he was a dictator at the state level and it is a good thing we never found out if he would have become a national tyrant. While he is viewed by some to be a fascist, his story is the quintessential American life. He was born poor and through hard work, ambition, and perseverance, Huey Long went from a traveling salesman to the most powerful man in Louisiana and the Senator FDR feared most. What I admired about this book was that it was extremely fair to an extremely controversial figure. T. Harry Williams gives Long credit when it is due, which is often for he typically outsmarted his opponents, and criticizes Long, which too is often as he constantly assumes more and more power. This was a long and exceptional book which should be read by anyone interested in the Kingfish.
Huey Long genuninely cared for the working class and when he was elected governor he gave them things they always wanted but never dreamed they'd have. He gave students free textbooks, built free highways and bridges, educated the adult illiterate, built a reputable hospital, and brought respectability to LSU. But it came at the cost of democratic government. He lived in an age when corruption was an accepted part of political life and machine politics were rampant, but Huey's brilliant political mind and ability to to advantage of new technology to communicate his agenda took it to a new extreme. At the time of his death he was at the height of his power, the unquestioned leader of Louisiana who could have any legislation he wanted passed and did not need to fear any opposition for he had already eliminated them.
Huey Long is either remembered today as a potential dictator or a champion of the poor. While he truly cared for the working class, it is clear that he was a dictator at the state level and it is a good thing we never found out if he would have become a national tyrant. While he is viewed by some to be a fascist, his story is the quintessential American life. He was born poor and through hard work, ambition, and perseverance, Huey Long went from a traveling salesman to the most powerful man in Louisiana and the Senator FDR feared most. What I admired about this book was that it was extremely fair to an extremely controversial figure. T. Harry Williams gives Long credit when it is due, which is often for he typically outsmarted his opponents, and criticizes Long, which too is often as he constantly assumes more and more power. This was a long and exceptional book which should be read by anyone interested in the Kingfish.
August 16, 2014
One ends this book seriously wondering how different this nation would be had the assassins bullet hit a less vital part of this man's body. Huey Long's political acumen and ambition were unparalleled in American history. His legal talent was incredible, his salesmanship was the best in the business, his energy inexhaustible. Though his policies are very much not what I would support, I can't help but be impressed by his political skills. It is kind of interesting to read his arguments, though; Progressives haven't updated their position or even their slogans in a very, very long time ("The top 2% own X% of the wealth, if we don't stop this concentration there will be a revolution!").
All I can say is I'm glad we're not dealing with someone like this today. I prefer my politicians not to be quite so good at their trade.
All I can say is I'm glad we're not dealing with someone like this today. I prefer my politicians not to be quite so good at their trade.
October 12, 2011
Academic historians spend a lot of time complaining about the merits of so called popular history. This is of course mostly due to the fact that popular histories outsell what the academics generally turn out. I've read both types and have always felt that if the academics would turn out books that weren't so dull they could attract readers also. In his biography of Huey Long, T. Harry Williams delivers absolute proof that academics can turn out extremely interesting books. This book is fascinating from cover to cover and anyone interested in politics and government should read this biography of one of the cleverest and most influential politicians of all time.
October 11, 2008
I highly recommend this book be read. It doesn't matter if you have heard of Huey Long or not. Whether you like him or you don't, this book takes an unbiased stand, which is hard to come by when it comes to such a figure as the Kingfish.
January 26, 2021
The amount of detail that went into this book made it amazing. But if you're not a history nerd, you'll get really bored. It is very long, but it reads like a timeline of the personal and political life of Huey Long.
August 16, 2007
He won a big lawsuit against a big oil company and parlayed that into becoming the Kingfish. Eleanor Roosevelt hated him.
October 26, 2007
The best biography of Huey P. Long, written by a University of Southern Mississippi professor who manages to keep it neutral.
July 2, 2008
The standard biography (and a competent one) of the larger-than-life governor of the great state of Louisiana.
September 30, 2019
You will never find as thoroughly researched a biography as T. Harry Williams's Huey Long. No wonder it won a Pulitzer Prize. Anything you might want to know about Long you will find here in
this. That and a more positive spin on Huey Long than you generally get.
The standard interpretation was that Long was an unscrupulous demagogue who took his state of
Louisiana and made it a dictatorship. He did certain reforms, but he had a lust for power than was
unquenchable. Williams has Long as a truly sympathetic character who really wanted to do things
for the poor folks of Louisiana. But in order to accomplish his goals he had to reach for more and
more power. Power does corrupt as the scandals that broke after Long's demise show us as many of
his chief lieutenants went to the calaboose.
Huey was born in 1893 in Winn Parish in the Protestant north in Louisiana. Then as now Louisiana
like all Gaul was divided politically with Protestant parishes of the north, the cajun Catholic ones in
the south and the city of New Orleans. Get two out of three and you win state office. Long was the
seventh of nine kids. He got what education he could and became a lawyer. Later on for refresher
law courses he did study some at Tulane University. Long supported himself through school by
working as an itinerant salesman. A lot of the political lessons he learned were in that profession.
His first elected position was as a member of the Louisiana Railroad Commission where he did in
fact fight hard for consumers. That job was later renamed the Public Service Commission and Huey did a second term. In 1924 he ran for governor and lost, but laid the groundwork for a second
successful run in 1928.
The state already knew him, but the nation got its first taste of Huey Long. Louisiana having no
real civil service allowed Long to fire wholesale thousands of employees. That allowed him to push
through lots of reforms. Kids got their first free milk and lunch under him. Louisiana had some of
worst roads in the country, mostly unpaved. That soon ended. Road construction was a big deal
in Louisiana as farmers had difficulty getting crops to market.
Huey was always in the newsreels, especially when Louisiana State University had a football game.
He always referred to LSU as 'his' university. Education was a big priority with him. He provided
for scholarships for poor kids. Another program provided money for adult literacy classes. This
man got things done and was quite ruthless in getting them done.
In 1930 Long ran against Joseph E. Ransdell, a US Senator who served three terms of no particular
distinction and beat him handily. But came getting admitted to the Senate, Huey refused to take
the oath of office come January of 1931. Seems as though he left a lieutenant Governor named Paul
Cyr who was an enemy and Long did not want to see done to his machine as what he did to the old
guard before he became governor. He stayed governor until January the following year. I won't go
into the details, but NOBODY could get away with it today.
When he did finally take the oath of office in January 1932. He made an immediate and colorful
splash. He was a boozer and a womanizer, but the people from his state loved him. In those Depression years everybody had a plan to end poverty and Huey's was called Share the Wealth.
A supporter of his fellow Democratic governor Franklin D. Roosevelt for president, he broke soon
with FDR thinking FDR was not radical enough.
And he was building, the book gives a fine account of him moving into neighboring Mississippi and
Arkansas bringing his organization in to help candidates he had supported. He had a puppet governor named Oscar K. Allen, but if they had them then, Long would have logged in a record of
frequent flyer miles going from Washington, DC to Baton Rouge to keep things in hand at Louisiana's state capital. And there was speculation that Huey would challenge FDR,
All that ended when he was assassinated in the state capitol building in September 1935. Long died on September 10. He was a towering figure in his state's history.
Was he a fascist in the making or a genuine man of the people? Draw your own conclusions when
you read T. Harry Wiliams's work.
this. That and a more positive spin on Huey Long than you generally get.
The standard interpretation was that Long was an unscrupulous demagogue who took his state of
Louisiana and made it a dictatorship. He did certain reforms, but he had a lust for power than was
unquenchable. Williams has Long as a truly sympathetic character who really wanted to do things
for the poor folks of Louisiana. But in order to accomplish his goals he had to reach for more and
more power. Power does corrupt as the scandals that broke after Long's demise show us as many of
his chief lieutenants went to the calaboose.
Huey was born in 1893 in Winn Parish in the Protestant north in Louisiana. Then as now Louisiana
like all Gaul was divided politically with Protestant parishes of the north, the cajun Catholic ones in
the south and the city of New Orleans. Get two out of three and you win state office. Long was the
seventh of nine kids. He got what education he could and became a lawyer. Later on for refresher
law courses he did study some at Tulane University. Long supported himself through school by
working as an itinerant salesman. A lot of the political lessons he learned were in that profession.
His first elected position was as a member of the Louisiana Railroad Commission where he did in
fact fight hard for consumers. That job was later renamed the Public Service Commission and Huey did a second term. In 1924 he ran for governor and lost, but laid the groundwork for a second
successful run in 1928.
The state already knew him, but the nation got its first taste of Huey Long. Louisiana having no
real civil service allowed Long to fire wholesale thousands of employees. That allowed him to push
through lots of reforms. Kids got their first free milk and lunch under him. Louisiana had some of
worst roads in the country, mostly unpaved. That soon ended. Road construction was a big deal
in Louisiana as farmers had difficulty getting crops to market.
Huey was always in the newsreels, especially when Louisiana State University had a football game.
He always referred to LSU as 'his' university. Education was a big priority with him. He provided
for scholarships for poor kids. Another program provided money for adult literacy classes. This
man got things done and was quite ruthless in getting them done.
In 1930 Long ran against Joseph E. Ransdell, a US Senator who served three terms of no particular
distinction and beat him handily. But came getting admitted to the Senate, Huey refused to take
the oath of office come January of 1931. Seems as though he left a lieutenant Governor named Paul
Cyr who was an enemy and Long did not want to see done to his machine as what he did to the old
guard before he became governor. He stayed governor until January the following year. I won't go
into the details, but NOBODY could get away with it today.
When he did finally take the oath of office in January 1932. He made an immediate and colorful
splash. He was a boozer and a womanizer, but the people from his state loved him. In those Depression years everybody had a plan to end poverty and Huey's was called Share the Wealth.
A supporter of his fellow Democratic governor Franklin D. Roosevelt for president, he broke soon
with FDR thinking FDR was not radical enough.
And he was building, the book gives a fine account of him moving into neighboring Mississippi and
Arkansas bringing his organization in to help candidates he had supported. He had a puppet governor named Oscar K. Allen, but if they had them then, Long would have logged in a record of
frequent flyer miles going from Washington, DC to Baton Rouge to keep things in hand at Louisiana's state capital. And there was speculation that Huey would challenge FDR,
All that ended when he was assassinated in the state capitol building in September 1935. Long died on September 10. He was a towering figure in his state's history.
Was he a fascist in the making or a genuine man of the people? Draw your own conclusions when
you read T. Harry Wiliams's work.
August 20, 2021
Huey Long was a lot of things, but I think he's maybe best understood as a pure politician.
I mean that in the sense that politics was all he cared about. And politics is all about power. Every decision he seemed to make in life was geared towards acquiring power. He was shockingly non-ideological, really. The method or ideology of a decision seemed to matter little to him. The only thing that mattered to him is that he win and get his way, which usually meant getting more power. Sometimes he'd even take a strategic loss or make himself appear foolish or boorish because it raised his notoriety first in Louisiana but then across the country. He would do anything to get the name Huey Long spread wider, even if it meant he had to take a big public loss or appear like a buffoon.
However, this acquisition of power did seem to have a point. In all ways, he worked to improve the material conditions of people's lives. Primarily the poor. He enriched himself and his friends immensely as well, but that seemed to be secondary to him. Or, not secondary, but just politics. He did the work so he should get some money on the backend. But his methods were just everywhere. He'd exploit white hatred to get votes, exploit elite hatred to get more votes, and even people's hated for him to raise his status among people.
This book largely ignores the questions of race in Louisiana and mostly seems to absolve Long of outright hatred for black people. Which, maybe that's true. He did materially improve their lives but that's because of his focus on universal programs. The assistance black people received seemed to be a sort of cast off condition of his programs, which were geared for poor whites. But by making them universal, they just happened to also apply to black people.
Which is good! Universal programs are good!
But Long did nothing to enfranchise black people, for example. He believed in pure democracy, so long as it excluded black people. And so the book mostly ignores black people because so did Long.
Long was fascinating, though. I didn't know much about him, so this was just a wild ride. I recently read a debate over whether Long was on the right or left, and I think, to some extent, this question would not have mattered to Long, so it maybe shouldn't matter to anyone. But if we're looking purely at what he did to improve the material conditions of people's lives, I'd say he falls on the left. When it comes to his authoritarian and racial views, he definitely leans back towards the right. He's an idiosyncratic politician, which he often acknowledged.
At many times reading this, I was reminded of Donald Trump. The differences matter a lot, but the similarities are interesting. Neither were ideological. Both saw politics purely as a process of acquiring power. Both did whatever it took to raise their name in public, even if it made them seem foolish. They were able to manipulate the media systems to spread their message across the country.
The differences are that Trump's level of fraud and corruption were so massive and blatant that it's quite astonishing. The other is that Trump had no interest in improving the lives of people on the bottom half of the economic ladder. He did more than msot to consolidate wealth and power in the top percentile of the population.
But it does make it understandable why people were afraid of him. He had a massive amount of support for some truly radical social programs, including free college, free healthcare, and progressive taxation to redistribute wealth.
I mean, honestly, that's what we still need.
But, yeah, fascinating figure. Lots to think about with people like him.
I mean that in the sense that politics was all he cared about. And politics is all about power. Every decision he seemed to make in life was geared towards acquiring power. He was shockingly non-ideological, really. The method or ideology of a decision seemed to matter little to him. The only thing that mattered to him is that he win and get his way, which usually meant getting more power. Sometimes he'd even take a strategic loss or make himself appear foolish or boorish because it raised his notoriety first in Louisiana but then across the country. He would do anything to get the name Huey Long spread wider, even if it meant he had to take a big public loss or appear like a buffoon.
However, this acquisition of power did seem to have a point. In all ways, he worked to improve the material conditions of people's lives. Primarily the poor. He enriched himself and his friends immensely as well, but that seemed to be secondary to him. Or, not secondary, but just politics. He did the work so he should get some money on the backend. But his methods were just everywhere. He'd exploit white hatred to get votes, exploit elite hatred to get more votes, and even people's hated for him to raise his status among people.
This book largely ignores the questions of race in Louisiana and mostly seems to absolve Long of outright hatred for black people. Which, maybe that's true. He did materially improve their lives but that's because of his focus on universal programs. The assistance black people received seemed to be a sort of cast off condition of his programs, which were geared for poor whites. But by making them universal, they just happened to also apply to black people.
Which is good! Universal programs are good!
But Long did nothing to enfranchise black people, for example. He believed in pure democracy, so long as it excluded black people. And so the book mostly ignores black people because so did Long.
Long was fascinating, though. I didn't know much about him, so this was just a wild ride. I recently read a debate over whether Long was on the right or left, and I think, to some extent, this question would not have mattered to Long, so it maybe shouldn't matter to anyone. But if we're looking purely at what he did to improve the material conditions of people's lives, I'd say he falls on the left. When it comes to his authoritarian and racial views, he definitely leans back towards the right. He's an idiosyncratic politician, which he often acknowledged.
At many times reading this, I was reminded of Donald Trump. The differences matter a lot, but the similarities are interesting. Neither were ideological. Both saw politics purely as a process of acquiring power. Both did whatever it took to raise their name in public, even if it made them seem foolish. They were able to manipulate the media systems to spread their message across the country.
The differences are that Trump's level of fraud and corruption were so massive and blatant that it's quite astonishing. The other is that Trump had no interest in improving the lives of people on the bottom half of the economic ladder. He did more than msot to consolidate wealth and power in the top percentile of the population.
But it does make it understandable why people were afraid of him. He had a massive amount of support for some truly radical social programs, including free college, free healthcare, and progressive taxation to redistribute wealth.
I mean, honestly, that's what we still need.
But, yeah, fascinating figure. Lots to think about with people like him.
July 5, 2023
Built largely as a pioneering source of oral history, this lengthy biography is one of the most comprehensive of a political figure I have ever read. Long fascinated by the power of Huey Long — who used his charisma, intellect, and the Louisiana patronage system to achieve incredible power — I decided to give this audiobook a listen and was not disappointed. The author is largely sympathetic to this polarizing figure, but the brilliance of its writing is that readers can see a barrage of facts and judge the controversy for themselves.
Huey Long was a left-wing populist on a scale that our nation had not seen before and has not really seen since. He was Governor of Louisiana, he was a U.S. Senator, and he could've been president. He was a progressive, who changed the way southern Democrats addressed issues like race, and found himself troubled by habits of violence and alcohol that surrounded him. He was flawed, he was human, and he is an absolutely fascinating leader. Wherever you are on the political spectrum, whether you see Huey Long as hero or villain or somewhere in between, I think there's a narrative here that is incredibly compelling.
Senator Long's last words were, "Dear God, don't let me die, I have so much to do." Struck by an assassin's bullet in his early forties, we will never know what could've become of the decades ahead for Huey Long. No American politician has ever amassed the sheer power in their state or city that Long did and, even though the facts are unchanging and widely known, it's the details that bring it to life. A compelling, charismatic biography, even if it is already many decades old.
Huey Long was a left-wing populist on a scale that our nation had not seen before and has not really seen since. He was Governor of Louisiana, he was a U.S. Senator, and he could've been president. He was a progressive, who changed the way southern Democrats addressed issues like race, and found himself troubled by habits of violence and alcohol that surrounded him. He was flawed, he was human, and he is an absolutely fascinating leader. Wherever you are on the political spectrum, whether you see Huey Long as hero or villain or somewhere in between, I think there's a narrative here that is incredibly compelling.
Senator Long's last words were, "Dear God, don't let me die, I have so much to do." Struck by an assassin's bullet in his early forties, we will never know what could've become of the decades ahead for Huey Long. No American politician has ever amassed the sheer power in their state or city that Long did and, even though the facts are unchanging and widely known, it's the details that bring it to life. A compelling, charismatic biography, even if it is already many decades old.
February 4, 2023
This massive political biography may be right up there with the likes of Robert Caro and Richard Ben Cramer in tackling one of those most dangerous and fascinating political figures in early 20th century American history. Williams's research and scholarship is voluminous and he writes this volume with an even hand, nimbly debunking many of the legends and conspiracy theories that have circulated about the governor and Senator while also not shying away from his often feral bullying qualities. It is also a terrific overview of Long's logistics and his manipulative methods, which range from his bold apostasy against Roosevelt in the name of progressivism and the incessant way that he provided massive programs in Louisiana while punishing anyone who spoke out against him. In many ways, Long was a Trump of the Left, decades before that decidedly stupider orange menace planted the baleful antidemocratic seeds that we are still contending with. You come away from this book wondering why the Democrats haven't been more forceful in recent years and considering the ethical argument over whether tyranny is worth progressive reform. This is a must read for political history nerds.
April 17, 2024
Huey Long in many ways represents my politics. His Share Our Wealth plan back in the 1930s sought to create a fairer taxation system in America (still obviously a problem) and advocated single-payer healthcare as well as universal public university education among other things. Unfortunately, his thirst for power drove him to overreach and completely assert dominance over the state of Louisiana, taking jurisdiction away from local and state government officials when he was senator. I think there was a lot to celebrate about him but he was dangerous in some ways and perhaps it was a good thing that he didn’t become president. As for the biography itself, it’s pain-stakingly detailed and thorough. At times it gets bogged down in stories about Long’s fixation with LSU football and the ways in which bills were passed but I still appreciated the depth of the research.
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