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'''Huey Long''' (1893-1935), nicknamed "Kingfish," was a powerful American politician in the 1920s and 1930s, who built a ruthless Democratic machine in [[Louisiana]] as governor (1928-32) and U.S. Senator (1932-35).
'''Huey Long''' (1893-1935), nicknamed "Kingfish," was a powerful American politician in the 1920s and 1930s, who built a ruthless Democratic machine in [[Louisiana]] as governor (1928-32) and U.S. Senator (1932-35). His base was among angry poor whites, both Protestant and Catholic (called "[[Rednecks]]" by the middle class enemies of Long.)
A leftist populist who fought the rich, and promised "Every Man a King," he was preparing to run for president--either in 1940 when [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] would presumably, following century old tradition,step down, or perhaps to challenge FDR's reelection in 1936 in alliance with radio priest [[Charles Coughlin]]. But Long was assassinated in 1935 by the son of a political enemy. Although universally stereotyped a "Fascist", Long shunned ideology of all sorts, and his dictatorship by patronage, far from being alien, was the apogee of what many American machine politicians have attempted. Pernicious and impracticable as was his leftist Share-Our-Wealth plan, its objective of plenty for all, without "brain trust" or dogma, was as intrinsically American as was the title "Kingfish." Was he dictator, demagogue, messiah or populist--a friend of [[Republicanism|American values]] or an enemy?
A leftist populist who fought the rich, and promised "Every Man a King," he was preparing to run for president--either in 1940 when [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] would presumably, following century old tradition,step down, or perhaps to challenge FDR's reelection in 1936 in alliance with radio priest [[Charles Coughlin]]. But Long was assassinated in 1935 by the son of a political enemy. Although universally stereotyped a "Fascist", Long shunned ideology of all sorts, and his dictatorship by patronage, far from being alien, was the apogee of what many American machine politicians have attempted. Pernicious and impracticable as was his leftist Share-Our-Wealth plan, its objective of plenty for all, without "brain trust" or dogma, was as intrinsically American as was the title "Kingfish." Was he dictator, demagogue, messiah or populist--a friend of [[Republicanism|American values]] or an enemy?
He won in politics because of forcefulness and originality, and his perception that the governmental practices of Louisiana had become obsolete. He kept most of his promises and built roads, bridges, schools (including LSU) and other improvements which Louisiana needed. Flagrantly corrupt, he was primarily a coalition builder who used corruption to buy supporters. His improvement program was administered with relative efficiency. His success was in proportion to the weakness and confusion of his enemies, who were chiefly petty office-seekers, more decorous, but scarcely more ethical, than he. He was essentially a spokesman of a long-standing agrarian discontent that was much amplified and extended by the social and economic conditions of the great depression period.
He won in politics because of forcefulness and originality, and his perception that the governmental practices of Louisiana had become obsolete. He kept most of his promises and built roads, bridges, schools (including LSU) and other improvements which Louisiana needed. Flagrantly corrupt, he was primarily a coalition builder who used corruption to buy supporters. His improvement program was administered with relative efficiency. His success was in proportion to the weakness and confusion of his enemies, who were chiefly petty office-seekers, more decorous, but scarcely more ethical, than he. He was essentially a spokesman of a long-standing agrarian discontent that was much amplified and extended by the social and economic conditions of the great depression period.
Southern historian T. Harry Williams, the leading expert on Long, has a mixed evaluation that is mostly positive. Williams argues that Long stands without a rival as the greatest of Southern mass leaders. He asked the Southern United States to turn its gaze from "nigger" devils and take a long, hard look at itself. He asked people to forget the past, the glorious past and the sad past, and address themselves to the present. There is something wrong here, he said, and we can fix it up ourselves. Bluntly, forcibly, even crudely, he injected an element of realism into Southern politics. As Williams notes, not without reason did one of his unfavorable critics say that Long was the first Southerner since Calhoun to have an original idea, the first to extend the boundaries of political thought. Above all, Williams argues, he gave the Southern masses hope. He did some foolish things and some wrong things. There is a tragedy in the story, and perhaps it is not entirely his fault that he did not become the South's peerless Progressive. Perhaps the lesson of Long, says Williams, is that if in a democracy needed changes are denied too long by an interested minority, the changes, when they come, will come with a measure of repression and revenge. Perhaps the gravest indictment that can be made of Southern politics in recent times is that the urge for reform had to be accomplished by pressures that left in leaders like Long a degree of cynicism about the democratic process.<Ref> T. Harry Williams, "The Gentleman from Louisiana: Demagogue or Democrat." ''Journal of Southern History'' 1960 26(1): 3-21. </Ref>
===Long in American literature===
===Long in American literature===
Political historians, and--especially--novelists have explored the strange dictatorship Long created. Sinclair Lewis’s ''It Can’t Happen Here'' (1935), by a Nobel-Prize winning novelist, portrayed a genuine American dictator on the [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] model.<ref> See the full text at [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301001h.html]</ref> Starting in 1936 the [[WPA]], a New Deal agency, performed the theatre version across the country. Written with the express purpose of hurting Long's chances in the 1936 election, Lewis's novel outfits President Berzelius Windrip with a private militia, concentration camps, and a chief of staff who sounds like Nazi propagandist [[Joseph Goebbels]]. Lewis also outfits Windrip with a racist ideology completely alien to Long and a ''Main Street'' conservatism he also never embraced. Ultimately, Windrip is a venal and cynical showman who plays to the conformist resentments Lewis diagnosed in ''Main Street'' and ''Babbitt.'' Perry (2004) argues that the key weakness of the novel is not that he decks out American politicians with sinister European touches, but that he finally conceives of fascism and totalitarianism in terms of traditional American political models rather than seeing them as introducing a new kind of society and a new kind of regime. Windrip is less a Nazi than a con-man-plus-Rotarian, a manipulator who knows how to appeal to people's desperation, but neither he nor his followers are in the grip of the kind of world-transforming ideology like Hitler's [[National Socialism]].
Political historians, and--especially--novelists have explored the strange dictatorship Long created. Sinclair Lewis’s ''It Can’t Happen Here'' (1935), by a Nobel-Prize winning novelist, portrayed a genuine American dictator on the [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] model.<ref> See the full text at [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301001h.html]</ref> Starting in 1936 the [[WPA]], a New Deal agency, performed the theatre version across the country. Written with the express purpose of hurting Long's chances in the 1936 election, Lewis's novel outfits President Berzelius Windrip with a private militia, concentration camps, and a chief of staff who sounds like Nazi propagandist [[Joseph Goebbels]]. Lewis also outfits Windrip with a racist ideology completely alien to Long and a ''Main Street'' conservatism he also never embraced. Ultimately, Windrip is a venal and cynical showman who plays to the conformist resentments Lewis diagnosed in ''Main Street'' and ''Babbitt.'' Perry (2004) argues that the key weakness of the novel is not that he decks out American politicians with sinister European touches, but that he finally conceives of fascism and totalitarianism in terms of traditional American political models rather than seeing them as introducing a new kind of society and a new kind of regime. Windrip is less a Nazi than a con-man-plus-Rotarian, a manipulator who knows how to appeal to people's desperation, but neither he nor his followers are in the grip of the kind of world-transforming ideology like Hitler's [[National Socialism]].
[[Category:New Deal]]
[[Category:New Deal]]
[[Category:Liberals]]
[[Category:Liberals]]
[[Category:The South]]
[[Category:Corruption]]