Huey Long
Bill Gates is currently worth roughly six billion dollars. Suppose I were to confiscate four billion of those dollars, 
leaving him two billion on which he could live quite nicely indeed. I would then take the four billion, and use it to guarantee every single American a free college education. How would you react to such a plan?
Every Man a King
Now imagine it's 1932. You have no job and no one, anywhere, is hiring. You're about to lose your home. Your children are always hungry and every day they grow a little thinner and a little more ragged. You go down to a local charity to wait in a long line for bread. As you wait you read an article in Life magazine about William Randolph Hearst's 240,000 acre ranch and mansion in California.
Hearst's "castle" has 56 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms, 19 sitting rooms, 127 acres of gardens, 
indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, a movie theater, and the world's largest private zoo. You remember your daughter, that morning, crying because she was hungry.
As you wait in line you also hear a radio: it's tuned to a speech by Louisiana Senator Huey Long:
"How many men ever went to a barbecue and would let one man take off the table what's intended for 9/10th of the people to eat? The only way you'll ever be able to feed the balance of the people is to make that man come back and bring back some of that grub that he ain't got no business with!"
The radio audience, and the others waiting in the bread line, laugh and applaud. "So in this land of God's abundance we propose," says Long, that "the fortunes of the multimillionaires and billionaires shall be reduced so that no one persons shall own more than a few million dollars."
We would say, "All right for your first million dollars, but after you get that rich you will have to start helping the balance of us."
"$3 or $4 million is enough for any one person and his children and his children's children. Now, by limiting the size of the fortunes and incomes of the big men, we will throw into the government Treasury the money and property from which we will care for the millions of people who have nothing; and with this money we will provide a home and the comforts of home, with such common conveniences as radio and automobile, for every family in America, free of debt" (see Primary Source "Every Man a King" Speech [1934] and Primary Source "Barbecue" Speech [1934]).
"All right for your first million dollars, but after you get that rich you will have to start helping the balance of us."
How would that sound to you? You want to work, but there is no work to be had, and you stand on the edge of starvation while men like William Randolph Hearst have more bathrooms in their houses than you have dollars in the bank.
The Kingfish
Huey Long proposed taxing large fortunes and using the resulting money to guarantee every American a home and a minimum income. He was vague about the specifics—sometimes he said he would tax away the fortunes of those with more than 20 million, leaving them 20 million to live on. Sometimes it was 40 million. But the basic thrust was clear: rich men in America, he argued, "have more luxuries than anyone can possibly use." He would leave them still rich, he argued, but not so rich that other men had to starve.
Long came from a comfortable family in a very poor northern Louisiana county.
Long came from a comfortable family in a very poor northern Louisiana county. A voracious reader, with a near-photographic memory, he was also ambitious, argumentative, and brash. After working as a traveling salesman, he earned a law degree and set up a practice specializing in attacking and antagonizing elites and the wealthy. He combined a genuine and passionate anti-elitism and a sense of the multiple injustices poverty might foster with a salesman's willingness to stretch the truth.
Elected as a Railroad Commissioner in 1919, he used the position to attack Louisiana's entrenched political machine and build a political network he rewarded with public works projects. As governor, elected in 1928, he followed the same course. He initiated road building projects, built bridges, hospitals, and schools, and more or less dragged what had been a badly backwards state into the 20th century.
His political supporters got jobs and contracts, and were expected to kick some of the state money back to Long. Long's spending massively increased the state's debt, but he argued, rightly as it turned out, that Louisiana could not function as a modern economy unless it paved its mostly dirt roads and built modern school facilities.
[Long] grasped radio's potential early on, and opponents found it almost impossible to move public opinion against him.
Long had a knack for reaching ordinary people—his work as a salesman, and his love of literature, gifted him with vivid speech and a strong writing style. He grasped radio's potential early on, and opponents found it almost impossible to move public opinion against him. He came to be called "the Kingfish" after a popular radio character who assumed a slightly comical dignity.
Early in his life, Long announced that he expected to be president someday, and as a start he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1932. At first he supported the New Deal, but he quickly began attacking FDR as a tool of the rich and a fraud. He announced his candidacy for president in 1934 by forming a national organization, the "Share Our Wealth" society. By 1935, he claimed more than 7.5 million members in 27,000 "Share Our Wealth Clubs" across the country.
As governor, Long used the slogan "Every Man A King, But No One Wears a Crown." For his presidential campaign he wrote a song, Every Man a King and asked Ina Ray Hutton and her All-Girl Orchestra to record it. By then, Roosevelt had come to regard Long as the most dangerous man in America. He might not win the presidency, but he could certainly split the Democratic vote.
Long was assassinated by a political rival in 1935. The Share Our Wealth Society continued for a short time but was partially undermined by FDR's own social activism in the "second new deal." Social security, in particular, established a guaranteed pension fund similar to what Long had argued for.
Textbooks and Long
The best of the three textbooks, McGraw, mentions Long as a champion of the poor in Louisiana. But while it mentions the "Share Our Wealth" clubs and "attacks on the rich," it never mentions the nature of those attacks or any of Long's agendas.
McDougal quotes Long as a Senator, but the quote almost entirely misses the heart of Long's campaign:
"We owe debts in America today, public and private, amounting to 252 billion. That means the every child is born with a $2,000 debt tied around his neck… We propose that children shall be born in a land of opportunity, guaranteed a home, food, clothes, and the other things that make for a living."
FDR was forced to sign measures like the Social Security Act because of pressure from Long and others.
Long proposed using taxes to take from the rich to feed the poor. His largest issue was not debt, but the accumulation of wealth by a small minority, and his "guarantee" was not merely fable, it would be provided by seizing the assets of the wealthiest families in America. The quotation manages to dodge what was in fact most powerful in Long's message and what is most useful in helping students make sense of the New Deal and the 1930s.
FDR always argued that "to conserve, you must reform," and he insisted that he was preserving American capitalism in the face of radical political challenges. He said, in effect, that Americans had to choose between FDR and his programs or Long as a modern day Robin Hood.
FDR was forced to sign measures like the Social Security Act because of pressure from Long and others. All three textbooks mention Long and these others (invariably Father Coughlin and Frances Townsend), but they avoid discussing what Long actually represented.
Prentice Hall's entry on Long is so generalized as to be almost entirely content-free. It calls Long "fast-talking" and mentions his use of radio. As governor, it says, he "brought many reforms to his state." But Long also brought "corruption" and "many wild hopes." The textbook is roughly accurate when it says "there would be no more enormous fortunes and every family would have a guaranteed income." But what is the point of adding "Of course, Ol' Huey would be "The Kingfish?'"
By adding the last phrase, the textbook undercuts the bite of Long's agenda and reduces a political program to a personal eccentricity. Long himself was extremely good at conveying his ideas to ordinary Americans at all levels of education. Why can't textbooks do the same?
Long's Autobiography (1933)
Annotation
In 1933 Long wrote an autobiography, Every Man A King, which is not surprisingly very self-serving, but also reveals a great deal about the man. He several times describes his family as poor, which they clearly were not—other family members, in fact, strongly resented this claim. The biography is still in print. The Social Security Administration has several excerpts available.
Primary Source(s)
Excerpt from Every Man a King:
I HAD come to the United States Senate with only one project in mind, which was that by every means of action and persuasion I might do something to spread the wealth of the land among all of the people.
I foresaw the depression in 1929. . . I had predicted all of the consequences many years before they occurred.
The wealth of the land was being tied up in the hands of a very few men. The people were not buying because they had nothing with which to buy. The big business interests were not selling, because there was nobody they could sell to.
One per cent of the people could not eat any more than any other one per cent; they could not wear much more than any other one per cent; they could not live in any more houses than any other one per cent. So, in 1929, when the fortune-holders of America grew powerful enough that one per cent of the people owned nearly everything, ninety-nine per cent of the people owned practically nothing, not even enough to pay their debts, a collapse was at hand.
God Almighty had warned against this condition. Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Daniel Webster, Theodore Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan and every religious teacher known to this earth had declaimed against it. So it was no new matter, as it was termed, when I propounded the line of thought with the first crash of 1929, that the eventful day had arrived when accumulation at the top by the few had produced a stagnation by which the vast multitude of the people were impoverished at the bottom.
There is no rule so sure as that one that the same mill that grinds out fortunes above a certain size at the top, grinds out paupers at the bottom. The same machine makes them both; and how are they made? There is so much in the world, just so much land, so many houses, so much to eat and so much to wear. There is enough--yea, there is more--than the entire human race can consume, if all are reasonable.
All the people in America cannot eat up the food that is produced in America; all the people in America cannot wear out the clothes that can be made in America; nor can all of the people in America occupy the houses that stand in this country, if all are allowed to share in homes afforded by the nation. But when one man must have more houses to live in than ninety-nine other people; when one man decides he must own more foodstuff than any other ninety-nine people own; when one man decides he must have more goods to w ear for himself and family than any other ninety-nine people, then the condition results that instead of one hundred people sharing the things that are on earth for one hundred people, that one man, through his gluttonous greed, takes over ninety-nine parts for himself and leaves one part for the ninety-nine.
Now what can this one man do with what is intended for ninety-nine? He cannot eat the food that is intended for ninety-nine people; he cannot wear the clothes that are intended for ninety-nine people; he cannot live in ninety-nine houses at the same time; but like the dog in the manger, he can put himself on the load of hay and he can say:
"This food and these clothes and these houses are mine, and while I cannot use them, my greed can only be satisfied by keeping anybody else from having them."
Wherefore and whence developed the strife in the land of too much, beginning in the year 1929.
Citation
Long, Huey. Every Man a King. New Orleans: National Book Co., 1933.
"Every Man a King" Speech (1934)
Annotation
In this speech, Long sketched out in broad form his redistribution plan. When the Founding Fathers wrote "all Men are created equal," Long said "Did they mean, my friends, to say that all men were created equal and that that meant that any one man was born to inherit $10,000,000,000 and that another child was to be born to inherit nothing?"
Primary Source(s)
Excerpt from "Every Man a King" speech:
Every man a king, so there would be no such thing as a man or woman who did not have the necessities of life, who would not be dependent upon the whims and caprices and ipse dixit of the financial martyrs for a living. What do we propose by this society? We propose to limit the wealth of big men in the country. There is an average of $15,000 in wealth to every family in America. That is right here today.
We do not propose to divide it up equally. We do not propose a division of wealth, but we propose to limit poverty that we will allow to be inflicted upon any man's family. We will not say we are going to try to guarantee any equality, or $15,000 to families. No; but we do say that one third of the average is low enough for any one family to hold, that there should be a guaranty of a family wealth of around $5,000; enough for a home, and automobile, a radio, and the ordinary conveniences, and the opportunity to educate their children; a fair share of the income of this land thereafter to that family so there will be no such thing as merely the select to have those things, and so there will be no such thing as a family living in poverty and distress.
We have to limit fortunes. Our present plan is that we will allow no one man to own more than $50 million. We think that with that limit we will be able to carry out the balance of the program. It may be necessary that we limit it to less than $50 million. It may be necessary, in working out of the plans, that no man's fortune would be more than $10 million or $15 million. But be that as it may, it will still be more than any one man, or any one man and his children and their children, will be able to spend in their lifetimes; and it is not necessary or reasonable to have wealth piled up beyond that point where we cannot prevent poverty among the masses.
"Barbecue" Speech (1934)
Annotation
Primary Source(s)
Excerpt from "Barbecue" speech:
Now we got a barbecue. We have been praying to the Almighty to send us to a feast. We have knelt on our knees morning and nighttime. The Lord has answered the prayer. He has called the barbecue. "Come to my feast," He said to 125 million American people. But Morgan and Rockefeller and Mellon and Baruch have walked up and took 85 percent of the victuals off the table!
Now, how are you going to feed the balance of the people? What's Morgan and Baruch and Rockefeller and Mellon going to do with all that grub? They can't eat it, they can't wear the clothes, they can't live in the houses.
Giv'em a yacht! Giv'em a Palace! Send 'em to Reno and give them a new wife when they want it, if that's what they want. [Laughter] But when they've got everything on God's loving earth that they can eat and they can wear and they can live in, and all that their children can live in and wear and eat, and all of their children's children can use, then we've got to call Mr. Morgan and Mr. Mellon and Mr. Rockefeller back and say, come back here, put that stuff back on this table here that you took away from here that you don't need. Leave something else for the American people to consume. And that's the program. [Applause]
Long's Fictional Autobiography (1935)
Annotation
Primary Source(s)
Excerpt from My First Days in the White House:
It had happened. The people had endorsed my plan for the redistribution of wealth and I was President of the United States. I had just sworn upon the Bible from which my father read to us as children to uphold the Constitution and to defend my country against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Yet standing there on the flag-draped platform erected above the East portico of the Capitol, delivering my inaugural address, it all seemed unreal. I felt that I was dreaming. The great campaign which was destined to save America from Communism and Fascism was history. Other politicians had promised to re-make America; I had promised to sustain it.
The campaign had been bitter. I was cartooned and caricatured unmercifully in some of the newspapers . . .
As my eyes swept the throng before me, I paused in my inaugural address and looked into the face of the retiring president. He seemed worn and tired. He wore the same expression of resigned fatigue that I had observed in the face of President Hoover on Inauguration Day in 1933 when Mr. Roosevelt declared so confidently that: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
And with all humility, fully conscious of the solemnity of the promise I was making, I laid aside my prepared speech and closed my inaugural address extemporaneously with these words:
"I promise life to the guaranties of our immortal document, the Declaration of Independence, which has decreed that all shall be born equal, and by this I mean that children shall not come into this life burdened with debt, but on the contrary, shall inherit the right to life, liberty and such education and training as qualifies them and equips them to take their proper rank in the pursuance of the occupation and vocation wherein they are worth most to themselves and to this country. And now I must be about my work."
The former president arose and seized my hands. He shouted something in my ear but his words were drowned by the roar from the crowd.
Long Legacy Project
Annotation
Huey Long, and the Long family, had a remarkable impact on Louisiana and the U.S. generally. Huey's son Russell Long served in the U.S. Senate for almost 40 years. The Long Legacy Project is a privately funded project to commemorate Huey Long's legacy.
Primary Source(s)
Excerpt from Huey Long: The Man, His Mission, and Legacy:
I came from a fairly well-to-do family because of Huey Long's Administration. I am a Black retired U.S. Postman. I think of the wonders he has contributed to making our jobs so easy and not as complex as described in the old days. What a great job well done in promoting Louisiana as he has. Our love and generous appreciation extends in the surpass. Thanks for a job truly well done. . . We miss you Gov. Long. YOU are not dead in our hearts, you are only just away. May God bless your spirit that hangs proudly in the skies of the old state we both call home—Louisiana.
—DLC, retired U.S. Postman
Primary Source Annotated Bibliography
Boulard, Gary. Huey Long: His Life in Photos, Drawings, and Cartoons. Gretna, LA: Pelican, 2003.
An excellent collection of photographs and cartoons on Long and his life.
Secondary Source Annotated Bibliography
Brinkley, Alan. Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, & the Great Depression. New York: Vintage, 1983.
Brinkley does an excellent job situating Long against other New Deal "dissenters" like the ubiquitous Townsend and Coughlin as well as lesser known figures like Norman Thomas and the American Socialist Party.
Kazin, Michael. The Populist Persuasion: An American History. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1998.
Kazin's overview places Long's childhood in context: the context of an America that had much more room for different political voices. Kazin treats Long as part of a phenomenon dating back into the 19th century and ahead into the present.
Warren, Robert Penn. All the King’s Men. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1946.
Long's legacy has long suffered under the shadow of Robert Penn Warren's novel All the King's Men which, even though Warren emphatically denied it, is still widely described as "based on the life of Huey Long." Warren's book is fiction; the general similarities—southern governor, anti-elite message—have done more to obscure than to illuminate. It might be useful in class if Long's career and ideas were being examined in detail.
Williams, T. Harry. Huey Long. New York: Vintage, 1981.
The first definitive biography of Long won a Pulitzer prize and a National Book Award in 1969. Still excellent, although consistently critical.
WETA. "Huey Long: For Educators." Ken Burns' American Stories: Huey Long.
This PBS website, based around a Ken Burns series, has some limited resources for teachers, including lesson plans and excerpts from the Burns film.
Michael O'Malley received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 1988. He taught at New York University and Vassar College and now teaches at George Mason University where he is Associate Professor of History and Associate Director of the Center for History and New Media. 
