Huey Long, the former governor of Louisiana, served in the United States Senate from 1932 until his assassination in 1935. A powerful figure, Long was integral in Franklin Roosevelt's 1932 Democratic Nomination and the election of the first woman, Hattie Caraway, to the US Senate. He was investigated for election discrepancies regarding the election of his friend John H. Overton, but no evidence of fraud was found. He proposed sweeping legislation, known as the Share Our Wealth plan, to end the Great Depression. Long often used filibusters to prevent or slow the passage of New Deal legislation.
During his tenure, Long was an avowed isolationist and claimed that American foreign policy in Latin America was influenced by Standard Oil and Wall Street. He opposed American entry into World Court and criticized American involvement in the Spanish–American War and World War I.
Activities Arrival
At the time of Long's arrival in the Senate, America was in the throes of the Great Depression, worsened by Republican President Herbert Hoover's handling of the crisis. With this backdrop, Long made characteristically fiery speeches that denounced the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. He criticized the leaders of both parties for failing to address the crisis adequately, most notably attacking conservative Senate Democratic Leader Joseph Robinson of Arkansas for his apparent closeness with President Herbert Hoover and ties to big business.Williams (1981) , pp. 560–63.
Caraway Not discouraged after being snubbed, Long found other venues for his populist message. He endorsed Senator Hattie Caraway of Arkansas, a widow and the underdog candidate in a crowded field, and conducted a whirlwind, seven-day tour of that state.Williams (1981) , pp. 583–93. During the campaign, nicknamed the "Hattie and Huey Tour", Long gave 39 speeches, traveled 2,100 miles, and spoke to over 200,000 people.Snyder (1975), pp. 128–129. In an upset win over a Robinson-endorsed candidate, Caraway became the first woman elected to a full-term in the Senate, largely thanks to Long.
Caraway would later become the first woman to chair a committee (1933), to stand in for the floor leader (1940), and to preside over the Senate (1944).
Overton In 1932, as Long expanded his power in Louisiana, he endorsed friend John H. Overton for the US Senate in a primary effort against incumbent Edwin S. Broussard, whom Long denounced as "one of Wall Street's own".Brinkley (2011) , pp. 29, 65. Overton won the primary in a landslide, carrying over 59% of the vote and 48 parishes.Brinkley (2011) , p. 29. Broussard alleged voter fraud by Long's political machine and demanded an investigation. A special committee found no evidence of widespread voter fraud and seated Overton.Brinkley (2011) , p. 65.
Public image Returning to Washington, Long gave theatrical speeches which drew wide attention. Public viewing areas were crowded with onlookers, among them a young Lyndon B. Johnson, who later claimed he was "simply entranced" by Long.Brinkley (2011) , p. 42. Long sometimes spent weeks obstructing bills, launching hour-long filibusters and having the Senate registrar read superfluous documents. Long's antics, one editorial claimed, had made the Senate "impotent".Brinkley (2011) , p. 55. In May 1932, The Washington Post called for his resignation. Outside the Capitol, his vulgar behavior was well publicized at a 1933 charity dinner in Long Island, to which he arrived already intoxicated. According to Time, "Spotting a plump girl with a full plate before her, he marched to her table, snatched the plate from her, yapped: 'You're too fat already. I'll eat this.'" Long's night culminated in him urinating on a man in the restroom. The man punched Long, giving him a black-eye. When asked about the injury, Long claimed that four men had ambushed him.Brinkley (2011) , p. 65. This and Long's radical rhetoric did little to endear him to his fellow senators. Not one of his proposed bills, resolutions or motions was passed during his three years in the Senate despite an overwhelming Democratic majority. During one debate, another senator told Long, "I do not believe you could get the Lord's Prayer endorsed in this body."Hair (1996), p. 269. Fellow Senator Carter Glass said of Long, "I understand that in the ultimate decadence of Rome they elected a horse to the Senate. At least it was a whole horse."Chester, Hodgson and Page, An American Melodrama: The Presidential Campaign of 1968, Viking Press, 1969, pg. 264 Long's flamboyant ways and populist style made him one of the best known senators in the nation. Regarding his unrefined behavior, historian David M. Kennedy wrote: "Long strode into the national arena in the role of the hillbilly hero and played it with gusto. He wore white silk suits and pink silk ties, womanized openly, swilled whiskey in the finest bars, swaggered his way around Washington, and breathed defiance into the teeth of his critics. The president's mother called him 'that awful man'. His friends called him 'the Kingfish', after a character on the radio program Amos 'n' Andy ('Der Kingfish', said Long's critics, seeing parallels with another dangerous demagogue.) The New York Times called him 'a man with a front of brass and lungs of leather'."Kennedy (2005) , p. 237.
Roosevelt and the New Deal
New Deal legislation National recovery Act Long opposed the National Recovery Act, denouncing it as a sellout to big business. On the Senate floor, he attacked the bill as having "every fault of socialism" yet not "one of its virtues". He claimed, correctly, that its wage and price codes would be created by, and in the favor of, industrialists. Long also demanded the retention of a provision, opposed by Roosevelt, that required Senate confirmation for the NRA's senior employees. Long feared that the provision's absence would allow his political enemies to gain positions of power within Louisiana.
In an attempt to prevent its passage, Long held a lone filibuster, speaking for 15 hours and 30 minutes, the second longest filibuster at the time.Brinkley (2011) , p. 76. During the filibuster, he read and analyzed each section of the Constitution, which he claimed the New Deal was turning into "ancient and forgotten lore". After responding to notes given by reporters, Long then explained his recipes for fried oysters and potlikker until he yielded at 4 am. His attempts were in vain, and the act established the National Recovery Administration (NRA), which Long quickly nicknamed "Nuts Running America".
Social Security Long criticized Social Security, calling it inadequate and expressing his concerns that states would administer it in a way discriminatory to blacks. In 1933, he was a leader of a three-week Senate filibuster against the Glass banking bill for favoring the interests of national banks over state banks. He later supported the Glass–Steagall Act, after provisions were made to extend government deposit insurance to state banks as well as national banks.Williams (1981) , pp. 623, 633–34.
Other legislation Long supported other New Deal legislation, such as the acts that established the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Tennessee Valley Authority.Brinkley (2011) , pp. 60–61. He voted with the administration on major tax and tariff bills and on the repeal of Prohibition.Brinkley (2011) , p. 61. On other occasions, Long even compromised with Roosevelt. On banking bills, Long was key in adding amendments that limited branch banking and ensured federally insured bank deposits.Brinkley (2011) , p. 61.
Long failed in his attempt to add an amendment to the Agricultural Adjustment Act that would have remonetized silver.Brinkley (2011) , p. 60.
Long was one of only 13 senators who voted against the Government Economy Act, which cut government salaries and veteran benefits.Brinkley (2011) , pp. 59–60.
Relationship with Roosevelt
In the presidential election of 1932, Long became a vocal supporter of New York Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He believed Roosevelt to be the only candidate willing and able to carry out the drastic redistribution of wealth that Long believed was necessary to end the Great Depression.Williams (1981) , p. 602. At the 1932 Democratic National Convention, Long was instrumental in keeping the delegations of several wavering southern states in the Roosevelt camp. His appeal for the delegates to support Roosevelt was noted for its eloquence. The New York Times''' Washington correspondent described Long's speech as "the finest legal argument that anybody has ever heard or that I ever heard at a national convention". Senator Burton Wheeler of Montana claimed that, "Roosevelt would never have won the Democratic nomination in 1932, in my opinion, but for Huey Long." Bronx County boss Edward J. Flynn shared a similar sentiment: "There is no question in my mind... that without Long's work Roosevelt might not have been nominated." Due to this, Long expected to be featured prominently in Roosevelt's campaign, but he was disappointed with a peripheral speaking tour limited to four Midwestern states.
During the critical first 100 days of Roosevelt's presidency in spring 1933, Long was generally a strong supporter of the New Deal, but differed with the president on patronage. Roosevelt wanted control of the patronage, and Long wanted to control it for his state. The two men publicly split in late 1933.Williams (1981) , pp. 636–39. Long mocked Roosevelt's patrician background, calling him "Prince Franklin, Knight of the Nourmahal", a reference to the yacht of Roosevelt's billionaire friend Vincent Astor. Aware that Roosevelt had no intention to radically redistribute the country's wealth, Long became one of the few national politicians to oppose Roosevelt's New Deal policies from the left. He considered them inadequate in the face of the escalating economic crisis. Long still sometimes supported Roosevelt's programs in the Senate, explaining: "Whenever this administration has gone to the left I have voted with it, and whenever it has gone to the right I have voted against it."Quoted by Berlet & Lyons (2000), p. 126.
Roosevelt considered Long a radical demagogue. The president told economic advisor Rexford Tugwell that Long, along with General Douglas MacArthur, was "one of the two most dangerous men in America".Brands (2008), p. 260.Snyder (1975), p. 117. In June 1933, Long visited the White House to meet President Roosevelt, but the meeting was a disaster: Long was flagrantly disrespectful, refusing to take off his straw hat and addressing Roosevelt as "Frank", instead of the normal "Mr. President".Kennedy (2005) , p. 236.
Shortly thereafter, in June 1933, in an effort to undermine Long's political dominance, Roosevelt cut him out of consultation on the distribution of federal funds or patronage in Louisiana and placed Long's opponents in charge of federal programs in the state. Roosevelt supported a Senate inquiry into the election of Long ally John H. Overton to the Senate in 1932. The Long machine was accused of election fraud and voter intimidation, but the inquiry came up empty, and Overton was seated.Hair (1996), p. 257. To discredit Long and damage his support base, Roosevelt had Long's finances investigated by the Internal Revenue Service in 1934. Although they failed to link Long to any illegality, some of his lieutenants were charged with income tax evasion. Only one had been convicted by the time of Long's death. Roosevelt's son would later note that in this instance, his father "may have been the originator of the concept of employing the IRS as a weapon of political retribution".
Foreign policy