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Huey Pierce Long
The eighth of ten children born to Huey
Pierce and Caledonia Tison Long, Huey P. Long was born
on a farm in Winnfield, Louisiana on August 30, 1893.
He went to public schools, and then received incomplete
legal training at the University of Oklahoma, Norman,
and Tulane University of New Orleans. Huey became a
lawyer in 1915. 1 In 1913 he married Rose McConnell in
Memphis, Tennessee. She was formerly from Shreveport,
where she worked as a secretary for a hardware store.
They had two sons and one daughter. One son, Russell
Long, served in the United States Senate. 2
At the age of twenty-five, he was elected
into the Louisiana Railroad Commission, serving in that
position for ten years. He succeeded in reducing
telephone rates, forcing pipelines to act as common
carriers, aided independent oil companies, and prevented
increases in Shreveport’s street car rates. He was
re-elected to the Commission and became chairman of the
re-organized Public Service Commission that was
established in 1921. 3
Huey ran for election for
Governor of Louisiana in 1924, but was unsuccessful. He
succeeded in 1928, receiving much support from rural
areas. 4 He secured free text books for school children,
hired the militia to raid roadhouses, and led a campaign
to build highways. His conduct caused the State House of
Representatives to vote for his impeachment. The Senate
organized a Court of Impeachment, but the court
adjourned when fifteen senators refused to have him
impeached. 5
He established his own newspaper, as well
as blanketed the state with pamphlets. Huey was sworn
in to the United States Senate on March 4, 1931,
continuing to serve as governor of the state until 1932.
6 Laws were made to abolish the people’s power and give
him power over firemen, policemen, and schoolteachers.
He was in charge of the militia, the election officials,
tax-assessors, and the judiciary. Huey advocated the
redistribution of wealth, so when the U. S. Senate
rejected his tax proposals, he resigned. His
“Share-the-Wealth” program appealed to those who
suffered through the depression, as it made him a
modern-day Robin Hood. 7
On September 8, 1935 Dr. Carl Weiss, Jr.
hid behind a column in the state capitol and fired a
shot at Huey. He was hit in the side and taken to Our
Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge. Huey died at
the age of forty-two on September 10, 1935. He is buried
in the gardens of the state capitol building in Baton
Rouge. 8
Huey had four houses in Shreveport, but
only the one at 305 Forest Street remains. 9
References
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