Chap 13 Sec 2 La Hist

Chap 13 Sec 2 La Hist

Huey Long is Elected Governor

Huey Long had worked tirelessly for four years to widen his appeal among the state’s voters. He continued to promise vast improvements to the state’s undeveloped transportation system. He enhanced his focus on education, promising to provide free schoolbooks to the state’s children. He also attacked the state’s wealthiest people and its most powerful corporations. He promised that his election would give those who were usually ignored a voice in setting the state’s priorities. Long also sought to enlarge his vote totals among city dwellers. In New Orleans, this meant promising he would begin paving the city’s dirt roads and gravel streets. He also promised to have natural gas piped into the city so the residents could heat their homes for less money. 

Multiple Select

What did Huey long promise the voters of the state of Louisiana?

• promise improvements to the state’s undeveloped transportation system

• to provide free schoolbooks to the state’s children

• to bring electricity to rual areas

• that his election would give those who were usually ignored a voice in setting the state’s priorities

Multiple Select

How did Long seek to enlarge his vote totals among city dwellers?

• To have natural gas piped into the city so the residents could heat their homes for less money

• He gave free food to the poor.

• He gpeople that lived in citiesave tax cuts to the

• promising he would begin paving the city’s dirt roads and gravel streets

His hard work, many promises, and a message focused on the common people combined to make his second run successful. Huey P. Long was inaugurated governor in May 1928.  

Long set to work on an ambitious agenda right away. He made good on his promise to distribute free textbooks to the state’s schools. When officials in Caddo Parish refused to take part in his plan, Long took the case to court. In what would become a regular strategy, the governor also threatened to block legislative approval of other plans parish and city leaders had in mind until they agreed to do what he wanted.  

Multiple Choice

What strategy did Long use to force city and Parish leaders to agree to do what he wanted?

• He Bribed them

• He gave jobs to those that did not support him then fired them

• He encouraged voters to recall their elections

• He threatened to block legislative approval of other plans parish and city leaders had in mind

Roads

Long also started a scattered program of constructing paved roads across the state. He reasoned that if people all around the state gained access to even small stretches of paved roads, they would see how superior they were, and demand that their legislators continue the project. Road construction was particularly popular because much of the immediate cost was paid through selling bonds rather than by raising taxes. A bond is a certificate promising payment of money by a certain date, which is issued by a government or corporation as evidence of debt.

Multiple Choice

A certificate promising payment of money by a certain date, which is issued by a government or corporation as evidence of debt.

• a Stock

• a bank Account

• Bond

• Gold Deposit Certificate

Multiple Choice

Why did Long start a scattered program of constructing paved roads across the state?

• a

• He reasoned that if people all around the state gained access to even small stretches of paved roads, they would see how superior they were, and demand that their legislators continue the project

• a

• aa

Investors who bought the bonds would be paid back with interest when the bonds matured. In the short run, however, people felt like they were getting a lot for not very much money. Governor Long put his friend O. K. Allen in charge of the state’s Highway Commission, the body that was responsible for the road construction projects. Although progress was rapid, the roads were often inferior, and many of the officials involved in the program profited personally from their insider knowledge and connections. Allen, Long, and others, for example, were involved in a company that sold rocks to the Highway Commission. 

Multiple Select

What problems were there with the road construction in the state?

• the roads were often inferior, and

• The Roads Were too wide

• many of the officials involved in the program profited personally from their insider knowledge and connections

• They used too much concrete

Their company charged the state more than double what its competitors would have charged for a better-quality product. Rural people welcomed the roads, but the corruption that became a normal part of doing business with the state was largely hidden from their view

Patronage

Long’s control over appointments to state offices and jobs yielded him a great deal of power with the public. Jobs were hard to find, especially after the nation entered an era of financial depression beginning in 1929. Long had the ability to appoint people to more than 25,000 state jobs. People were desperate for work, so the governor’s control of patronage appointments became even more valuable than usual.  

(An economic depression is an occurrence wherein an economy is in a state of financial turmoil, often the result of a period of negative activity )

Multiple Choice

An occurrence where an economy is in a state of financial turmoil,

• Inflation

• Convocation

• Depression

• Reconstruction

Multiple Choice

How did the depression aid Long in giving him more power?

• Since there were fewer jobs because of the depression jobs were scarce so the jobs Huey had with the state were more valuable than usual

• He got the rich to vote for him so they would stay in power and rich

• He was poor too so it enabled him to connect with other poor which because of the depression was the majority of people

• Since no one was working and he was he became powerful

The Deduct Box

Perhaps reflecting the knowledge that state workers were beholden to the governor for their jobs, Long initiated a practice that came to be known as giving to the deduct box. In that system, state employees were required to return 10 percent of their salary to this so-called deduct box. The money was supposed to be used to support long's political organization. Long, however, routinely mixed deduct funds and campaign contributions with his personal funds. As a result, he had access to vast amounts of cash at a time when there were no laws forcing him to disclose where the money came from or how he spent it.

Multiple Choice

What was the money in the deduct box suppose to be used for?

• a

• a

• a

• to support long's political organization

Multiple Choice

Why did state employees have to give 10% of their pay to the deduct box?

• They wanted to help Huey Long win re election

• It was part of their Union dues

• state workers were beholden to the governor for their jobs and he demanded it

• The grandfather clause said if their grandparents had contributed they must also

Multiple Choice

Why did state employees have to give 10% of their pay to the deduct box?

• Because it was a federal Job

• Because they were overpaid for over a year

• Because Long demanded they do so in return for the Jobs they got with the State

• To pay for health care

Long and the Legislature

In the legislature, Long exercised his power by involving himself in every aspect of the lawmaking process. Whether he was welcome or not, the governor walked the aisles of the legislative chambers, sat in on committee meetings, and personally made sure that legislators voted for laws he wanted passed. If members opposed his plans, Long took away their committee assignments. He then reconfigured the committees with loyal legislators who would always vote his way. He even threatened to take away jobs from the family members of elected officials who refused to follow his orders. 

Multiple Select

As governor what influence did Long have on the Legislative process?

• He walked the aisles of the legislative chambers

• Long exercised his power by involving himself in every aspect of the lawmaking process

• He sat in on committee meetings, and personally made sure that legislators voted for laws he wanted passed

• He chose only to be involved in the most important bills

Multiple Select

What would Long do if someone opposed legislation he was for?

• He would threatened to take away jobs from the family members of elected officials who refused to follow his orders

• He would just forget about it and move on to the next piece of legislation

• He would ostracize them and never speak to them again

• he would take away their committee assignments and reconfigured the committees with loyal legislators who would always vote his way

The governor was also willing to achieve his goals without legislative approval. One example of this tactic involved the governor’s mansion. Everyone agreed that the existing mansion was termite-infested and in need of substantial repairs. At the beginning of 1929, Long received a loan of $15,000 from the State Liquidation Board—a board whose membership he controlled. The Board made the loan with the understanding that the governor would seek legislative approval for his plans. Impatient as always, the governor had the warden of the state penitentiary send a group of inmates down to Baton Rouge to tear down the old governor’s mansion. Within days, the old mansion lay in ruins. Long’s critics complained bitterly, but the governor had presented them with a fait accompli (something that has been done and cannot be changed).  

Multiple Choice

How would Huey Long to achieve his goals without legislative approval as an example the building of the new state capitol?

• He built the new

  Governor's mansion without Legislative approval and got the money from the lottery proceeds

• He had the citizens pay for it out of the deduct box

• He had the warden of the state penitentiary send a group of inmates down to Baton Rouge to tear down the old governor’s mansion so they had no choice but to build a new one

• He paid for it himself then had the state reimburse him.

With no mansion in existence, a new one had to be built. Seeking legislative approval became a mere formality.  

As his opponents were learning, Huey Long was a formidable (powerful, strong) opponent. However, his unconventional behavior and unorthodox (different from what is usually done or accepted) methods gave his opponents an opportunity to try to remove him from office. During a special legislative session in March 1929, Long’s opponents decided to initiate impeachment charges against him. Among other things, state legislators considered charging the governor with misappropriating state funds and attempting to bribe legislators to assure their votes.

To misappropriate is to take something dishonestly, for one’s own use. The next few days were raucous (boisterous, disorderly) ones in Baton Rouge. Widespread fist fighting broke out on the floor of the state House of Representatives on the last Monday in March, a day that came to be known as Bloody Monday. If the state House of Representatives approved charges, the state Senate would decide on the governor’s guilt or innocence. Two-thirds of the Senate’s thirty-nine members would have to proclaim his guilt. Huey and his supporters worked behind the scenes on a strategy that has come to be known as the legislative round-robin. In essence, Long convinced fifteen senators to sign a declaration that they would never cast a guilty vote no matter what evidence was presented. 

Multiple Choice

How did Long avoid impeachment using the legislative round-robin.

• They threatened legislators with physical injury if they voted to convict him

• Long convinced fifteen senators to sign a declaration that they would never cast a guilty vote no matter what evidence was presented.

• They signed promising not to convict him they would get government jobs

• He called the State Police to arrest Legislators that were going to vote to convict him

Multiple Choice

to take something dishonestly, for one’s own use

• Embezzle

• misappropriate

• Money Launder

• Extort

The tactic was unorthodox, but not surprising. By receiving these promises from more than one-third of the state senators, Long short-circuited the impeachment process. Afterwards, many of the round-robin’s signers received plum (desirable) governmental or judicial appointments. Long had saved himself and handed his opponents one more in a series of political defeats. After the impeachment attempt failed, Long was even more powerful. He was ready for the next step in his plan.

Long and LSU

Throughout his terms as governor and senator, Huey Long had great enthusiasm for Louisiana State University, going so far as to co-write two football fight songs with his handpicked band director Castro Carazo. Long also improved some of the university’s facilities and programs, but always in ways that reflected his interests and priorities. Long supported the construction of a new student center building, which came to be known as the Huey P. Long Field House. He also saw to it that the football team and band received significant support. As with anything Long cared about, he could not keep himself from meddling in the details. He openly interfered with referees at LSU home games, and forced railroad lines to offer special rates to LSU students so they could travel to away games. He even handed out cash to students so they had spending money during their trips.

Multiple Choice

True or false Huey was a big supporter of LSU?

• True

• False

• a

• a

Long could be generous to those he supported, but incredibly harsh with those who challenged him. In 1934, LSU’s student newspaper, The Daily Reveille, published an editorial critical of one of Long’s recent political appointments. Long ordered most copies of the issue confiscated and destroyed. He also demanded an apology from the students who were involved. Because state government provided so many of the students at the university with financial support, Long felt he had every right to demand loyalty from them.

. The university’s president owed his job to Long. When a group of students went to him for advice, the president advised the students that they were “living under a dictatorship and the best thing to do is to submit to those in authority.” At Long’s insistence, seven students were expelled. What do you think about the advice the president of the university gave to the students who visited him? 

When completed in 1932, the Huey P. Long Field House served as LSU’s student union and featured the largest swimming pool in the U.S. at the time. Below: Huey Long’s devotion to LSU was reflected in his interest in the marching band. The fight song he co-wrote with Castro Carazo, “Touchdown for LSU,” is still played in the band’s pregame show at LSU games. Long quadrupled the size of the band and sometimes marched with the drum majors at the head of the band.