Chapter 13 section 3 la hist

Chapter 13 section 3

Huey Long in the United States Senate

In 1930, Long ran for one of Louisiana’s two United States Senate seats. He won the election but refused to be sworn in until he could control the election of his replacement as Louisiana’s governor. Long helped his completely loyal friend O. K. Allen win the governor’s race in 1932. With a man he could control in the governor’s office, Long, who now referred to himself as the Kingfish, took a train to Washington, DC, where he was sworn into the U.S. Senate on January 25, 1932. He was now in the nation’s capital, but he had his sights set on the White House. 

Multiple Choice

Long refuse to be sworn in as Senator until what happened?

• He completed his term as Louisiana Governor

• He could control the election of his replacement as Louisiana’s governor

• He witness the birth of his son.

• He controlled who would become president of the U.S.

Multiple Choice

Who did Long help win the election to replace him?

• O. K. Allen

• John McKeithen

• Edwin Edwards

• Richard Lesch

Multiple Choice

What was Huey Long's nickname?

• The Kingfish

• The Big Cheese

• The King

• The Fisherman

Senator Long Goes to Washington

There was a tradition in the U.S. Senate that new members worked behind the scenes to learn how the institution functioned. In so doing, senators gradually gained influence by working cooperatively with other members. Long had no intention of deferring to other senators with more seniority. Displaying a familiar pattern of behavior, Long simply ignored the established rules or found ways to go around those who tried to block his ideas or ambitions. Long spent much of his time giving speeches to the American people rather than to his fellow senators. He also engaged in long floor speeches, called filibusters, which blocked legislation he opposed and, not incidentally, raised his profile even further among the nation’s voters. 

Multiple Choice

Long floor speeches, which blocked legislation he opposed

• Censors

• Sanctions

• Legislation

• Filibusters

Broadening His Appeal

Late in 1932, Long took his fleet of campaign trucks—complete with loudspeakers that broadcast his messages—to Arkansas. There he held rallies and gave speeches supporting the reelection of fellow Senator Hattie Caraway, who had been appointed to the Senate to finish her recently deceased husband’s term. She sat next to Long in the Senate, and there did seem to be a genuine rapport (relationship, connection) between the two. However, Long did almost nothing without calculating its political impact. He also believed that helping Caraway win would show that he could influence elections beyond his home state. Caraway was considered a long shot, but with Long’s help, she won the race, making her the first woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate. Long’s influence beyond Louisiana also scored a victory.

Louisiana during the Great Depression

By the time Long was sworn into the Senate, the nation had been in the throes (hard painful struggle) of the Great Depression for three years. The Great Depression was the name given to the severe economic downturn that began with the stock market crash of 1929 and continued into the 1940s. In October 1929, the stock market, which had risen to dizzying heights in the previous months, crashed. The values of stocks plummeted, and in an instant, much of the nation’s wealth disappeared. Unemployment rates skyrocketed and many Americans suffered extreme poverty. Farm families were hit especially hard.

In a largely rural and agriculture-dependent state like Louisiana, this meant that the poor faced economic challenges that they could not overcome, no matter how hard they worked. And while farm families could usually grow enough to feed themselves, people who lived in cities had no places to plant gardens. Many families literally came close to starvation

Multiple Choice

The name given to the the severe economic downturn that began with the stock market crash of 1929 and continued into the 1940s.

• Succession

• Recession

• Depression

• Inflation

Multiple Select

Select all that resulted from the Stock Market Crash of 1928

• The cost of goods increased dramatically

• much of the nation’s wealth disappeared.

• Unemployment rates skyrocketed and many Americans suffered extreme poverty.

• values of stocks plummeted,

Multiple Choice

The name given to the the severe economic downturn that began with the stock market crash of 1929 and continued into the 1940s.

• Succession

• Recession

• Depression

• Inflation

Share Our Wealth

In the midst of the Great Depression, Long’s populist messages appealed to the poor. This was much the same way his ideas had appealed to those who felt vulnerable after the 1927 Flood. Long took to the radio, which by the early 1930s had become an important national medium for politicians. Long used every opportunity he could to promote his proposals for ending the depression. He created a set of ideas called Share Our Wealth. Although his proposed solutions varied with time, in general the Share Our Wealth program focused on making certain that no American was too rich or too poor.

Multiple Choice

What was the main goal of Long's Share the Wealth program?

• Giving everyone a job

• Taking a hands off approach to government intervention in peoples life

• Competition

• making certain that no American was too rich or too poor.

Long felt that all Americans should have a home, enough food to eat, and security in their old age, when they were too old to work. Long argued that the money to secure those goals could be acquired through higher taxes on the nation’s wealthiest citizens, especially multimillionaires. Economists would describe Long’s program as a redistribution of wealth. 

Multiple Choice

How did Long propose to get the money to give to those who were poor or unable to work?

• Tax everyone

• Tax the poor

• Tax income

• Tax the Wealthy

In a period of widespread poverty and economic distress, Long’s ideas about income redistribution were very appealing to large segments of the nation’s poor. Share Our Wealth societies sprang up around the country. They could be formed very easily, and membership cost nothing. They also provided a forum for people to talk about their problems and to discuss possible solutions—many of them proposed by Long. As the nation’s poverty worsened, Long’s popularity and appeal grew. With a nationwide network of more than four million members and a mailing list that exceeded seven million by 1935, Long had begun to think seriously about the final step in his long-term plan—a run for the presidency of the United States.

Multiple Choice

To what group did the share the wealth program appeal to?

• The Rich

• Those with Jobs

• The poor

• The Government workers

While Long’s speeches, radio broadcasts, and Share Our Wealth societies were yielding grassroots support (support from ordinary people; support from the ground up) around the country, Senator Long was also still actively controlling politics in Louisiana. During his term in the Senate, he returned to Louisiana regularly to oversee legislative sessions and to ensure that his priorities and plans received legislative passage. Then, as soon as a session was done and he had accomplished what he wished, Long would return to Washington, DC. 

Multiple Choice

What best describes Long's role in Louisiana government while a senator?

• He stayed out of local government decisions

• He had people report to him to keep him informed

• He only occasionally dabbled in it.

• He took many trips back to Louisiana and actively took a role in legislation

Public Works

Governor O. K. Allen continued the ambitious program of public works that Long had begun in his term as governor. Besides the construction of new roads, Long oversaw the construction of the state’s first bridge across the Mississippi River, which was completed near New Orleans in 1935. Long also led the drive for the construction of a new State Capitol building. The soaring thirtyfour-story Capitol was impressive at the time of its completion in 1932 and remains the nation’s tallest capitol building.

Long also found less visible ways to extend the success of his programs. More than 3,500 miles of paved roads and concrete highways were constructed during Long’s term as governor, but the roads were narrower—18 versus 22 feet wide—than the national standard. Many people were also receiving payoffs or kickbacks all throughout the process. One historian estimates that roads cost taxpayers four to five times as much as they should have because of all the graft (illegal or unfair gain).  

Multiple Select

Which were problems with construction projects completed by Long

• The roads were more narrow than national roads

• The Roads were too wide

• They cost taxpayers 4 to 5 times as much due to corruption

• The buildings were poorly constructed

Was Long a Dictator?

The notion that Huey Long was more of a dictator than an elected official had some basis in fact, because he was serving as U.S. senator while still controlling virtually all the decisions and actions of state government. Even as Long was attracting supporters from around the nation, he was also creating many enemies at home. Most of the state’s newspapers were critical of Long. When he could not control them, he started his own newspaper, The Louisiana Progress. As Long’s political profile rose, so did concerns that his dictatorial tactics might actually spread beyond the state to the nation if he were elected president.

Multiple Choice

What best supports the claim that Long was a dictator?

• He was serving as U.S. senator while still controlling virtually all the decisions and actions of state government

• He served as Senator then Governor

• He served as Governor then Senator

• He was involved in Louisiana politics for 15 years in one manner or another

Multiple Choice

Why did Long start his own paper?

• Because he wanted the news to reach the poor and his paper was cheaper

• Because most papers in the state were critical of him

• Because there was widespread demand for the paper

• Because no paper would report the truth

Talk of his assassination arose among those who felt he was dangerous, not just to democracy in Louisiana but, potentially, to the entire nation. Whether it was fear or caution that drove the decision, Long always traveled with several armed bodyguards. He even created a state police force, called the Bureau of Investigation, which he essentially directed and used in whatever way he saw fit.

Multiple Choice

Why did some people want to assassinate Huey?

• He

• felt he was dangerous, not just to democracy in Louisiana but, potentially, to the entire nation

• a

• a

Long’s Final Days

There was no doubt about Long’s ultimate ambition by August 1935 when he announced his intention to seek the presidency in 1936. The following month, Long returned to Louisiana to run a special session of the legislature he had called. On Sunday evening, September 8, Long was in the State Capitol giving orders and speaking with legislators before the session’s opening the next morning. As the senator was hurrying around a corner in the lobby, a young surgeon named Carl Austin Weiss approached Long, whose fast pace put him a few steps ahead of his bodyguards. Many believe that Weiss wanted to confront the senator about pending legislation to remove his father-in-law, the anti-Long judge Benjamin Pavy, from office.

Multiple Choice

What is a possible motive for Dr. Carl Weiss shooting Huey Long?

• pending legislation to remove his father-in-law, the anti-Long judge Benjamin Pavy, from office.

• Because of a personal insult

• To protect the honor of his wife

• Political hatred

Long’s bodyguards later testified that Weiss shot the senator at point-blank range. Long turned and ran toward a nearby stairwell, while the bodyguards opened fire on Weiss, whose body was riddled with sixty bullet wounds. He died immediately. 

Long was taken to the nearby Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, where surgeons were able to remove a bullet. Despite this success, surgeons did not detect a nick to the kidney that continued to bleed internally. The mighty politician passed away in the early morning hours of September 10, 1935. Despite his many enemies and controversial reputation, Long’s supporters considered him a hero of the common people and were deeply saddened by his death.

Multiple Choice

After his death, how did Huey's supporters view Huey?

• as a failure

• as a false prophet

• as a god

• As a hero to the common man

Tens of thousands of mourners made their way to the Capitol to view his body before his burial on the Capitol grounds. In future years, a huge statue that represented Long’s accomplishments was placed over the site. 

At the time, few questioned Weiss’s guilt in Long’s death, making it an assassination. However, evidence uncovered in recent decades has raised questions about Weiss’s guilt. For instance, photos taken of Weiss’s body right after the shooting show no gun in his hand or in the vicinity of his body. The gun he supposedly used to shoot Long also had an irregular chain of custody. It was discovered in the personal possession of the daughter of a policeman involved in the initial investigation of the assassination. It was finally returned to state custody in the 1990s.

These and other issues have raised the possibility that Weiss might have approached the senator to confront him, and in response, Long’s bodyguards opened fire and shot Long accidentally. No conclusive proof for this theory has ever been uncovered.

Long’s Successors

Even before Long’s burial, discussion about who would, or could, succeed him and maintain control of state government got underway. Governor O. K. Allen planned to take Huey’s seat in the Senate, but died of a heart attack before he could take office. At that time, Rose Long was appointed to the seat until a special election could be held. There was also a scramble among Huey’s loyal followers to decide who would run to fill the next term for governor. James A. Noe, a friend and business partner of Huey’s, had become lieutenant governor in 1934 when John Fournet resigned that office

Multiple Choice

After his death who replaced Long in the Senate?

• His Son Russel

• His wife Rose

• O. K. Aleen

• Richard Leche

After O.K. Allen died in January 1936, Noe served as interim governor from January through May. He had hoped to be the candidate of the Long machine in the regular election. However, through backroom dealing, Long’s most powerful supporters backed a New Orleans judge named Richard Leche. His main qualification was that he was a loyal Long supporter whom many in the background thought they could control.

The Louisiana Scandals

Leche won the governor’s office handily in 1936, but many of the problems and corrupt practices that had occurred during the Long era continued. Leche and his cronies (close political allies) continued to allow favored associates to make profits from their dealings with state government. Members of the State Highway Commission routinely sold goods and services to the state for construction projects they were supposed to regulate.  

Leche and others in power misappropriated construction materials for personal projects. They regularly used state workers to construct and improve their own personal properties and those of their friends. Leche was even taking kickbacks on the purchase of state goods. This included receiving payment for each vehicle an Alexandria auto dealership sold the state.

Multiple Select

Select the corrupt practices , practiced by Governor Leche

• Gave Free Tickets to LSU football games to whoever voted for him

• misappropriated construction materials for personal projects

• used state workers to construct and improve their own personal properties

• taking kickbacks on the purchase of state goods

Similar kinds of corruption had been common under Long, but his total control of state government and an atmosphere of intimidation made it difficult for federal investigators to prove corruption while the Kingfish was alive. After Long’s death, federal investigators slowly resumed investigations of corruption in the state. By 1939, they had documented and uncovered proof of the kind of widespread corruption that had come to characterize the way business was conducted in Louisiana. Such corrupt practices were so common they came to be known as “The Louisiana Way.” 

Multiple Choice

During Long's time corrupt practices were so common they came to be known as ...

• The Huey Deal

• The Louisiana Way

• The French Connection

• New Orleans Way

In 1939, more than 250 federal charges were filed against Louisiana citizens and officials. Among those charged was Richard Leche, who was forced to resign as governor. The following year, Leche was found guilty of taking kickbacks and was sentenced to ten years in prison. He was released after serving five years. Other Louisiana officials, including LSU President James Monroe Smith, also served prison time for misdeeds that enriched themselves at the expense of the state and its people.

Multiple Choice

When Governor Leche was found guilty what was his pentalty?

• none

• He got probation

• 10 years in Angola

• Life

Huey Long’s Legacy

Huey Long’s legacy was a mixed one for the people and the state. His successes included drastically improving the state’s transportation system and extending educational opportunity and quality. Long also improved access to health care. Perhaps more important than any individual accomplishment was the way he fundamentally transformed the nature of state government in Louisiana. Before Huey Long’s era, the state government had been small and largely focused on protecting property rights, especially for the wealthy. In seven short years, Long transformed the size, nature, and orientation of Louisiana’s government in ways that, for the first time, favored the state’s common people.

On the negative side of the ledger, many of these improvements cost the state far more than necessary. And while educational opportunity and access improved, Long’s actions threatened freedom of expression, especially for anyone who dared disagree with him. His legacy was further tarnished by the ways he and those who followed him used their official positions to enrich themselves at taxpayer expense. Huey Long was certainly the figure most responsible for bringing Louisiana into the modern world, but he did so in ways that also damaged the state and its reputation across the nation.  

Multiple Choice

What best describes the legacy of Huey Long on Louisiana?

• He left a legacy of good

• He left a legacy of evil

• He brought Louisiana into modern times but ruined its reputation due to his corruption

• He left a legacy of dedication to the state at the sacrifice oh is own well being

After Richard Leche resigned as governor in 1939, Lieutenant Governor Earl K. Long, Huey’s younger brother, was sworn in to finish Leche’s term. As this event symbolized, the state was hardly done with Longism. As Louisiana entered the 1940s, Earl Long and the ideas and practices begun by his brother continued to be part of the state’s political, social, and economic life. However, as the 1940s began, events far beyond Louisiana changed the state and the nation profoundly in the decades to come

Multiple Choice

Who replaced Governor Leche?

• Jim Brown

• Big John McKeithern

• Earl Long

• O.K. Allen