Chapter Four: The Huey Long Story - Part 1
An American Demagogue in Action
"Just the place for a Snark!" the Bellman cried,
As he landed his crew with care;
Supporting each man on the top of the tide
By a finger entwined in his hair.
"Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
That alone should encourage the crew.
Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:
What I tell you three times is true.”
Lewis Carroll, “The Hunting of the Snark” 1
On June 16, 2015, the world changed.
That is the date of Donald Trump’s legendary ride down the escalator at Trump Tower in Manhattan to declare his candidacy for the Presidency. Few people took him seriously. No one imagined that he would become the most important political figure in the United States for the next 10 years and perhaps for even longer depending upon what happens this November.
Trump falls outside of the American political tradition. He had on his résumé not one day of public service. He never held elective office. He never held appointive office. His business life was pock marked with failures. His personal life was adorned with affairs, divorces, and sexual predation. He was and is a liar. Politicians lie as a matter of course. Jimmy Carter was mocked for promising not to lie. That said, Trump’s lies are different both in degree and in kind.
Lying is a way of life for him. He has repeated endlessly the lie that the 2020 election --perhaps the most legitimate election in American history – was stolen. It is the big lie forcefully stated and endlessly repeated. Like the ”Bellman” in Lewis Carroll’s “The Hunting of the Snark,” what he tells us three times (or in Trump’s case hundreds of times) is true. He takes it upon himself to define what is true.
No one like Trump has ever occupied the White House.
However, it is quite inaccurate to assert that no one like Trump has ever succeeded in American politics. There are those who have broken the laws and the norms of public life and have experienced remarkable success on the state and local level. A case in point is Huey Pierce Long, Jr. (1893 -1935) of Louisiana.
After minimal schooling, Long was admitted to the Louisiana bar in 1915, at the age of 21. He could have been a successful lawyer, but politics was destined to be his game. It was “the sport of kings.”2 In 1917, the United States entered World War I; but it did so without Huey. As he explained, “I did not go because I was not mad at anybody over there.”3 The following year he was elected to the state Public Service Commission, an office with more power than its modest name suggests. Huey began a campaign against the Standard Oil Company, the most powerful corporation in the state, which he pursued for his whole life.
In 1928, at the age of 35, Long became the governor of Louisiana. And he had no interest in the separation of powers. An opponent with a volume in his hand approached Huey to make a point. “Maybe you’ve heard of this book,” he said. “It’s the constitution of the state of Louisiana.” Replied Long, “I’m the Constitution around here now.”4 Huey was the law, just as Trump is the truth.
Unless you are from Louisiana, odds are you have not heard of Huey. It is easy to make fun of him. Franklin Roosevelt’s mother, the imperious Sara Delano Roosevelt, encountered Huey when her son invited him to lunch at the family estate Hyde Park in 1932. Said she, “Who is that awful man sitting on my son’s right?”5
What is one to make of his speaking style? Here is a sample of his touting his Share Our Wealth program. It is three minutes and 48 seconds long. (By the way, it is dated incorrectly. This speech was delivered in December of 1934, not 1935.) Please persevere. It helps us learn about Huey.
Astute observers did not make fun of him. They understood that Huey had to be taken seriously and literally. Just as Donald Trump and the dystopia described in Project 2025 must be taken seriously and literally. Here is what FDR himself said of Long in 1932: “It’s all very well for us to laugh at Huey. But actually, we have to remember that he really is one of the two most dangerous men in the country.” (The other, Roosevelt said, “is Douglas MacArthur.”)6
It is not for nothing that Roosevelt became the greatest American politician of the 20th century. Roosevelt well understood the threat that Huey posed. From 1932 up to his assassination in 1935, Huey Long was a dangerous man indeed.
In the next post, you will see why.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43909/the-hunting-of-the-snark
T. Harry Williams, Huey Long (New York: Knopf, 1970) p. 108.
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Politics of Upheaval (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003) p. 68.
Schlesinger, Upheaval, p. 71.
Williams, Long, p. 602.
William Ivy Hair, The Kingfish and His Realm: The Life and Times of Huey P. Long (Louisiana State University Press, 1991) Online edition, Location 4181.
Wow! This was truly fascinating. I remember hearing about Huey Long when we were in school. It's appropriate that people be reminded of this rather frightening man. The film clip is mesmerizing. Thanks for finding it and posting it.
Richard—The film clip is wonderful!
I had never seen it before today.