Essays covering the many different opinions of Huey P. & Earl K. Long

Mention Louisiana to an individual from another state and most times they immediately react with the name Huey Long. For most modem Americans, the Pelican State and the colorful Kingfish are synonymous. To a few the name of Earl Kemp Long, Huey's younger brother, also invokes some recognition. These two men seemingly epitomize Louisiana to the rest of the country.

But why? The history of the state spans three centuries since the first European settlement. Yet Americans associate Louisiana with the Long brothers. This linkage is particularly paradoxical because their reign was so remarkably brief, only 32 years. Huey Long became governor in 1928, and Earl Long died in 1960 after serving three terms as governor. That these two men who governed so briefly have come to symbolize the quintessence of Louisiana is a tribute to their dynamic personalities, their eccentric and often humorous behavior, and the unbridled political power that they wielded within their home state.

Scholars fail to agree on the effect the Longs had upon their state. Were they demagogues and dictators or democrats and rustic humanitarians? Did they do good or ill? No one seems able to agree.

This collection of essays is an attempt to present the differing viewpoints that historians over the years have advanced about the Longs. This anthology, however, also seeks to show that for scholars the age of the Longs was more than a time that saw the dominance of two powerful political siblings. It is also an account of the successes and failures of the anti-Longs, the loyal opposition to Huey, Earl, and their many followers. It traces national and international events that impacted Louisiana during the Long era: the Great Depression, the New Deal, World War II, and the emerging civil rights movement.

Haas's volume captures all of the political drama, economic unrest, and complex social issues of the age of the Longs.

CONTENTS

PART I LOUISIANA IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Louisiana and the Great Depression
by Betty M. Field

Local Reaction to the Great Depression in New Orleans, 1929-1933
by Roman Heleniak

PART II HUEY P. LONG: THE CHARACTER OF THE KINGFISH
Huey Long: American Dictator
by Hodding Carter

The Messiah of the Rednecks
by Arthur M. Schlesinger

The Gentleman from Louisiana: Demagogue or Democrat
by T. Harry Williams

PART III THE SHARE-OUR-WEALTH MOVEMENT AND ITS CRITICS

Challenge to the New Deal: Huey P. Long and the Redistribution of
National Wealth
by Glen Jeansonne

My First Days in the White House: The Presidential Fantasy of Huey Pierce Long
by Edward F. Haas

Huey Long, The Share Our Wealth Movement and the Limits of Depression Dissidence
by Alan Brinkley

Huey Long and the Communists
by Edward F. Haas

PART IV THE NEW DEAL IN LOUISIANA

The New Deal in Louisiana
by John Robert Moore

In a Sense Experimental: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Louisiana (Part I)
by Hubert Humphreys

In a Sense Experimental: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Louisiana (Part II)
by Hubert Humphreys

Old and New Worlds in the New Deal Resettlement Program:
Two Louisiana Projects
by Donald Holley

The Federal Writers' Project for Blacks in Louisiana
by Ronnie W. Clayton

PART V BUSINESS AND EDUCATION

The Stormy Career of a Radio Maverick: W. K. Henderson of KWKH
by C. Joseph Pusateri

New Orleans Commerce: The Establishment of the Permanent World Trade Mart
by Gary A. Bolding

The New Orleans Seaway Movement
by Gary A. Bolding

Confronting the Dilemma: Charles S. Johnson's Study of Louisiana's Black Schools
by Phillip J. Johnson

PART VI THE LONGITES AFTER THE KINGFISH

The Crash of the Long Machine and Its Aftermath
by W. V. Holloway

The Louisiana Scandals
by Betty M. Field

New Orleans on the Half-Shell: The Maestri Era, 1936-1946
by Edward F. Haas

PART VII LOUISIANA IN WORLD WAR II

The Louisiana Maneuvers: Practice for War
by G. Patrick Murray

The Man Who Won the War: Andrew Jackson Higgins
by John A. Heitmann

History, Archaeology and the German Prisoner of War Experience in Rural Louisiana: The Ruston Alien Internment Facility, 1943-45
by Joseph M. Scalia

Prisoner of War Labor in the Sugar Cane Fields of Lafourche Parish,
Louisiana: 1943-1944
by Joseph T. Butler, Jr.

Prisoners Like Us: German POWs Encounter Louisiana's African America
by Matthew J. Schott

PART VIII THE ANTI-LONGS AND THE EMERGENCE OF REFORM

Sam Houston Jones and the Revolution of 1940
by Glen Jeansonne

Sam Jones, Jimmie Noe, and the Reform Alliance, 1940-1942
by Jerry P. Sanson

Four Anti-Longites: A Tentative Assessment
by Mark T. Carleton

Louisiana Progressivism and the Reform Experience: Administrative
Reorganization in Louisiana, 1940-1948
by Charles J. Pellegrin

Government by the Civics Book: The Administration of Robert F. Kennon
1952-1956
by Michael L. Kurtz

De Lesseps Morrison: Why He Couldn't Become Governor of Louisiana
by Glen Jeansonne

De Lesseps S. Morrison and the Governorship: A Reassessment
by Edward F. Haas

PART IX EARL K. LONG

Earl Kemp Long: The Man from Pea Patch Farm
by Morgan D. Peoples

Insiders and Outsiders: Earl K. Long and the Media, May-July 1959
by Michael S. Martin

Earl Long's Political Relations with the City of New Orleans: 1948-1960
by Michael L. Kurtz

Political Corruption and Organized Crime in Louisiana:
The FBI Files on Earl Long
by Michael L. Kurtz

PART X THE CRISIS OF RACE IN LOUISIANA: END OF AN ERA

Leander Perez: A Southern Demagogue and Reformer
by Glen Jeansonne

Racism and Longism in Louisiana: The 1959-1960 Gubernatorial Elections.
by Glen Jeansonne

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