Messiah of the Masses, Huey P. Long and the Great Depression

Messiah of the Masses, Huey P. Long and the Great Depression.

By Glen Jeansonne

Glen Jeansonne's Messiah of the Masses describes the talent Huey P. Long had for exceeding expectations throughout his short fulfilling life. Long was one of ten children and was born in Winnfield Louisiana, August 30, 1893. He was the child of Hugh and Caledonia Long and his family moved around regularly. In 1907 Hugh Long built one of the largest homes in Winnfield that contained every commodity essential to the common day. The level of expectation was set for Huey when his oldest brother Julius became the family's first attorney.

Huey P. Long possessed a great talent for selling things and decided to start his career early in 1910 when he left school before getting a diploma. He began looking for a job and eventually landed one as a traveling salesman for a seed cooking oil company. It didn't take long for him to realize that he couldn't do this forever or make a good living off of it, so Huey decided to go to another high school and earn his diploma. Long found a job selling meats for the Houston Packing Company soon after graduating. He began taking Law classes in 1912 and after his first year realized that he did not have the patience to go to school for another three years. Long started jumping around jobs after quitting law school and ended up marrying Rose McConnel during this time. He didn't decide to return to law school until getting fired from Faultless Starch Company around the time his mother passed away. His siblings had been pressuring him to return to school but Huey still did not have the patience to take three more years out of his life for school. He then decides to gain admittance to the bar exam by taking courses essential to becoming a lawyer and by the age of twenty one becomes a practicing lawyer in the state of Louisiana.

Long had only begun surpassing expectations by passing the bar exam in less than three years and becoming an attorney at only twenty one years old. He opened his own firm in Winnfield and due to his lack of clients he still maintained sales jobs on the side. It was not until 1918 when he made his presence known in politics. He made his debut as a candidate for public office and was elected as the Railroad commissioner. This job would serve as a stepping stone towards state governor for Long and other governors to come.

This first step into politics and power opened Huey P. Long's eyes and the thoughts of becoming governor became his next step. Long began to publicize his name and his motives. His background in sales helped his campaign because Long remembered a lot of people he sold to and they also remembered him. His first campaign manager was his older brother Julius but after bickering began between the two, Huey P. Long invited Cecil Morgan to be his partner. Long promised things like modern highways and free textbooks during his campaign and his popularity began to grow. His first attempt at running for governor ended in a loss in 1923. However, in 1924 he was reelected to the Public Service Commission.

Long continued his dream of becoming governor of Louisiana despite his loss in the election. His goal was to win over rural Louisiana through promises, benefits, rewarding his followers (Longites) and finding ways to neglect or punish those that voted against him. In 1927 Long and his political campaign "the Machine" began working at full speed because of the upcoming election. Long gave many speeches to the masses of Louisiana and gave them a sense of importance. He thrived on publicity and his speeches were known to be quite a privilege because of the man's gifts for communication and persuasion. Journalists found long to be very quotable and his audiences enjoyed listening to him speak whether it was in person, on the radio, or on the television.

The demanding campaign began to hurt Long's health and caused a combination of insomnia, depression, and rebellion. This caused Huey P. Long to change as he began drinking heavily to cope with the inability to take a break and his abnormal nervousness. Long's major character flaws were his impatience and insensitivity in which he revealed through feeling too important for the details of normal life. He compromised these feelings when working with people he didn't particularly care for but the real Huey P. Long was turning into a cold blooded man. He had plenty of help throughout his campaign and was never short of money due to the donations he received. Long led the democratic primary and eventually won the spot as Governor of Louisiana. The thousands who gathered to hear his plans for the state left disappointed after his irrelevant address during the inauguration of May 21 1928. At thirty four years old Long became the youngest governor in the history of Louisiana

He soon adopted the name "Kingfish" while taking his powers as governor to the extreme. By 1930 Long had drastically changed the politics of Louisiana, which surprised many people. Because of his youthfulness, he was inexperienced to some areas of politics. This led to some strategic errors and mistakes on the judgment of the attitudes held by important legislators. Long learned from his mistakes and focused on the fact that his power was dependent upon the will of the people. The first promise he fulfilled was accomplished my piping cheap gas into cities. The next goal was getting books