Messiah of the Masses

The book Messiah of the Masses, Huey P. Long and the Great Depression, described the life of Huey Pierce Long. Huey was born on August 30, 1893 in Winnfield, Louisiana. Winnfield was a part of Winn Parish section in Louisiana. There were ten children born to, Hugh and Caledonia Long. Hugh was very bright and charming. The family moved around a lot until he built a large home in Winnfield in1907. The house had16 rooms and all the supplies that were necessary to live a successful life. Most of Huey's siblings went on to school and earned a degree. Julius, Huey’s older brother became an attorney putting pressure of the other siblings to become successful in their lives. Huey started his career at a very young age. He learned that he possessed a talent for selling things, and in 1910, he left school without a diploma and went out looking for a job. His friend from high school, Bozeman, convinced his boss to hire Long to be a traveling salesman for a seed cooking oil company. Long then realized that he could not make a living off of selling oil, so he decided to go to a different high school and earn a diploma. After graduation, Long found a job selling wholesale meats for the Houston Packing Company. Huey then began taking law classes in January 1912, and completed his first year before deciding that it was too much time and work for him. He jumped from job to job after leaving law school; he also married a woman named Rose McConnell. Then, much to his surprise, he lost his managerial job at Faultless Starch Company and his mother passed away. His life was not going the way he expected it to. His siblings Julius and Rose begged Huey to go back to law school, but he knew he didn't have enough patience for three more years of school. He decided to try and gain admittance to the bar by taking certain courses that were essential information to become a practicing lawyer. At the age of 21, he was an attorney.