Long, Huey (1893–1935)

HUEY LONG was a radical populist from the state of Louisiana who was determined to fight for the rights of the rural poor of his state. He took on big businesses, corporations, and Wall Street, determined to institute an economic system in which wealth was shared. Even though he was a Democrat, he famously broke allegiance from President Franklin Roosevelt, whom Long believed was failing the masses.

Huey Long was a liberal populist who is seen today as an alarmingly fascist demagogue by many historians.

Long was born in Winnfield, Louisiana, and was the seventh of nine children. Long was a high school dropout, yet would later be accepted to Tulane University Law School. At Tulane, he received his law degree in just one year and ...