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Portrait found at Louisiana Secretary of State
Huey Long, 1893-1935 Click icon to hear Huey Long, "Share the Wealth," 1934
Click below to hear Huey Long Campaign Song
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Huey Long, the eighth child of a Louisiana farmer, stands out as one of the most colorful figures in the history of American politics. After being elected governor of Louisiana in 1928, Long ran a successful campaign for the Senate in 1930. Then, having had bitter fight with Lieutenant Governor Paul Cyr, Long called out the National Guard to prevent Cyr from taking office. In 1932, after making sure that he would be succeeded as governor by Alvin O. King, a long-time loyal supporter, Long took his seat in the Senate. In 1935, just when it seemed that Long's populist politics and patronage-based power structure might have posed a serious challenge to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's grip on the presidency, Huey Long was murdered by Carl Weiss, the son-in-law of one his many political enemies. Weiss was immediately killed by Long's bodyguards, and the motivation for the shooting has never been persuasively explained.
Randy Newman, "Every Man a King"
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