Book Description
The study of two demagogues, whose vast popularity explains much about Depression-era America.
Customer Reviews:
A Fair Assessment of Controversial Figures.......2007-07-24
One of the things I've found in reading American history, and especially in books written about the era of the Great Depression, is that President Roosevelt had the greatest smear operation in American History. This operation has carried on to this day, 60+ years after his death. The "establishment" historians are merely foot maidens of the Roosevelt reputation, burnishing the legend of his greatness, overlooking his ineffectiveness both in dealing with the depression and the war, and smearing anyone who ever dared to question the legacy of this supposedly greatest of 20th century Americans. It is an operation that the Kims of North Korea could surely envy.
Two cases in point are Father Coughlin and Huey Long. Another is Charles Lindbergh. These men had the gaul, in their day, to oppose Roosevelt. Thus they have come down to us in our day as Fascists, anti-semites, Nazi sympathizers and Little Hitlers. None of these men was flawless. As a matter of fact, each had grievous faults. Long was a corrupt politician. Coughlin was a brilliant speaker who fell prey to his own over-emotionalism and then easily into rancor, both in politics and with his brethren in the church and who then stooped to the bitter personal attacks and bigotry that cost him the respect of general audiences. Lindbergh was naive and often filled with bloated self-importance; he was short sighted and illogical in many of his views and inarticulate in expressing them. Yet each in their time raised legitimate concerns with the policies of Roosevelt and, I think, were more or less sincere in their protests against the direction FDR was taking this country.
Personally, I think the ideas of Long, Coughlin and Lindbergh were purely crack-pot and founded on ignorance of basic economics and politics. Proof of this is the continued popularity of their ideas (maybe under a different name and guise) among the kooks of the modern lunatic fringe like, say, the Larouchites. These ideas would have been disastrous to the country had they been followed. Yet this is supposed to be a free country where political dissent is allowed; but because Coughlin, Long and Lindbergh dared to question the motives and actions of the idol of the American left, they have been eternally smeared through our history. Looking at this result, I would be moved to ask who were the real fascists: the Coughlins, Longs and Lindberghs; or FDR and his brain trust, and the lap dogs, both in the media of the day, and in the history books since, who have smeared and mischaracterized his opponents and who attempted to use the powers of government to intimidate them into silence.
Which makes this book different and admirable. The author reports on Long and Coughlin with all their warts and doesn't try to conceal any of their weaknesses; however, he is fair to them. He doesn't try to make every disagreement with FDR into evidence of Fascism. He connects the Long & Coughlin programs to legitimate public grievances and shows how wide spread among the public were the feelings that Long & Coughlin expressed. The book is not overly long, yet it is meticulously researched. And though I think, from reading it, that the author is an FDR admirer (just a feeling--I don't really know), he allows FDR's opponents the benefit of the doubt in the sincerity of their opposition.
My own opinion is that Long & Coughlin (especially Coughlin) underestimated the popular power of the presidency. I believe the people, in general, WANT to like the president, whoever he is. We see now, even with a president as unpopular as Bush, how hard it is to balk him, and how easily he has thwarted his congressional opponents in their efforts to reverse his policies. He retains, even in his lowest days, strong support from about 1/3rd of the population, and this is usually enough to maintain a hold on the direction of national policy.
We saw how Clinton held on to enough support, through all his sordid scandals, to frustrate his foes; how long LBJ held a blank check despite his mismanagement of Viet Nam, only losing grip at the very end; and even how such a boob as Carter retains a good measure of public popularity, even after his miserable performance as president and his almost 30 years of asinine behavior after leaving the White House.
FDR was completely ineffective in dealing with the depression. Every one of his programs, and every effort of the New Deal were failures. His value was mainly as a propagandist and cheerleader. He made the people feel better and they loved him and supported him for his good cheer and they elected him four times. He was a brilliant publicist and public speaker. His radio addresses were models of simplifying complicated issues without sereming to speak down to his audience. This was enough to cloud, in the mind of his listeners, the effectiveness (or, rather, ineffectiveness) of his administration.
The popularity of a Coughlin was transient and that of Long was more or less local (though it would have been interesting to see, had he lived, how far he could have gone in challenging FDR following the economic reversals of 1938, then what his stance would have been in the war debates of 1939-40, and if he could have made greater national inroads at this time).
A nation of people elect a president. They vote for him. To repudiate him, to turn against him, means admitting a mistake in electing him. Hence they cling to him long after he has proven a failure, an incompetent or a devious scoundrel. FDR was all of these, but neither Coughlin or Long could erode the people's faith in him because the people want to love their president and to hold on to the idea that their votes for him showed sagacity and wisdom.
Dissident Movements in America - fascinating topic.......2006-07-29
Praise has been heaped on Alan Brinkley's book in the past, and after reading it, I fully concur with the accolades that past reviewers have granted to this book.
Brinkley sets the tone for his book from the title - "Voices of Protest". He focuses the book on the two main characters (and I do mean characters) present in the subtitle - Huey P. Long and Father Charles E. Couglin.
Brinkley treats us to a brief biographical sketch of each of these flamboyant and ebulent personalities. Long in his silk pajamas receiving a German envoy, and Coughlin stripping down from his clerical garb to a sweat soaked politician are just a couple of the many images that grab the reader during the progression of this discourse.
After explaining who these men were, he goes into their social & political movements - a fascinating tale of Long's "Share Our Wealth" plan, and an equally rich telling of Coughlin's "Golden Hour of the Little Flower". Brinkley has chosen the title Voices of Protest because both of these movements became major political dissident movements in Depression-era America.
Brinkley does a fantastic job of explaining, in historiographic terms, why these movements gathered such steam and were able to become massive social movements rather than just political fodder. In addition to detailing these two major oppositional voices to FDR's new deal, Brinkley also gives us a chapter on other movements that were equally critical of the New Deal, but not nearly as widespread.
I found it especially interesting how Brinkley explained that Long was the primary reason why both of these movements flourished - after his assassination in 1935, both movements really seemed to fall apart.
I enjoyed this book tremendously - it gives new insight into the way that political dissonance took hold in the 1930's and what a big part of American society these two political movements became.
The Follies of Charismatic Leadership.......2006-01-19
On the eve of the Great Depression the great Spanish existential and political philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset published The Revolt of the Masses. In it he predicted the rise of mass man -- undifferentiated, unanchored and unthinking citizens of modern, western societies attached to none of the traditional sources of community, which were being destroyed by capitalism anyway. For Ortega y Gasset, these folks all too easily moved to charismatic, emotional leadership to give meaning in their political lives. Twentieth century thinkers like Dwight MacDonald and Hannah Arendt have explored some of the implications of Ortega y Gasset's work, noting its eerie forershadowing of Nazism, Fascism and Stalinism. American historians such as Richard Hofstadter, meatime, found in American radicalism the same linkages between charismatic leadership and mass man. In Hofstadter's telling this phenomenon folded within the tradition of radical critiques of American capitalism.
Hofstadter's works, most notably The Age of Reform, were pretty critical of the causes of the American attraction to radical politics, such as it was -- that attraction was fostered by emotional anxieties that all too often morphed into nostalgic, irresponsible, politically conservative, anti-Semitic, racist movements.
Alan Brinkley clearly relies of Hofstadter quite a bit, but with a much more sympathetic treatment of American mass politics and its causes. For him, the anxieties were fully justified. He focuses on the alternative visions offered by Huey Long and Father Charles Coughlin in the 1930s to President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Brinkley argues both men attracted large followings accross the nation by the use of the radio and mass-circulation print publications. By 1935 their combined popularity was enough to scared the hell out of the Democratic Party and President Roosevelt, with the result that FDR pushed through the Second New Deal in the run-up to his 1936 re-election effort. Brinkley argues that Long and Coughlin emphasized redistribution of wealth and economic justice for the common man/consumer, not the New Deal concern with "stabilizing business" and "restoring business confidence." In a sense we have these two rabble-rousers to thank for Roosevelt's turn to the left in 1935 in the form of specific public policies such as the Social Security Act (which Long opposed for some technical federalist reasons, actually).
As part of his argument, then, Brinkley streses the positive, substantive aspects of Long's and Coughlin's message over the psychological anxieties stressed by Hofstadter and his scholarly followers. In what is probably the best chapter in Voices of Protest, "The Dissident Ideology," Brinkley connects the Long/Coughlin program with the anti-modern, anti-urban, anti-capitalistic radical political tradition informing American protest politics, from Thomas Jefferson to Orestes Brownsen to William Jennings Bryan.
Long's Share Our Wealth scheme of income redistribution thus, in Brinkley's telling, represented a geniune, substantive response to the economic hardships of the 1930s and their root cause -- not enough consumer power!
This is good as far as it goes I suppose. But Brinkley certainly could have emphasized more the rank irresponsibility of Long and Coughlin -- they must have known, for example, that simplistic schemes such as Share Our Wealth had zip chance of success. Even if they could succeed in the abstract, they could never be implemented logistically as Brinkley notes in passing. As Voices of Protest makes clear, Coughlin and Long -- despite, or perhaps because of, their manic energies -- had no patience or desire to construct meaningful, sophisticated, sustained politices to help their constituiencies. Long, for example, had no interest in Senate business for most of his term in that august body, no desire to manipulate the institution (a la LBJ for example) and form effective coalitions to bring about meaningful change.
This is a beautifully written, beautifully constructed narrative. Brinkley is a fine heir to popular/scholarly narrative/analytical history in the tradition of Commager, Nevins and Schlesinger. Voices of Protest covers alot of ground already well plowed by masters such as T. Harry Williams in his biography of Long. But Brinkley adds alot more archival sources and fascinating letters from the common people -- mass men -- who Long/Coughlin attracted. But for reformers looking for historical models on which to base effective, modern, sophisticated methods for political and economic change, they'll have to look elsewhere than the examples of Charles Coughlin and Huey Long. I don't think Brinkley emphasizes that quite enough and himself falls for their charismatic qualities -- a serious shortcoming in an otherwise fine book
an impressive piece of history..........2005-06-22
I marvel at the depth and range written in Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression by Alan Brinkley. Without very much firsthand information from Huey Long and Charles Coughlin, Alan Brinkley was able to portray the lives of these two unlikely figureheads of the Great Depression. From their small town beginnings to their national prominence to their movement's downfalls, Huey Long's and Father Coughlin's stories are on display for the history buff or even the average reader.
The first three chapters are devoted to the rise of Huey Long. Starting in Louisiana, he gets his first opportunity to shine in the public limelight as a railroad comissioner. His grass roots campaigning and fight for the lower classes changed the landscape of Louisiana politics from a state voting along religious lines to one voting along economic lines. As governor and a senator of Louisiana, Huey Long continuously fought for the redistribution of wealth and the rights of the local institutions. Rising to national prominence after his campaigning for Hattie Caraway who was the first woman to be elected to a full term in the Senate, Long used his newfound popularity to influence American politics during the Great Depression like no other except for one (Coughlin of course). From his influence on the Presidential Election of 1932 to his Share Our Wealth Plan, Voices of Protest contains all of the information one would want to know about Huey Long's rise and sudden fall after he was assassinated.
After Alan Brinkley discusses Huey Long's rise, he delves into the rise of Father Charles Coughlin. Surrounded by Catholicism from a very young age, Charles Coughlin was destined to become a priest. After getting through seminary, he finally received a new parish in Royal Oaks, a suburb of Detroit. Coughlin was always thought of as a great orator, but even that wasn't enough to pay for the increasing debt incurred by the new parrish. To make money for the church, Coughlin went to the local radio station to use his special talents as an orator. His radio sermons were soon heard across the nation. His influence with the radio was tremendous, causing him to begin a series of politically based chats (starting with his dislike of communism) that would throw him into the political arena as a man of influencial capabilities. Coughlin's tumultuous relationship with Franklin Roosevelt and his National Union for Social Justice are a couple more of the many topics discussed in this section of Vioces of Protest.
Alan Brinkley then moves on to discuss the similarities of Huey Long's and Charles Coughlin's movements, along with their relation to other movements (Socialist, Progressive, Communist) of the time and the political forces that they each, in their own right, become. Alan Brinkley also touches on each of their efforts towards organization in their respective parties and discusses in depth the followers of each's movements, including some alliances that were created solely for Long's and Coughlin's advancement politically or for others advancement. Finally, Alan Brinkley brings Huey Long's and Charles Coughlin's stories to an end with their eventual downfall and also elucidates on the aftermath of those downfalls.
There are two main quotes I would like to share here that I enjoyed as I read Voices of Protest. The first is on page 216 when Alan Brinkley discusses the uneasy alliances, and it is as follows: "Were these many protest movements to unite into a single force, they might be capable of toppling the entire structure of traditional party politics." The second is on page 243 when Brinkley discusses the downfalls of Long and Coughlin, and it is as follows: "Far more troubling for the crusades Long and Coughlin were preparing was a single, debilitating weakness: inability to wean their followers from Franklin Roosevelt." Both of these quotes represent hom much political power Long and Coughlin could have had and how much political power Franklin Roosevelt actually had. It is impressive to think about and enjoyable to read about, so I would highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. Everyone enjoy!
Fascinating look at dissident America, circa 1930s.......2004-01-14
In many ways the Great Depression marked a turning point for American society. Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal policies significantly altered the scope and function of the federal government through a host of social programs engineered to revive the ailing economy. A restructuring of the banking system, restrictions on the stock markets, an increase in the size of the bureaucracy, and the development of Social Security were just a few of the changes wrought by the administration. Despite the various panaceas proposed and enacted by Roosevelt's government, the economic slump doggedly persisted year after year until World War II provided jobs for millions of out of work Americans. Roosevelt and his advisors were not the only people trying to cure the country of its economic ills, however. During the early and mid 1930s, several dissident social movements exploded onto the American scene promising an end to the Depression. Historian Alan Brinkley examines two of the biggest of these movements in "Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression."
The first 142 pages of "Voices of Protest" summarizes the life, rise, and various activities of Louisiana politician Huey Long and Catholic priest and radio personality Charles Coughlin. If you know a great deal about these two fascinating figures, you could probably skip these sections and not miss out on a great deal. Brinkley discusses Long's early life in Winn Parish, a Louisiana county with a long history of radical dissent dating back to the era of Populism. Arguing that this background imbued Long with a fondness for the common man, Brinkley outlines Huey's rise to power through the governorship of Louisiana and his eventual move into the United States Senate. Long was a corrupt politician who ran his state like a personal fiefdom, even after he went to Washington. Huey's political machine controlled every government job in the state, from the highest to lowest positions, and the man made ample use of this power to pack the state government with allies who would do his bidding. By the time the Senator proposed his "Share Our Wealth" palliative, he had an eager eye on the presidency. Long's plans for the country died with him when an assassin's bullet felled the Senator in the Louisiana Statehouse in 1935.
Charles Coughlin grew up in Canada and eventually joined the priesthood, moving to Royal Oak, Michigan in the 1920s. When his new church needed to raise funds to pay off a diocesan loan, he started a small radio program on WJR in Detroit. At first, the program consisted of short, harmless sermons. With the start of the Depression, Coughlin's broadcasts swiftly assumed political dimensions. His voice, described by many as one of the most arresting sounds ever heard on the airwaves, rapidly increased the size of his audience. As the donations poured in Coughlin expanded his radio network into a virtual empire. By the mid 1930s he was one of the most prominent figures in American society, a man looked up to by millions and a frequent guest at the Roosevelt White House. The priest and the president soon fell out over several issues, and Coughlin took his revenge on Roosevelt by forming the National Union for Social Justice and its attendant political branch, the Union Party, to unseat the president in the 1936 elections. The priest failed, and in a sign of decreasing popularity and bitterness he wholeheartedly embraced anti-Semitism and pro-German sympathies before the Catholic Church forced his retirement from public life in the early 1940s. Coughlin died in obscurity in 1979.
"Voices of Protest" takes off with chapter seven. Brinkley adroitly and convincingly analyzes the Long and Coughlin movements, explaining how the two men amassed such huge audiences with their populist rhetoric. The Depression, argues Brinkley, exposed the inherent flaws in a fundamental economic/social shift that had been going on in America for decades. The centralization and bureaucratization of business and government threatened traditional American ideas about the importance of localized society. When a stock market disaster in New York City caused workers in Lincoln, Nebraska or Des Moines, Iowa to lose their jobs, people worried anew about big business and power held in the hands of an anonymous few thousands of miles away. Long and Coughlin played on these fears by proposing programs that would restore power to local communities and the individual. Their programs ultimately failed because the economic move to centralization had already gone on for far too long. Additionally, the two men's ideas contained seeds of contradiction. In an effort to restore a traditional life highlighting locality and the individual, Long and Coughlin proposed big government schemes as a means of achieving their goals. The attempt to turn Share Our Wealth and the National Union for Social Justice into nationwide political organizations failed because of this focus on localization and an inability on the part of the two men to address the core issue of the problems they attacked, namely economic centralization.
The rest of "Voices of Protest" looks closely at the organization and followers of the Long and Coughlin organizations, other dissidents operating in the 1930s, and whether Long and Coughlin were American fascists. There are a few problems with the book. I think the author fails to strongly stress the positive aspects of these movements. For example, Brinkley barely mentions that these movements brought millions of Americans into the political life of the country at a time when participation was enormously important. Moreover, the dissident movements in the United States undoubtedly pushed Roosevelt to create important pieces of legislation during his second term as president. Social Security, for example, was an attempt to co-opt Francis Townsend's old age pension plan. Still, "Voices of Protest" is a winner that every person interested in 20th century American history should read.
Book Description
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, this work describes the life of one of the most extraordinary figures in American political history.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting Facts - Flawed Reasoning.......2007-03-31
I very much enjoyed reading T. Harry Williams' biography of Huey Long. The book seems to be extensively researched and benefits greatly from being written at a time when many of Long's cohorts and enemies were still alive and accessible. The reality is a person would have to be a bad writer indeed for a book about Long not to be, at the least, interesting. Long was unlike any character in the history of American politics and, had an assassin not brought him down in 1935, would probably be much more than just a footnote to American history. The book goes to great lengths to describe Long's conservative, status quo preserving enemies. It's an important point due to the fact that many, in recalling Long's exploits, have forgotten just how dangerous these folks were (Schlesinger comes to mind). Without these backward callous men (for the most part they were men), Huey Long would have likely been little more than an extremely shrewd Louisiana lawyer. But there outrageous indifference to anything other than their own prosperity laid the groundwork for Long's rise, and created a ready made constituency that is loyal (among those still living) to this day. William's book goes to great lengths to point out the legitimate achievements, against bitter resistance, of Long's machine - roads, bridges and education being top of the list. The acheivements were real and, only a few years before they occurred, had seemed utterly impossible. Long made them happen by force of will, uncanny political instincts and a willingness to do anything to achieve his goals - and it is here that Mr. Williams' book is profoundly flawed. Mr. Williams is an apologist for Long. Williams will recite some fascist (and there is really no other word that works) scheme of Long's - for example, having the state police arrest two men a few days prior to an election because he fears the men will talk to the press and make allegations that might hurt Long, ramrod (single-handedly) legislation of dubious constitutionality through the Lousiana legislature in record time (a few minutes in some accounts) when he has no legal authority to do so (he was a US Senator), ensure kickbacks are provided to his subordinates (and himself) in exchange for favor in the state government, appoint himself as counsel for the state in big cases and - of course - receive large fees for his representation, use the state police as his own personal security staff, via unconstitutional law, strip virtually all autonomy from local government and centralize it in Baton Rouge to ensure his machine controls all government-related jobs (county deputies, for example), deduct money from state employee's pay and use it for his political campaigns (keeping the "deducts" in cash in a lock box - supposedly containing, at the time of Long's death, a million dollars (that's 1935 dollars!) - only to tell his reader that, well, it looks bad but 'ol Huey was really just being politically astute and doing what had to be done in the harsh political environment of Louisiana. Williams' theme seems to be that whatever the Kingfish did of an underhanded nature was done because that was the only way to help the people. Although Williams does note that Huey was a power-seeker (in a gargantuan understatement), it doesn't seem to occur to Mr. Williams that power was, in fact, the passion that drove him. Helping the poor and the middle class, and improving Louisiana, were only a pretense to the power grab. Williams points out when Long was a young man, newly married, he laid out his vision to his wife. He would be elected to a lower state office, then become governor, then a US Senator, then the president. He did not lay out a plan to her about how he would build roads or educate the poor or bring Louisiana out of the nineteenth century. That would come later, when he realized that was his best avenue to power. While reading Mr. Williams' book this becomes overwhelmingly evident - to everyone but Mr. Williams.
Living large in Louisiana.......2006-04-29
Huey Long was one of the most fascinating characters in American history and T. Harry Williams tells his story better than anyone else. Long rose from absolutely abject poverty to become perhaps the most powerful political leader in Louisiana history and for a time, one of the most influential leaders in the US. This hick from the sticks went to the big city and made good.
The Kingfish was, of course, corrupt, but was genuinely populist. He fought for better education for the poor, the right to organize labor unions, and he pushed adult literacy, which mainly benefited African-Americans. His public works projects employed thousands and built hundreds of roads and bridges. He fought the entrenched and powerful interests in favor of the common man.
T. Harry Williams' work is simply the best on the man and the politician.
Post Katrina Huey Blues.......2005-10-12
My motive for reading this book was, admittedly, not very historical. Watching TV, reading the newspapers, I concluded that there was a major flood in 1927 which came down the Mississippi. Because the monied of New Orleans feared that the "better part of town" might be in danger, they arranged to dynamite the levees in such a way that would divert the waters into St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes. Certain eminent domain and financial arrangements were made (and later reneged on) and those who could and would be were evacuated. All the same, many died and many more would made homeless, for the potential benefit to the few. Then, or so I heard, the outrage of the masses in Louisiana at this miscarriage of power and justice by the rich led to the election of Huey P. Long (as champion of the "little guy") as Governor and launched a career.
Well, too bad. This book doesn't go down that road at all. The flood of 1927 is barely touched on. Yes, it happened, but there is no mention of the dynamited dams. Yes, Hoover came down and was in charge of federal relocation and recovery. And in the meantime, Huey was running about the same campaign he would run for the rest of his life: Down with the Rich! Up with the Poor! and All Hail Huey!
Williams' biography is incredibly well documented. You get the feeling that if you just tore out the bibliography, the notes, and the index, you would be forced to write the same book yourself, with one caveat: some parts of the book were written from the author's notes of interviews and private communications the author had with some of the principals who were still alive when it was written through the 1950s and 60s. The author has promised that all the notes have been archived and that while not of them can be released as yet, eventually, they all will be. Williams is quite vigorous not so much in defense of Long as in definition of the man and his vision. If you want to decide for yourself just what sort of man Huey Long was and where he might have been going, this biography is an excellent place to start.
Best Political Biography Written .......2005-07-06
It reads like a novel beginning with Huey's childhood through his assassination. The political skills that Huey Long learned throughout his life enabled him to achieve his level of success and T. Harry Williams clearly breaks down those skills so that others interested in politics can learn from one of the best. Although his policies and belief that the ends justify the means many times show Huey's questionable character, Huey Long was a skilled politician and a master at extending his influence and power.
Every politico or aspiring politician should read this book.
detailed but fairly uncritical.......2005-02-10
This lengthy tome is a fascinating read. Williams captures the Kingfish in all his colorful glory, from his early days as a salesman to his law career (championing, of course, underdogs), from his years on the Louisiana Railroad Commission through his governorship to his time in the U.S. Senate. Long was clearly a talented politician, and one gets the sense that he would have been a powerful figure in Louisiana even had the Depression not come. But Long was able to use the economic woes to increase his standing in the state, to flesh out a very progressive agenda, and to gain national prominence. There is at least mild reason to suspect that had he not been assassinated in September 1935, Long could have given FDR a run for his money in 1936. Williams overstates this case and understates the pure political savvy of Roosevelt, who played a nice game of "triangulation" by adopting some (though never all) of Long's positions and sapping some of his support. (Alan Brinkley demonstrates this brilliantly in his VOICES OF PROTEST.)
This points up one of the book's biggest (almost devasting) flaws: it is overly sympathetic to Long. Williams tells an amazing story, dropping just the right anecdote at just the right time, and he manages to explain the strange, arcane world of Louisiana politics. But too often, he refuses to cast a critical eye on the Kingfish. Sometimes, this takes the shape of the old ends justifying the means excuse: Huey might have resorted to undemocratic means, but it was mostly forgivable since he pursued noble causes that benefited the poor and downtrodden. Other times, Williams blames Long's opposition (which he paints as a bumbling bunch of conservative--though, of course, Democratic--fools) for Long's excesses: since his opponents usually put up weak resistance, if any at all, Long was justified in steamrolling over them. Until almost the very end, until the evidence becomes overwhelming, Williams refuses to criticize Long for his undemocratic methods. He makes the case that power corrupts, but Long became corrupt long before Williams admits he did.
Even so, this is the "classic" biography of Huey Long and very much worth a read for anyone interested in Long, Louisiana, or the Depression era.
Book Description
From the moment he took office as governor in 1928 to the day an assassin’s bullet cut him down in 1935, Huey Long wielded all but dictatorial control over the state of Louisiana. A man of shameless ambition and ruthless vindictiveness, Long orchestrated elections, hired and fired thousands at will, and deployed the state militia as his personal police force. And yet, paradoxically, as governor and later as senator, Long did more good for the state’s poor and uneducated than any politician before or since. Outrageous demagogue or charismatic visionary? In this powerful new biography, Richard D. White, Jr., brings Huey Long to life in all his blazing, controversial glory.
White taps invaluable new source material to present a fresh, vivid portrait of both the man and the Depression era that catapulted him to fame. From his boyhood in dirt-poor Winn Parish, Long knew he was destined for power–the problem was how to get it fast enough to satisfy his insatiable appetite. With cunning and crudity unheard of in Louisiana politics, Long crushed his opponents in the 1928 gubernatorial race, then immediately set about tightening his iron grip. The press attacked him viciously, the oil companies howled for his blood after he pushed through a controversial oil processing tax, but Long had the adulation of the people. In 1930, the Kingfish got himself elected senator, and then there was no stopping him.
White’s account of Long’s heyday unfolds with the mesmerizing intensity of a movie. Pegged by President Roosevelt as “one of the two most dangerous men in the country,” Long organized a radical movement to redistribute money through his Share Our Wealth Society–and his gospel of pensions for all, a shorter workweek, and free college spread like wildfire. The Louisiana poor already worshiped him for building thousands of miles of roads and funding schools, hospitals, and universities; his outrageous antics on the Senate floor gained him a growing national base. By 1935, despite a barrage of corruption investigations, Huey Long announced that he was running for president.
In the end, Long was a tragic hero–a power addict who squandered his genius and came close to destroying the very foundation of democratic rule. Kingfish is a balanced, lucid, and absolutely spellbinding portrait of the life and times of the most incendiary figure in the history of American politics.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
A very good bio of the Kingfish, but not as good as the Williams' masterpiece.......2007-07-23
Huey P. Long is my favorite political figure of all time. Since I read T. Harry Williams' masterful bio of Long, I've tried to read any and everything about Huey that I can get my hands on. When I saw "Kingfish," I scooped it right up. Admittedly, I may be biased because I think Williams' book is the best political biography ever written and may hold Long bios to a very high standard. In the end, after reading through this book pretty fast - it is less than 300 pages - I liked "Kingfish", and would recommend it to anyone interested in learning about Huey but without the time to read Williams' large text. Further, whereas Williams' book is fairly pro-Long, this book is mostly anti-Huey. Nevertheless, it doesn't hold a candle to "Huey Long" by Williams. It isn't even close.
The book doesn't spend much attention on Huey's early years (he was born in 1893), and focuses on the period from his successful gubernatorial run in 1928, to his Senate election two years late, to his ascension as a national figure, to his assassination in 1935. In between, it provides delicious detailed stories and tidbits of many of Huey's often unbelievable exploits as he ruthlessly conquered every inch of Louisiana and came close to running for President and perhaps endangering FDR's re-election chances in 1936. Beyond that, the book perfectly captures the political and social mood in the Pelican State in Long's day: the sweltering heat, the unrest and bitter hatred Huey engendered in the elite and ruling classes and the equal love and hope he inspired in the long-ignored rural masses, and of course Long's larger than life persona and even bigger ambitions. I also loved the author's use of all of the classic insults Huey and his enemies hurled at each other that seem to appear on every page ("demagogic screech owl from the swamps of Louisiana").
"Kingfish" is a very good book and a quick and fun read for anyone interested in learning about Huey's life and exploits. However, if you want to read a great book, do yourself a favor and buy "Huey Long" by T. Harry Williams. Still, the two books could work well together - as "Kingfish" covers a few areas Williams' book does not - so it might be a good idea to check out "Kingfish" as an appetizer, and move on to "Huey Long" as the main course. You won't be disappointed.
Good book for what it is.......2007-04-18
This book concentrates on the breathtaking few years that Huey Long was in office. He was an amazing politician and this book makes for fast reading. I agree with the previous reviewer, however. There is little depth here and we never get to know the man. Find the Pulitzer prize winning bio written in 1969 for a thorough look at this complex man.
Interesting life, but a hard study for a biography.......2007-01-29
A biography of Huey Long is going to be dominated by one thing: his megalomaniacal desire for power. It makes for interesting reading in political tactics, but that's really all there was to his life. White is even-handed in his handling with his treatment of Long's excesses, but his prose is a little clunky and repetitive. The problem with a biography on Long (or perhaps just this biography on Long) is that there is little to texture the overally picture of a power-hungry man. There is no underlying complex character to understand. A recommended read for those seeking to understand the dangers of power to excess or people with a romantic attachment to the state of Louisiana or the 1930s.
Customer Reviews:
A well written and enjoyable read........2003-06-29
I read this book for a history class. It was my favorite read of the semester. The author has a good style that keeps your attention, but really that's not hard to do when detailing Mr. Long's life. His story could be a great novel - truth can indeed be stranger than fiction. Huey came very close to becoming President of the U.S. If he had (you will have to read why he did not) we would probably all be living in a very different America today. This book is a good commentary on human nature, too. In this country people think that we could never be controlled by a demagogue, like Germany was under Hitler, for instance. Long's story proves that indeed Americans CAN be duped - we are not special! Highly recommnened for student and lay person alike!
Customer Reviews:
The Way It Was: Nonfiction, But Still A Fantasy........2006-09-23
This is the way Huey Long wanted to be remembered. During the Depression, he did make promises to the poor, hungry residents of the state of Louisiana to have food on their tables and money to buy necessities. After his election as Governor, he was the original crooked politician who reneged on his promises. With aspirations to the Presidency of the United States, he had the state capital torn down and replaced with a replica of the White House in Washington, D.C. Such bright hopes and dreaming of a person who wanted to be our first American King.
It would have been better to have a movie about the real Huey Long; instead, we have been presented two about the fictional Willie Stark as portrayed by Robert Penn Warren, in 1949 and in 2006:
Based on Robert Penn Warren's novel, it is peopled with colorful, rambunctious (must have had high testosterone), shady characters. Mainly it was two stories in one. Willie Stark was crass and prented he liked orange "pop" (I doubt they called it that in 1930 Louisiana, as it's a Northern term -- we called it "dope"), that his "little lady" wife didn't favor liquor. Neither do I. Sean Penn was the opposite of Broaderick Crawford who was the star of the 1949 movie of the same name; he made Willie out to be a vulgar, old man who could have been a "Holiness" preacher, and Huey was only 42 when he died. Instead, he turned to the devil and was a master of dirty politics with his retribution to the men who were using him, where he relished his liquor after winning the election and "moving on" to Sadie Burk, a coffee drinker, eventually a woman scorned.
Willie was more like Billy Sunday, orating at the county Fair, pretty big for the Depression years, where I expected to find Mark the hypnotist from Vegas. It looked like a Billy Graham rally. The less said about the Willie character (too much negative was shown as his love for burlesque and the New Orleans' "Carmen", then corrupted the society girl Ann, dressed in a "cherry" dress like mine in 1951 for Christine's funeral), it was draining to watch the political maneuverings and posturing.
Jack, played by Jude Law, tried to sound like New Orleans' native Harry Connick, Jr., looked like a Southern Adonis. Men in the 1920s and '30s would not be glamorous, though he did try to parody a good investigative reporter like a Jack I know, also a Jack of Clubs (from a deck of cards). He was used to destroy his own father, brother and sister with the help of an alcoholic mother. She looked as artificial as the gardenia on her outfit out in the swamps at the old mansion owned by the judge. The live oaks with the moss hanging were just plain spooky. Tony Hopkins made a good retired, refined judge and I imagined a thinner Charles Southcott with Tony's hair. Could be wrong.
We reap what we sow. Nothing will ever be the same again. Who needs love anyway? They were all frustrated men with "attitude." I can't leave out Bill Lyons, the little man who served as chauffeur, bodyguard, henchman for Willie. He was the most corrupt of all and, in the end, corruption caught up with them all when he killed his boss and Alan. Before things were set in concrete, we saw Alan as portrayed by Mark Ruffalo (a modern James Darren) who was set up to take the fall. He was effective as the intellectual failure.
The main character was overacted by Sean Penn who turned him into a raving, depraved lunatic begging to be killed. He was profane. The length and substance of this movie was draining and left one feeling empty. No Oscar for this one!
Let History Decide.......2003-10-15
This fascinating piece of work 'written' by Huey P. Long during the height of his reign was intended to promote his 'legend and legacy', toward the goal of becoming President of the United States in 1936. However, it is best understood from the perspective of modern times.
Huey P. Long has forever been portrayed as the personification of all that is evil in American Politics. American school children outside the State of Louisiana have been taught that Long, if left unchecked, would have destroyed American Democracy as we know it and replaced it with the most corrupt Dictatorship imaginable.
Indeed, History has given Long a 'bad rap'. 'Every Man a King' is Huey Long's side of the story. Calling himself the 'friend of the working man', Long's brief but turbulent rise through American politics is unmatched by anyone in the 20th century. He was the Establishment's worst nightmare- a true Populist who really 're-distributed the wealth'. He took on the task of taxing the rich oil companies and other business interests in Louisiana and used the money to build roads, schools, and hospitals. His accomplishments are indisputable, and the moneyed interests absolutely hated him. His own abrasive and sometimes buffoon-like personality only fueled the fire for his enemies. But make no mistake about it, Long was a brilliant man and an extremely savvy politician who posed a serious threat to the status quo.
Long has been dead nearly 70 years, yet his detractors still vehemently accuse him of 'robbing the people blind' during his reign. I say 'let history be the judge'. As late as the 1980's, most of the existing paved roads, schools, and hospitals in Louisiana were built during the Long administration.
After his election to the U.S. Senate, Long became a national figure and a serious contender for the 1936 Presidential nomination. His constituents were America's poor and working class, and his Socialist ideas hit a chord with many Americans during those depression-era times. There's no question that most of Roosevelt's 'New Deal' program was a (successful) attempt to 'steal Huey Long's thunder'.
Forget everything you've ever been taught about Huey Long and buy this book. There are two sides to every story, but history has only told us one side of the enigma that was Huey Long. This book will tell the other side. Read it and let history and your conscience decide whether Long was a sinner or a savior.
It was pretty good.......1999-09-12
This book is clearly a political move made by Huey Long when he was aiming for the presidency. I found it interesting to discover about his life, and how he tried to show that he was just like everybody else.
Book Description
From the moment he took office as governor in 1928 to the day an assassin’s bullet cut him down in 1935, Huey Long wielded all but dictatorial control over the state of Louisiana. A man of shameless ambition and ruthless vindictiveness, Long orchestrated elections, hired and fired thousands at will, and deployed the state militia as his personal police force. And yet, paradoxically, as governor and later as senator, Long did more good for the state’s poor and uneducated than any politician before or since. Outrageous demagogue or charismatic visionary? In this powerful new biography, Richard D. White, Jr., brings Huey Long to life in all his blazing, controversial glory.
White taps invaluable new source material to present a fresh, vivid portrait of both the man and the Depression era that catapulted him to fame. From his boyhood in dirt-poor Winn Parish, Long knew he was destined for power–the problem was how to get it fast enough to satisfy his insatiable appetite. With cunning and crudity unheard of in Louisiana politics, Long crushed his opponents in the 1928 gubernatorial race, then immediately set about tightening his iron grip. The press attacked him viciously, the oil companies howled for his blood after he pushed through a controversial oil processing tax, but Long had the adulation of the people. In 1930, the Kingfish got himself elected senator, and then there was no stopping him.
White’s account of Long’s heyday unfolds with the mesmerizing intensity of a movie. Pegged by President Roosevelt as “one of the two most dangerous men in the country,” Long organized a radical movement to redistribute money through his Share Our Wealth Society–and his gospel of pensions for all, a shorter workweek, and free college spread like wildfire. The Louisiana poor already worshiped him for building thousands of miles of roads and funding schools, hospitals, and universities; his outrageous antics on the Senate floor gained him a growing national base. By 1935, despite a barrage of corruption investigations, Huey Long announced that he was running for president.
In the end, Long was a tragic hero–a power addict who squandered his genius and came close to destroying the very foundation of democratic rule. Kingfish is a balanced, lucid, and absolutely spellbinding portrait of the life and times of the most incendiary figure in the history of American politics.
Customer Reviews:
Kingfish, The Reign of Huey P. Long.......2007-01-04
As a native of Louisiana, I was very anxious to read this book. The book was very, very "wordy". Finishing the book was difficult, because my interest was lost in what I considered to be too many unnecessary details. Readers of this book need to keep in mind, however, that this is a history book, not a novel.
HUEY COMES ALIVE!.......2006-08-05
White's book is not only the more readable biography of Huey, it is an excellent specimen of the biography genre.
Timely reconsideration of an important figure.......2006-07-24
Writing while the gap between rich and poor widens, and from Southern California, recently identified by researchers from Wayne State U. as the nation's most economically segregated region, I was naturally drawn to the new biography of one of the last politicians to show serious concern over the way wealth is distributed in the U.S. This is the abridged version of The Huey Long Story, less exhaustive than T. Harry Williams' bio but almost certainly more readable.
Huey was a politician the likes of which we'll probably not see again. He traveled widely throughout his state pressing the flesh and remembering names. He delivered on promises to build roads, hospitals, and schools; to provide free textbooks and make LSU a first-class institution; to challenge Standard Oil and other major economic interests in order to bring some dignity to impoverished people. For all that he was equally loved and reviled. Can anybody outside of Cuba or Venezuela imagine listening -- sometimes on a hot, humid afternoon -- to a politician speak for three hours? We nowadays give that kind of attention only to rock, sports and film stars, but Huey Long commanded it in the '20s & '30s.
As a U.S. Senator, Huey Long tried to take his Share Our Wealth program to a national level, rivaling FDR's New Deal. His jealousy of Roosevelt and his own presidential aspirations led him to obstruct the passage of some of the more progressive parts of the National Recovery Act, a strategy that worked against his own state's interests. With the understanding that desperate times cause people to put their faith in crooks who would exploit their fears, Roosevelt regarded Huey as a demagogue. Ultimately, Huey's sharp dealings and alienation of opponents led to his assassination.
In this bio we don't see much of what Huey said; we're told numerous times that he was mesmerizing. We get quotes that are cartoonish: "I never read a line of Marx or Henry George or any of them economists. It's all in the law of God." But LSU history professor Richard White has given a straightforward, albeit somewhat repetitious, measure of Huey P. Long.
The biggest pie eater of them all........2006-07-21
Huey Long often described his corrupt counterparts as pie eaters. Well, Huey and his cronies were the biggest pie eaters. What Huey wanted was total power, and he set out to get it by dominating Louisiana politcs. His rule precluded all others from even having a say so in the political process. Louisiana is even now a corrupt state as witnessed by Edwin Edwards rule or by the Katrina disaster.
This is a great read. I think the definitive read was William's book, but who wants to read 700 pages on a subject. This is a better summary history of a person who could have become a dictator. Fortunately, Roosevelt became President and Huey was cut down by a assassin's bullet (or maybe one of his bodyguard's stray bullets). The author does a nice job of detailing the short rise and fall of this demagogue. Huey did some good, but also did a lot of bad. This book portrays both characteristics. I wish the author would have portrayed the assassination in more detail. Otherwise a great book.
Good but not Great.......2006-07-03
Mr. White's book is a solid condensation of the saga of Huey Long, but as I read this book I couldn't shake the feeling that the book was often just a Cliff Notes version of T. Harry Williams' Pulitzer Prize winning opus. The details that White omits for brevity sake are what makes Williams' book great. Mr. White includes all the major information, but he omits the color that illuminates the players around Huey and by doing so diminishes Huey Long's strengths and weaknesses.
I was not impressed by Mr. White taking a shot at Mr. Williams in the booknotes section...unnecessary and tasteless.
Good but not great. Read this, then go read T. Harry Williams book.
Customer Reviews:
outstanding.......2003-08-21
After reading T. Harry Williams outstanding bio of Long, I decided to buy this book, and I was not disappointed. Boulard's study of Long's "invasion" of New Orleans, while much shorter than Williams' book, is great in its own right, as well as tremendously researched and detailed.
Coming away from the book I was delighted by the way Boulard brilliantly recreated the New Orleans of 1934-1935 and eras before then. His descriptions of the people and the life in the city were incredible. Similarly, his picture of Long takes on a life of its own. Boulard makes Huey larger than life, much as Williams does. However, his book is very balanced and discusses Huey's movement of troops into New Orleans as dictatorial, while at the same time spending time to praise Huey where it is necessary.
I would recommend to anyone who decides to buy this great book to also take in Williams' monumental biography as well as Ken Burn's Long documentary.
Well-written, well-balanced history.......2002-07-23
Whatever else we might think of Huey Long, most Louisianans would agree that, as governor and then senator, he was a populist -- right? In the summer of 1934, many residents of New Orleans had reason to think otherwise. The senator and T. Semmes Walmsley, mayor of the city, had once been uneasy allies, but began feuding on many fronts. In January 1934, after Walmsley defeated the Long candidate, the senator denounced what he claimed was election fraud by the Democratic "Old Regulars." Then, never one to bother with courts and the law, he clinched his argument by bringing in the Louisiana National Guard (functioning as the senator's private army) to take over the Soule Building, which housed the voter registration office. The guardsmen quickly set up machine guns at the windows, aimed at the mayor's office across the street. Both sides finally agreed to a monitoring process for the September election, which was swept by the Long slate. The Old Regulars deserted the mayor the following summer and flocked to the senator's banner, thereby setting him up nicely for a run at the presidency in 1936. Long's march on Washington, however, was interrupted by an assassin's bullet in September 1935 (fortunately for all of us, probably). This is an exciting, well-documented, and very well-written account of one of the more unnerving episodes in this state's history.
amazing triumph.......2000-10-08
I am fascinated with Southern history. This is quite possibly the BEST book I have read on it. Huey Long was a remarkable leader who tried to pull the South into a modern era; but he was held back both by the same ancient forces that were responsible for the Civil War as well as his own dangerous impulses.
The author brilliantly presents Huey in all of his costumed roles; similarly he gives to the reader a picture of New Orleans that is equal to Faulkner's Mississippi: compelling and vivid.
A fantastic accomplishment!
NOT A CONSERVATIVE OR LIBERAL BOOK--WELL BALANCED.......2000-09-05
I read the remarks of the professor from Tulane who thought this book was too conservative and wondered what he was talking about as I read this book last summer and did not detect any political bias on the part of the author, Mr. Boulard.
I have since reread the book, and still don't know what the guy from Tulane is talking about. Mr. Boulard says great things and bad things about Huey Long; he similarly goes after New Orleans Mayor Walmlsey and the Old Regular political machine.
I have since given this book for Christmas to my uncle and another friend, and both of them said they thought it was great.
Perhaps the reason the professor from Tulane thinks Mr. Boulard's well-balanced treatment is too conservative, is because he may be too liberal--it's possible.
This book works particularly well against T. Harry Williams big biography of Huey Long. Williams gives us the life, Boulard gives us a year in the life. Together they are two great books!
wonderful,enjoyable ride through history.......2000-09-04
Huey Long in 1934 was one of the most popular, yet dangerous, men in the nation. He had a real chance to be president of the U.S. mostly because the ongoing Great Depression forced people to turn to leaders who were more dynamic and controversial than before.But the Kingfish had problems at home in Louisiana--the corrupt old city of New Orleans kept kicking at his ankles.Long wanted to get New Orleans out of his way before he headed for the White House--and he did so by sending in thousands of young militia men to help him take the city over!
A fantastic chapter in American history.This book is at times very funny, other times it is sad. You never really know where the author stands as he seems to give all of the major players their due.
The book also has an entertaining collection of photos and cartoons too.
Average customer rating:
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Accident and Deception : The Huey Long Shooting
Donald A. Pavy
Manufacturer: Cajun Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 United States
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| History
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| 19th Century
| 20th Century
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ASIN: 0933727011 |
Book Description
Murder or political intrigue? Robert Penn Warren authored the Pulitzer Prize novel, "All the King's Men". This was patterned on the life of Huey P. Long, a vindictive and oppressive ruler of Louisiana in the 1930's. History records that Huey Long was assassinated; not so, writes Dr. Donald A. Pavy in his book, "Accident and Deception: The Huey Long Shooting". In his book Dr. Pavy challenges you to ask history what really happened, to let the readers determine the truth.
Average customer rating:
- A needed corrective
- Sorry, Not as Good as T. Harry's Book
- An impressive biography of the dictator of Louisiana.
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The Kingfish and His Realm: The Life and Times of Huey P. Long
William Ivy Hair
Manufacturer: Louisiana State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
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ASIN: 080712124X |
Customer Reviews:
A needed corrective.......2001-04-19
I read and was mightily impressed by T. Harry Williams' 1970 Pulitzer-prize-winning Huey Long biography. but when I read it (July 5, 1970) I thought it was far too favorable to Huey. This book, fortuantely, corrects that and is far more chilling in illustrating the methods of Huey. We often wonder how the German people could have let Hitler attain power and even some wonder why he remained in power. Huey Long was not on the level of unmitigated evil that Hitler was, but in his disregard for the rule of law and the basic tenets of democratic government he was as frightening a phenomenom as has come across the American scene that I am aware of. And when one reflects how revered he is still in Louisiana--his statue is in Statutory Hall in Washington, anybody related to him got elected in Louisiana, etc.--it is apparent that his dictatorship was popular. Apparently most people thought his disregard for law and democratic behavior was ok because they felt they were better off because of it. In St. Bernard parish in 1932 Long's slate for state office received 3,152 votes. There were 2,194 registered voters in the parish. The opposition candidates received 0 votes. This kind of voter fraud makes Hitler's wins by 98%, etc., seem honest by comparison. This is a stunning book and should be read after reading Williams' book so that one gets the whole picture of a stunning situation in American history.
Sorry, Not as Good as T. Harry's Book.......1999-05-19
Although it's readable, it's not as good as T. Harry's classic
An impressive biography of the dictator of Louisiana........1999-01-06
A slightly flawed account of the life of the Louisiana despot because it rarely takes account of the true feeling of warmth that many of his electorate felt for him. Focusing mainly on his political manouvering and manipulation of the media and the electorate puts his few good deeds in the shade. However, the wealth of sources and quotes are impressive - my favourite by Long's younger brother, Earl, talking about O.K. Allen who was governor when Long assumed his senatorship: "If a leaf blew in through O.K.'s window and landed on his desk he'd sign it."
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- America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
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![All the King's Men [2006 Movie Tie-In Edition]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000V5WH7S.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
