The statue on the far left in my picture of Statuary Hall in the intro to my series, “Statues: The People They Salute,” is of Huey Pierce Long. Louisiana chose him as one of the statues to represent their state.
The name was familiar to me, but I knew little about Huey Pierce Long. As I learned more, I had to smile that he was at the far left of the picture I had taken.
Huey Pierce Long called out the wealthy and the banks. His “Share Our Wealth” program was a response to what he believed had been the cause of the Great Depression. The official slogan was “Every man a king, but no one wears a crown.” He nicknamed himself “The Kingfish.”
Huey Long served as Governor and Senator of Louisiana. He was flamboyant and outspoken, and he picked up more than a few foes along the way. As governor, he bullied his way towards fulfilling many of his campaign promises, which included ambitious public works projects and built many bridges, hospitals and schools.
Huey Long had been a supporter of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his New Deal at first, but later felt it was not the answer. He decided to challenge FDR for the presidency.
Huey Long, however was assassinated before he could mount his campaign for the nomination. He was shot on September 8, 1935, by the son-in-law of a political foe in Baton Rouge and died on September 10.
Diana Erbio is a freelance writer and author of “Coming to America: A Girl Struggles to Find her Way in a New World”. Read more in her series Statues: The People They Salute visit The Table of Contents and the Facebook Page. (I’ll be adding to the Substack Table of Contents as I transfer the Blog Posts. Please subscribe to this Substack 😊🇺🇸🤓)
Good evening, Miss,
One day you will have to review the equally unique life and career of Mr. Long's brother.
Great story.
What an interesting character.