To Kill a Kingfish
The Continued Career of Huey Pierce Long
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The Continued Career of Huey Pierce Long
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To Kill a Kingfish
- Thread starter King of the Uzbeks
- Start date
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
I look forward to Long's presidential plan being fulfilled.
I look forward to Long's presidential plan being fulfilled.
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To be clear - he was going to have Burton Wheeler, Floyd Olson, or William Borah run on a third party ticket in 1936, and then be nominated by the Democrats in 1940.
Yeah. Not that it would work, what with FDR's landslide of epic proportions.
Chapter 1: The Pond
Some considered Long the most handsome man in America
Huey Long held the power in Louisiana, there was no doubt about that. He was a Senator but he controlled the Governor's mansion through and through.
His radical Share Our Wealth program funded projects for the poor by taxing the wealthy of Louisiana with huge amounts. He'd taxed oil, he'd taxed wealth. He taxed newspapers, but that was to clamp down on opposition. He'd fought back an impeachment attempt from the legislature. Every man and women in employed by the state owed their jobs to Long, and owed part of their paycheck to his war chest. He'd broken the New Orleans power brokers and his Bureau of Criminal Identification responded to me. In 1930 he was elected to the Senate which he used to lay out his radical plans for a national scale.
Long claimed the New Deal was not enough and that more radical change was needed. His "Share Our Wealth" movement went nationwide with millions of members and his Senate speeches captured anger at the state of the economy and nation, even as both improved. But the Kingfish had plans for a higher platform to enact his plans then a mere Senate seat. He'd backed the New Deal in its early stages and vocally supported it. That had changed.
Long now criticized the New Deal as being too friendly to business and keeping the poor down. He challenged Roosevelt from the Left, whipping up populist fervor in favor of his radical ideas to cap the rich's wealth provide a universal income to the poor. He promised pensions for all and free education, veterans benefits and government intervention to help agriculture. The Longist Newspaper, American Progress skyrocketed in circulation as he became a voice for those who thought President Roosevelt hadn't done enough.
An collation arose in support of Long's challenge, the radical anti-Semitic Father Charles Coughlin of Detroit blasted the airwaves against the New Deal. Francis Townsend, architect of Social Security also jumped into Long's movement. Progressives on both sides of the aisle lent a sympathetic war to Long's ideals, though no one had yet taken the plunge into backing Long. For anyone dissatisfied with Roosevelt but unwilling to turn to the tainted Republican Party the Share Our Wealth Movement represented an intriguing opportunity. Radical proposals to equalize the economy blended with blood curdling attacks on Communism into a unique quasi-Fascist movement that kept expanding as the 1936 election grew near.
Huey P. Long didn't want just Louisiana. He wanted it all. He wanted to be President of the United States, and he'd be damned if he waited for his own parties President to retire.
Roosevelt was nervous about Long and made moves to ensure the Senator could not mount a significant challenge to the President for the nomination. He made personal appeals to Southern Democrats to shore up support, and even temporarily patched up his rocky relationship with Vice President James Garner to try and stifle Long's support in Texas. Roosevelt focused heavily on Arkansas, where Long had given a popular speaking tour. Roosevelt also took care to back proposals that might sap the bite from attacks Long made in order to beef up Progressive support.
Roosevelt proved successful enough, with no 2/3rds rule in place he believed he easily had enough to crush Long on the ballot. Roosevelt was right, his control over the Democratic Party was too tight to be broken and even skeptics of the New Deal preferred it to whatever Long was proposing. Long couldn't win. The President was now more concerned with who the Republicans would nominate, having stifled the Louisiana Senator.
Or so he thought.
Huey Long had never expected to beat Roosevelt, not with the Presidents control over the party. The Kingfish was playing a longer game. He wasn't planning on taking the White House in 1936, he was running in 1940. But first he needed a Republican and a sacrificial Lion to pave the way.
Some considered Long the most handsome man in America
Huey Long held the power in Louisiana, there was no doubt about that. He was a Senator but he controlled the Governor's mansion through and through.
His radical Share Our Wealth program funded projects for the poor by taxing the wealthy of Louisiana with huge amounts. He'd taxed oil, he'd taxed wealth. He taxed newspapers, but that was to clamp down on opposition. He'd fought back an impeachment attempt from the legislature. Every man and women in employed by the state owed their jobs to Long, and owed part of their paycheck to his war chest. He'd broken the New Orleans power brokers and his Bureau of Criminal Identification responded to me. In 1930 he was elected to the Senate which he used to lay out his radical plans for a national scale.
Long claimed the New Deal was not enough and that more radical change was needed. His "Share Our Wealth" movement went nationwide with millions of members and his Senate speeches captured anger at the state of the economy and nation, even as both improved. But the Kingfish had plans for a higher platform to enact his plans then a mere Senate seat. He'd backed the New Deal in its early stages and vocally supported it. That had changed.
Long now criticized the New Deal as being too friendly to business and keeping the poor down. He challenged Roosevelt from the Left, whipping up populist fervor in favor of his radical ideas to cap the rich's wealth provide a universal income to the poor. He promised pensions for all and free education, veterans benefits and government intervention to help agriculture. The Longist Newspaper, American Progress skyrocketed in circulation as he became a voice for those who thought President Roosevelt hadn't done enough.
An collation arose in support of Long's challenge, the radical anti-Semitic Father Charles Coughlin of Detroit blasted the airwaves against the New Deal. Francis Townsend, architect of Social Security also jumped into Long's movement. Progressives on both sides of the aisle lent a sympathetic war to Long's ideals, though no one had yet taken the plunge into backing Long. For anyone dissatisfied with Roosevelt but unwilling to turn to the tainted Republican Party the Share Our Wealth Movement represented an intriguing opportunity. Radical proposals to equalize the economy blended with blood curdling attacks on Communism into a unique quasi-Fascist movement that kept expanding as the 1936 election grew near.
Huey P. Long didn't want just Louisiana. He wanted it all. He wanted to be President of the United States, and he'd be damned if he waited for his own parties President to retire.
Roosevelt was nervous about Long and made moves to ensure the Senator could not mount a significant challenge to the President for the nomination. He made personal appeals to Southern Democrats to shore up support, and even temporarily patched up his rocky relationship with Vice President James Garner to try and stifle Long's support in Texas. Roosevelt focused heavily on Arkansas, where Long had given a popular speaking tour. Roosevelt also took care to back proposals that might sap the bite from attacks Long made in order to beef up Progressive support.
Roosevelt proved successful enough, with no 2/3rds rule in place he believed he easily had enough to crush Long on the ballot. Roosevelt was right, his control over the Democratic Party was too tight to be broken and even skeptics of the New Deal preferred it to whatever Long was proposing. Long couldn't win. The President was now more concerned with who the Republicans would nominate, having stifled the Louisiana Senator.
Or so he thought.
Huey Long had never expected to beat Roosevelt, not with the Presidents control over the party. The Kingfish was playing a longer game. He wasn't planning on taking the White House in 1936, he was running in 1940. But first he needed a Republican and a sacrificial Lion to pave the way.
Deleted member 87099
Chapter 1: The Pond
Some considered Long the most handsome man in America
Sexy Bastard
All right, I find Huey interesting enough I'm going down this rabbit hole with all of you.
Can't Lick the Kingfish.
Thanks.
Share Da Wealth Guys, Share Da Wealth.
That is indeed his masterful plan of masterfulness.
But no man wears a crown. But a Fish isn't a man.
*Alf Landin looks stoically into the distance*
"Challenge accepted."
Not our POD.
Sexy Bastard
He also looks drunk in every photo taken of him.
[Classified]
Hail.
Down, down we go...
Chapter 2: The Cast
Burton K. Wheeler, Progressive from Montana
Huey Long had realized he wasn't going to beat Roosevelt for the Democratic nomination. The New Deal was just too popular with Democrats. So he decided to split the vote in 1936, divide the liberals of America and send a Republican to the White House, a scant four years after Hoover had been unceremoniously kicked to the curb. A third party wound be formed around the ideals of Share Our Wealth and send the Roosevelt's out of the White House. Long himself wouldn't run, that would damage his brand too much. He'd find a Progressive sacrificial Lion and they would run in his stead and pave his way to victory in 1940.
The trick was to find someone to do it. He'd found three possible contenders. Floyd B. Olson was the very Progressive Governor of Minnesota and seemed a good choice, before his health took a deep turn for the worse, which obviously stopped his chances of allying with Long. William Borah was an old radical from Idaho a Progressive Republican harkening back to Theodore Roosevelt. The issue was that he was a Republican, not a good thing to split the base of the Democrats. He was even considered a contender for the Republican nomination. So Long turned to Burton K. Wheeler. Wheeler was a progressive Democratic Senator from Montana who had defected to La Follette's Progressive Party in 1924. He was an ardent New Dealer, but represented the Left of the Party and continued his fight for an even more Progressive stance in the Senate. He proved amiable to the idea of an independent run and agreed to run against Roosevelt to "make the man jump" according to Long.
The Republican primaries saw Borah and favorite sons win most of the primaries. However, the party machinery still controlled the majority of the delegates and they were opposed to such an "insurgent" gaining the nomination of the party, even though old school Republican policy grew unpopular. The convention clearly resulted in a victory for moderate Alf Landon, Governor of Kansas. Landon ran on a surprisingly pro-New Deal platform, promising to retain many of the programs. He focused on reducing the waste and corruption his party saw running rampant in the system as well as carving out a better position for Business, though not by a huge amount. Unsure of who to pick, not knowing what the result of the suddenly chaotic Democratic race, the party selected New York Congressman Hamilton Fish III. With all three possible candidates supporting the New Deal or worse the Republicans chose the staunchly conservative Fish to appeal to distraught conservatives.
Long and Wheeler employed a bold new populist strategy, Presidential primaries. Primaries had been a around for a while and had been useful at expressing "popular opinion", especially in the Republican Party. But never before had anything like Long's campaign been unleashed. He gave at least a days worth of stump speeches in each state before Election Day in favor of Wheeler and the "Share Our Wealth" program, drawing crowds wherever he went. Wheeler also campaigned promising a reinvigoration of progressive thought. Long had turned a minor process into a spectacle for the media to follow. New Hampshire, first in the nation, voted Wheeler mainly as President Roosevelt ignored the primaries as they were unimportant to the nomination process. Then Wisconsin, which had voted for Wheeler in 1924, went against Roosevelt. The American Progress hailed it as a victory for the common man and even pro-Roosevelt Papers were noticing, with anti-New Deal press being sure to hammer any weakness it saw. Wheeler's progress was stopped in Illinois when the Chicago machine turned out in favor of the President, though he won Nebraska. Late April saw another slap in the face as both Massachusetts and Pennsylvania went for the President. In spite of later wins in South Dakota, West Virginia and New Hampshire interest waned in Wheeler's campaign, weakening his appeal.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York
Senator Burton K. Wheeler
But Long still raised a ruckus. Long gave a rousing nomination speech for Wheeler the sent the hall into a frenzy while whipping up fervor at the power of the rich over the poor. But numbers prevailed over even Long's speech and a very loud chorus of "Happy Days are Here Again" was sung over the convention hall as the Montana and Louisiana delegations slunk out of the convention bruised but not by any means defeated.
A motley collection of progressive anti-New Deal forces met in Little Rock Arkansas to oppose the "stagnation of the American Dream" and nominate their own ticket. In a fiery speech Huey Long gave the group the name "National Union Party" taking the name from Abraham Lincoln's party that had similarly united across the aisles in times of crisis. Long shouted down cries begging him to run and again threw Wheeler's name into the convention. This time he succeeded and Wheeler accepted the nomination to a tune of Long's own composition, "Hail the American Dream"[1]. The man selected by Wheeler and Long to be made Vice President was a surprise to many. Most had expected a southerner or an Urban Progressive or at least William Borah[2]. Instead they got Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Hjalmar Petersen in an undisguised attempt to get the endorsement of the Farmer Labor Party. The platform adopted by the convention was a radical one, following Long's platform closely. Long felt confident going into the election that Landon would win and the NUP would be a temporary measure.
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1: "Touchdown for LSU" with the lyrics changed,
2: It was later revealed Borah had declined the nomination. Borah endorsed both the NUP ticket and Landon at various points but refused to clarify who he would vote for.
Burton K. Wheeler, Progressive from Montana
Huey Long had realized he wasn't going to beat Roosevelt for the Democratic nomination. The New Deal was just too popular with Democrats. So he decided to split the vote in 1936, divide the liberals of America and send a Republican to the White House, a scant four years after Hoover had been unceremoniously kicked to the curb. A third party wound be formed around the ideals of Share Our Wealth and send the Roosevelt's out of the White House. Long himself wouldn't run, that would damage his brand too much. He'd find a Progressive sacrificial Lion and they would run in his stead and pave his way to victory in 1940.
The trick was to find someone to do it. He'd found three possible contenders. Floyd B. Olson was the very Progressive Governor of Minnesota and seemed a good choice, before his health took a deep turn for the worse, which obviously stopped his chances of allying with Long. William Borah was an old radical from Idaho a Progressive Republican harkening back to Theodore Roosevelt. The issue was that he was a Republican, not a good thing to split the base of the Democrats. He was even considered a contender for the Republican nomination. So Long turned to Burton K. Wheeler. Wheeler was a progressive Democratic Senator from Montana who had defected to La Follette's Progressive Party in 1924. He was an ardent New Dealer, but represented the Left of the Party and continued his fight for an even more Progressive stance in the Senate. He proved amiable to the idea of an independent run and agreed to run against Roosevelt to "make the man jump" according to Long.
The Republican primaries saw Borah and favorite sons win most of the primaries. However, the party machinery still controlled the majority of the delegates and they were opposed to such an "insurgent" gaining the nomination of the party, even though old school Republican policy grew unpopular. The convention clearly resulted in a victory for moderate Alf Landon, Governor of Kansas. Landon ran on a surprisingly pro-New Deal platform, promising to retain many of the programs. He focused on reducing the waste and corruption his party saw running rampant in the system as well as carving out a better position for Business, though not by a huge amount. Unsure of who to pick, not knowing what the result of the suddenly chaotic Democratic race, the party selected New York Congressman Hamilton Fish III. With all three possible candidates supporting the New Deal or worse the Republicans chose the staunchly conservative Fish to appeal to distraught conservatives.
Long and Wheeler employed a bold new populist strategy, Presidential primaries. Primaries had been a around for a while and had been useful at expressing "popular opinion", especially in the Republican Party. But never before had anything like Long's campaign been unleashed. He gave at least a days worth of stump speeches in each state before Election Day in favor of Wheeler and the "Share Our Wealth" program, drawing crowds wherever he went. Wheeler also campaigned promising a reinvigoration of progressive thought. Long had turned a minor process into a spectacle for the media to follow. New Hampshire, first in the nation, voted Wheeler mainly as President Roosevelt ignored the primaries as they were unimportant to the nomination process. Then Wisconsin, which had voted for Wheeler in 1924, went against Roosevelt. The American Progress hailed it as a victory for the common man and even pro-Roosevelt Papers were noticing, with anti-New Deal press being sure to hammer any weakness it saw. Wheeler's progress was stopped in Illinois when the Chicago machine turned out in favor of the President, though he won Nebraska. Late April saw another slap in the face as both Massachusetts and Pennsylvania went for the President. In spite of later wins in South Dakota, West Virginia and New Hampshire interest waned in Wheeler's campaign, weakening his appeal.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York
Senator Burton K. Wheeler
But Long still raised a ruckus. Long gave a rousing nomination speech for Wheeler the sent the hall into a frenzy while whipping up fervor at the power of the rich over the poor. But numbers prevailed over even Long's speech and a very loud chorus of "Happy Days are Here Again" was sung over the convention hall as the Montana and Louisiana delegations slunk out of the convention bruised but not by any means defeated.
A motley collection of progressive anti-New Deal forces met in Little Rock Arkansas to oppose the "stagnation of the American Dream" and nominate their own ticket. In a fiery speech Huey Long gave the group the name "National Union Party" taking the name from Abraham Lincoln's party that had similarly united across the aisles in times of crisis. Long shouted down cries begging him to run and again threw Wheeler's name into the convention. This time he succeeded and Wheeler accepted the nomination to a tune of Long's own composition, "Hail the American Dream"[1]. The man selected by Wheeler and Long to be made Vice President was a surprise to many. Most had expected a southerner or an Urban Progressive or at least William Borah[2]. Instead they got Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Hjalmar Petersen in an undisguised attempt to get the endorsement of the Farmer Labor Party. The platform adopted by the convention was a radical one, following Long's platform closely. Long felt confident going into the election that Landon would win and the NUP would be a temporary measure.
-----
1: "Touchdown for LSU" with the lyrics changed,
2: It was later revealed Borah had declined the nomination. Borah endorsed both the NUP ticket and Landon at various points but refused to clarify who he would vote for.
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Ooh. Wheeler/Petersen. I was going to use Jacob Coxey as Borah's VP in my take on this, but this is good.
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For Your Visualizing Purposes:
President Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York/Vice President John Garner of Texas (Democratic)
Governor Alf Landon of Kansas/Congressman Hamilton Fish III of New York (Republican)
Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Montana/Lieutenant Governor Hjalmar Petersen of Minnesota (National Union)
President Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York/Vice President John Garner of Texas (Democratic)
Governor Alf Landon of Kansas/Congressman Hamilton Fish III of New York (Republican)
Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Montana/Lieutenant Governor Hjalmar Petersen of Minnesota (National Union)
