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Huey Long

From Turtledove

Huey Long
Historical Figure
Timeline: OTL
Nationality: United States
Religion: Baptist
Date of Birth: 1893
Date of Death: 1935
Cause of Death: Shot to death
Occupation: Politician, Attorney
Spouse: Rose McConnell
Children: Russell B. Long.
Relatives: Earl Long (brother)
Affiliations: Democratic Party
Timeline: "Joe Steele"
Date of Birth: 1893
Date of Death: 1933
Cause of Death: Shot to death
Timeline: Southern Victory
Appearance(s): The Center Cannot Hold

through

The Victorious Opposition

Nationality: Confederate States
Date of Birth: 1893
Date of Death: 1938
Cause of Death: Shot to death
Affiliations: Radical Liberal Party

Huey Pierce Long, Jr. (1893– 1935), nicknamed The Kingfish, was an American politician from the state of Louisiana. A Democrat, he was noted for his radical populist policies. He served as Governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a U.S. senator from 1932 to 1935.

Long created the Share Our Wealth program in 1934, which proposed new wealth redistribution measures in the form of a net asset tax on large corporations and individuals of great wealth to curb the poverty and crime resulting from the Great Depression. He was an ardent critic of the Federal Reserve System.

Long was assassinated in 1935.

[edit] Huey Long in "Joe Steele"

Huey Long's (1893-1933) charisma was a threat to President Joe Steele. Early in 1933, Long was arrested for having "ties" to Nazi Germany. He was killed while trying to escape from prison, an event engineered by Steele.

[edit] Huey Long in Southern Victory

Huey Long (1893-1938) was the dictatorial governor of Radical Liberal Louisiana. He was one of the last opponents of Jake Featherston as the latter took control of the Confederate States. Long paid for that opposition with his life.

Long's solid hold and popularity in Louisiana brought him to the attention of the national Radical Liberal party, which sought a strong personality to stand against Jake Featherston and the Freedom Party. During the Presidential Election of November 1933, he ran for both Vice President with Cordell Hull on the Radical Liberal ticket, and simlutaneously ran for re-election as Louisiana governor. He lost his bid for national office, but his control of the political machines in Baton Rouge and New Orleans insured him an easy re-election to governorship.

As Featherston shored up his absolute grip on the C.S., Long and his followers did the same within Louisiana, consciously using Freedom Party tactics against them within the state. In the C.S.A. at large, Radical Liberals and other opponents of Featherston were arrested and thrown into concentration camps; inside Louisiana Long arrested Freedom Party men, who were sent to Camp Dependable, Louisiana's own concentration camp.

Long battled the Freedom Party at every turn, with mixed success. When a Lousiana radio station that refused to follow Freedomization protocols was burned to the ground by Freedom Party Stalwarts, Long had them arrested and tried for arson. Long's hold on his state was not absolute, however, as Freedom agents intimidated the jury, and the suspects were found not guilty.

Huey Long was still a popular leader to the general public, even as he battled the Freedomites for supremacy. In Baton Rouge, the newly completed statehouse, at 34 stories, was the largest capitol in North America -- a monument to Long's rule. A massive highway-building program gave jobs to thousands of unemployed men. These grandiose acts and Long's flamboyant image earned him the nickname "Kingfish" from an affectionate public, and the governor acted like it -- he was never visible in public without a dozen heavily-armed guards, and always drove in a large fancy automobile. He frequently bragged that he was going to run for President in 1939 and defeat the Freedom candidate.

Unfortunately, Long's popularity was not enough to save him from President Featherston's fury. When Featherston dispatched Anne Colleton to Baton Rouge in spring 1938, Long met with and listened to her, but refused to abide her warning to "fall in line". Angered, Long made it abundently clear that he would not abide by Featherston's demands, and once again vowed that he would be president in 1939. Shortly after the meeting, Long was assassinated by a black janitor on Colleton's signal.

After Long's death, Freedom Party Guards and Stalwarts swarmed into Louisiana, crushing the state police and the Longist militia, either imprisoning Longists in their own concentration camps, or simply murdering them.

Thus ended the last tangible opposition to Jake Featherston's bid for absolute power, even if Long was motivated by the same basic impulses that drove Featherston.

Office
Preceded by
Oramel Simpson
Governor of Louisiana (OTL)
1928-1932
Succeeded by
Alvin King


Office
Preceded by
Joseph Ransdell
U.S. Senator from Louisiana (OTL)
1932-1935
Succeeded by
Rose Long