Evening star., 1935-09-10
HUEY LONG ROSE
FROM LOG CABIN
ObSession for Power Made
Him Both Revered
and Hated.

BATON ROUGE, La, September 10.
-Huey Pierce Long, moved down by
an assassins bullet at the height OF
his spectacular career, was an epic in
his own age.
No other public character of the
generation combined the diverse quail
ities that made his name a household
word through the Nation and
across the seas.
Born on August 80. 1893, in four
room log house on a 320-acre farm
near WINFIELD, La, Long rose from
printers devil and travelling salesman
to become one of the best known men
in the United States and at the time
Of his death was looked upon as likely
presidential timber.
Had Obsession for Power.
His obsession for power led him to
tremendous heights of daring and
bravado that left his enemies nom
plussed and made him both revered
and hated.
He achieved the unprecedented
power to rule his native State of Lou
isiana like q monarch of old, beat down
and subjected corporate wealth, single
handedly def1ed the United States
Senate and openly challenged the
President.
His rise to power was series of
gigantic explosions marked by savage
vindictiveness probably never equaled
in the history of the country.
His friends called him genius, "
the greatest man of the age and a
friend of the poor man." while his
enemies branded him "demagogue, +"
''madman" and political racketeer.
Used Variety of Stratagems.
In Louisiana he unseated elected
officials, crushed municipal govern
ments and used every old political
stratagem and many new ones to
beat down opposition.
For almost eight years he ruled
Louisiana with an iron hand and a
calculated delirium which left op-
ponents gaping helplessly.
He loved bizarre displays and rev.
eled in such opposite activities as
directing the Cadet Band at Louisiana
State University and commanding
National Guard armies drawn up to
intimidate enemies.
He jokingly rewarded foot ball play
ers by making them State Senators
and handed out colonelcies for touch
downs
Early in his career his major obses-
sion developed-redistribu Of
wealth-an automobile, a radio, a
home and $4,000 for everybody.
He wrote book, Every Man a
King" exposing the political tricks
he played on enemies and expanding
on his "share-the wealth" program.
On his death bed he praised second
book he was preparing to issue, My
First Year in the White House" and
deliriously talked Of it as a best-seller.
Feared Murder Plots.
He talked Of murder plots" sur
rounded himself with burly armed
bodyguards on the twenty fourth floor
of the ornate skyScraper State House
he built.
He took a docile Louisiana Legisla-
ture and used it to put his plans into
effect to turn Louisiana into a
utopia"
In 1882 he had debts suspended for
two years. Then he started a law
making spree that saw seven special
sessions of the Legislature meet in a
year and give him powers never before
dreamed of in a Democratic State.
That legislative campaign, from
August, 1884, to September, 1885. was
marked by ruthlessness that built
up hatred to the point of obsession in
his toes.
It was possibly such an accumu-
lated venom that drove the slim,
youthful DR.. Carl A. Weiss, jr., to give
up his own life to fire one bullet into
Longs body.
Longs first work, aside from the
chores on the farm, which he avoided
as much as possible, was as printers
"devil" when he was 13.
Entered Debate Contest.
Two years later he started toward
oratorica! fame by winning nothing
better than honorable mention in a
Statewide debating contest.
He left home for good in 1909 as a
travelling agent for a packing COM
pany. When he was 19 he married
Miss Rose Mcconnell of Memphis,
Tenn.
With s4O0 borrowed from brother
he lived with his wife in a dingy New
Orleans apartment while he COM
pleted a three years law course at
Tulane University in nine months.
He hung out his shingle at Winn-
field but was soon lured by politics.
Only "a years of age, he searched for
some office with no minimum age
requirement and found he could run
for railroad commissioner.
He was elected and gained State
wide notice by securing substantial
telephone rate rebates.
He bucked the old line politicians
and excited laughter when he sought
the Office of Governor in 1924 but he
won so many votes that veterans began
to take him seriously.
Successful in 1928.
At the next election, in 1928, he
was successful but his methods from
the start aroused such protest that he
was impeached the next year. He
escaped conviction in the Senate and
removal from office.
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