Who was Huey Long?

Who was Huey Long?
Why is there such controversy surrounding this man?
What were his policies?

Governor of Louisiana during the Depression. Started as a new dealer, split with FDR because he thought he was too cozy with bankers. Also worked with Father Charles Coughlin, but split with him when he became more anti sematic. Got assassinated before he could run for president.

He's sometimes painted as a fascist, but he's more like Bernie Sanders if Sanders weren't a gigantic pussy

Why is he painted as a fascist?

Literally a smear campaign

He knew about (((())))

Smear, but also the close association with Coughlin, who really was anti-Semitic

Should have won the civil war.

I thought Huey, for all his faults, was notable for not being a racist, especially by the standards of his place and time?

So what exactly were his policies?
I know that he significantly improved the infrastructure of Louisiana and really helped out the poor.

Not racist against blacks, but certainly anti semitic.

Granted this wasn't so much a race thing as that he saw them as the class of bankers and capitalists working to impoverish the lower classes.

tax the rich people, then use that money on public works, especially schools so that the next generation would be better educated. pretty smart as opposed to just gibsmedats programs that neoliberals are so fund of

That's correct

He was accused of bribery and corruption, possibly valid, possibly not. It was pretty common in all walks of government at the time.

He went after big corporations to pay taxes. Big Oil didn't like it so they launched a huge smear campaign against him, tried to impeach him. They bought up a lot of newspapers to smear him. He tried to go after newspapers with their own tax, but that backfired and he dropped it.

The voters loved him, no surprise since he built roads and infrastructure and created jobs. He ran afoul a lot of the old established power. The KKK types, the rich families, all sorts of crooks.

He was seen as too radical even among his own political party. They didn't want to associate with him, and kinda hung him out to dry. I guess in that sense the Sanders comparison isn't bad.

Ran on an populist and anti-capitalist platform which proposed wholesale re-distribution of the nation's existing weath structure. i.e. not just via control over new incomes.

Critical of corporations in general and of Standard Oil, utility companies, and Wall St banks in particular.

Spoke out against the involvement of American involvement overseas which he saw as mainly being for the benefit of American corporations.

Southern machine-poltican so perpetualy mired in accusations of corruption and abuses of power. Some claims true, some not.

Remarkably non race-baiting for a southern politicion of that era. Early critic of the Klan.

Speculated to be planning to run on a 3d party platform in the 1936 Presidential election. He wouldn't have won but would have spilt the Democratic vote and created a real of FDR being defeated by the Republican candidate.

In response, he was depicted as a waiting-in-the-wings crypto-fascist by FDR supporter Sinclair Lewis in the novel 'It Can't Happen Here'. Long was assassinated just prior to publication but the meme has stuck.

>Southern machine-poltican so perpetualy mired in accusations of corruption and abuses of power.

wow, a corrupt Louisiana politician?

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Long's reign would be short.

t.Reed

EVERY

Killed by (((them)))

the Union did nothing wrong
Gas the syndies, civil war now

there'll be peace without end, every neighbor a friend, and every man a king

>Imblying MacArthur shouldn't be the Caesar of USA

>implying he won't be the American Cincinnatus

Poor comparison, Caeser was a competent general.

Thats a mighty nice non-interventionist policy you have there goy, shame if something happened to you and Germany was invaded.

he is a combination of sanders social reform and economic reform and trumps grass roots anger harvesting machine. But that is a view based on modern figures and vernacular.

Freedom ain't free. The road to economic equality gotta be littered with the blood of capitalists and jews. FDR aka "the ragin' semite" and his dastardly "Jew deal" is not mah president. He is a capitalistic wretch and probably a Jew as well :DDD.

t. Coughlin

Trips confirm Morgenthau owned FDR :^)