The Great Depression era was one of the most severe hardships in United States history. The amount of suffering that ordinary Americans endured during the Depression was unprecedented. The Depression caused big businesses like Ford to layoff much of their workers during the Depression. This massive unemployment caused millions of workers to lose their homes and their livelihoods, puting Americans in destitute situations of extreme poverty. During the Depression the contemporary safety nets that existed to help take care of people when disaster struck had dried up and was unable to assist everyone. Ethnic institutions, churches, and State governments simply did not have the resources to provide for everyone who was afflicted by the Depression. …show more content…
Huey Long had a rural upbringing in the early 1900s in Louisiana. He started off his career as a lawyer who often fought cases for common folks against big business leaders, oftentimes successfully pulling off upsets. Eventually he started his career as a politician in Louisiana and eventually moved up the ranks until he was elected governor. What made Long so popular among the people of Louisiana was his populist rhetoric. Long blamed the big business class as the cause of society's problems, and proclaimed that they needed to share their wealth more with the rest of society. His message resonated with many of Louisiana's working class. Eventually Long was elected to the senate and while he initially worked with Roosevelt in drafting his New Deal, he eventually drifted away from him as Roosevelt believed that the reforms that Long sought were incompatible with his beliefs. Huey Long wanted a redistribution program implemented into the New Deal known as the Share Our Wealth Program. This program was suppose to sharpy raise the taxes of the rich, preventing people from getting too wealthy, while providing every American with a decent standard of living. While Roosevelt did seek to provide for workers with his New Deal Program he was completely opposed to this measure. Roosevelt and Long’s disagreements over the New Deal eventually caused a split in their alliance. Long would eventually seek to run for election to challenge Franklin Roosevelt in 1936, before he was tragically assassinated. While Long and Roosevelt were initially allies, Long’s reforms were too radical leading to be implemented into Roosevelt’s New Deal, leading to their