Huey P. Long And The Great Depression

Huey P. Long Huey P. Long once said “Every man a king, but no one wears a crown.” this was a man that truly believed that anyone could thrive. During his time in office as a senator and Governor of Louisiana, he had ideas to fix the current depression. He developed the “Share Our Wealth” program as a new welfare program for the country. He had a close connection to the agricultural community since he grew up on a farm as a child, and then rose to high status later in life. He originally used his power and influence to support Franklin D. Roosevelt, but changed his opinion when Huey P. Long decided that FDR’s New Deal plan was too slow. Huey P. Long’s upbringing in poverty and farming made him more sympathetic to the poor once he rose

Long was his “Share our wealth” program. It was his view on why the Great Depression happened and how to fix it. His plan greatly benefited the poor and took much from the overly rich. He believed that the depression happened because of the great gap between the very rich and the very poor. With most the money in the country held by only a small percentage of people that only left so much to be spread out amongst the majority. Therefore, he figured if you limit the money a man can have then the money would be more evenly dispersed, and that’s exactly what he proposed we do. Long’s plan would have the government put a cap on how much money a man could own personally which in his eyes should be roughly around 50 million. He wanted to restrict their money through a system of taxes and then give that money back to the people of the country, sharing it with them hints the name. Long proposed that the wealth that was taxed from the very rich could be shared through government benefits and public works (Elizabeth Kolbert). In many ways his views were very much the same as many socialists today. He wanted to give free higher education and job training. His “Share our Wealth” plan also would have there be a yearly salary given to families who earn less than one third the average yearly earnings. “He later proposed a debt moratorium to give struggling families time to pay their mortgages and other debts before losing their

Roosevelt was first in office, Huey P. Long was a huge supporter of his. He thought that he would do great things for the country and fixing the Great Depression. Long campaigned for him while he ran for president and early in his presidency. They made a great alliance, being two of the most politically powerful men in the country at the time. This wouldn’t last, though, because when FDR’s new deal wasn’t doing as he promised Huey P. Long came up with his own plan. In the fall of 1933 Long and FDR had a falling out over their different opinions on policy as well as the fact that Long became interested in his own place as president. FDR said himself that Huey P. Long is one of the two most dangerous men in the country, next to General Douglas MacArthur. Long began to use his voice and influence to promote his own “Share Our Wealth” plan. He began speaking over the radio to his supporters; FDR was the only other man to do this at the time in a political standpoint. Long spoke openly of his opposition of FDR and did everything he could to discredit him so to secure his own place as president. The democratic party even ran a secret poll to see what would potentially happen if he did run and found out if he ran as a third party he would get 11% of the votes. He never made it to the 1936 election because he was assassinated in 1935 by Dr. Carol Weiss. His wife's family was a political opponent of Longs, and Long had spread rumours of “negro blood” in