America’s Exploits Part 1

By Archer D’Angelo

Hello It is Archer D’Angelo. If you don’t know already, as all countries do, Americans have done some weird things. Today I am gonna tell you about possibly the strangest of these events, being the Dictator of the State of Louisiana in the 1930s, and be prepared for future articles where I will talk about a Crazy Admiral, George Washington leading an army along with the actual biological Father of the Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Alexander Hamilton, The Treasury Secretary to fight TAX EVASION yes Tax Evasion, then Aaron Burr, The Vice President who possibly tried to steal Texas, and an arguably mentally insane man who was Vice President for 2 Presidents (Yes 2 Presidents made him Vice), by the name of John C. Calhoun.

Let us start with the Louisiana Dictator today (This Is My Personal Favorite Story). You and everybody else knows that type of villain who is definitely evil but is REALLY bad at their job like the Wet (Or Sticky If You Get That Reference) Bandits from Home Alone for example. Insert today’s villain, Huey Long, Who was the actual Dictator of Louisiana in 1928-1935. The Senator and Governor, Huey Pierce Long was born August 30th 1893 to a middle-class family in North-West Louisiana. However he claimed to be born in a log cabin even though there is extensive evidence that is not true coming from EVERY SINGLE person that knew his family.

Huey Long

There is something you need to know about Huey Long, Huey was NOT a good person he was arguably a bad person. But in every other modern circumstance when a bad person is given immense power they make life worse for the area they control and make THEIR OWN life better. But this is not the case with Huey Long because he, while being VERY power hungry, and (Probably) racist, but also he did  in the eyes of many (I’m personally not so sure of this, but I’m not from Louisiana) make his home, Louisiana a better place. I would like to note again that I do not like Long as a person and I do not have much respect for him, if at all but he did do some interesting things that I would like to cover from a neutral point of view.

The North-West Louisiana town Huey Long was from was known as Winnfield. The town was the town with the most Union/Anti-Slavery support in all Louisiana. This led to Long gaining some left-wing ideas. Huey Long was a very smart child and skipped 7th Grade. He was a supporter of the Socialist Party, a Left-Wing Communist party from the midwest as a teenager. Also Huey started a “Secret Society” as he called it in his school which was effectively a secret dictatorship of high school students that made their own rules and petitions who gained so much power they PETITIONED THE PRINCIPLE OUT OF THE SCHOOL. Huey Long was basically what every student president dreams to be.

Huey Long went to LSU to study law but later had to drop out of school as he couldn’t afford it but in his short stay he wrote the “LSU Cadets March” and the “LSU Touchdown Anthem” as he was seemingly a great songwriter as he made himself an actual Theme Song when he was doing the “Share Our Wealth” program in the 1930s. After leaving LSU he went to Oklahoma Baptist and got his Law Degree. He then became a lawyer from 1915 to 1925 where among other things he fought against the Rockefeller Standard Oil Company and became the Railroad commissioner of Louisiana while continuing his job as a lawyer.

In 1924 he ran for governor and began to show some right-wing tendencies by (allegedly) saying some, well lets just say “choice words” about the Confederacy that in modern times would cause some “CANCELING”. Then he said that he had “no opinion” on the K.K.K. which is a strange stance as they were a huge organization in 1920s Louisiana and that would also very much get you canceled. Huey lost and blamed it on a rainstorm that “my voters were stuck in the mud and couldn’t vote”. But for anyone wondering, Huey never was to lose an election again. 

In 1928 Huey ran for Governor again but this time he ran even more neutral than the previous election and he was to become the “Louisiana Dictator”. At the time Louisiana was in a massive divide between the poor rural people and the Rich Citizens of New Orleans. The poor rural people did not have electricity, running water or even roads and if they wanted them they had to get them through private companies. Also even before the great depression, 60% of Louisiana was in poverty. Huey started his administration like any other governor, by firing the old cabinet and getting a new one. But Huey’s cabinet consisted of his own literal minions who worked only for him and directly for him and even had to give HIM Money for his personal schemes in his “War Chest” he also with his squad of supporters blackmailed and intimidated his way into passing bills making himself basically dictator.

Now Huey was firmly in charge for as long as he wanted to so he stopped being so neutral and got to work. Everyone was thinking “Oh no, Huey Long is a dictator, is he gonna Execute People, Use Forced Labor??” and they were right to think that as Huey was not a very nice seeming guy. But then his first new law was…….. banning paid textbooks in elementary school (YES Elementary). Well maybe his second one was worse….he made free night lessons for people who are illiterate. Third one… he built roads, hospitals, bridges, and gave cheap gas to his ENEMIES in New Orleans. HUEY PLEASE DO SOMETHING EVIL!!! How can someone make themselves a dictator, get an army of supporters who will fight for you, AND THEN DO NOTHING EVIL. But then his Enemies tried to impeach him for well.. being a dictator and he responded by probably killing them, right……. WAIT HE JUST WROTE NEWSPAPER ARTICLES AND EVEN LET THEM KEEP THEIR JOBS!!!

Then Huey announced his new plans, He was stepping down and running for senate. But he was not losing power as he won BOTH SENATE SEATS, which technically made him two senators in one person. But he did leave one of his minions as Governor and did not move out of the Governor’s Mansion or even the Governor’s office within the Capitol (Which he Rebuilt).

In 1932 the Great Depression had hit Huey and Louisiana. Huey Long was a staunch supporter of FDR and especially his “New Deal”. But Huey thought that FDR should take his ideas a little farther and a bit more Socialist (Or Communist).

Then we get to his crowning achievement, the “Share Our Wealth” program which he proposed in both the U.S. Senate and Louisiana. Huey (While being a Socialist) was incredibly worried about a Communist Revolution in the United States. He thought the only way to satisfy them was a program HE had PERSONALLY made that definitely did not just expand his personal plans, the “Share Our Wealth Program”. The Program planned to redistribute the wealth in America and make it so everyone could get a $5,000 House ($86,000 in 2023), a Car, and a good quality Radio. He planned to do this by Capping all forms of Income and adding many (Like A LOT) more taxes. 7.5 Million Americans signed on to “Share Our Wealth” and many started “Share Our Wealth” clubs to try it out. While his enemies called it Communism (Which it probably was), He said it was the only defense AGAINST Communism. Meanwhile the actual Socialist and Communist Parties saw it as TOO extreme, even for them. Huey quickly became a worldwide icon and each time he went on radio he had upwards of 25 Million listeners. He also received 60,000 Letters each WEEK, more than any other person alive at the time. Also FDR’s 2nd New Deal took inspiration from “Share Our Wealth.

In fact Huey Long planned to challenge FDR in the Election of 1936, but in September 1935 his enemies decided to try and finally get him out of power when a local Physician, Carl Weiss shot Huey in the State Capital. Huey uttered the words “God, don’t let me die. I have so much to do.” and seconds later he passed away. Carl Weiss was killed quickly by Huey’s bodyguards.

Carl Weiss

That was the story of Governor Huey Pierce Long, his rise to power and his quick fall to Dr. Weiss at the State House. Huey was a strange figure and I will leave it to you to decide if he was truly a good person.

Archer D’Angelo

7th Grader with experience at the Ps32 Journal as Editor. He often writes about BKI News, History, and Games. He focuses on the BKI News & Global News Categories. He also is good at Canva and other Design programs used by the Terrapin Times. He is a Big Fan of History as well as Video and Board Games related to History.