Huey Long, 1893-1935
Huey Pierce Long was born August 30, 1893, in Winnfield, parish seat of Winn Parish, Louisiana. During Huey Longs early life, Winn Parish voters regularly voted for third party candidates, e.g., the Farmer's Union, the Populist Party, and the Socialist Party. Winn residents had opposed secession during the Civil War. Huey Long grew up in a climate of political disagreement with the mainstream views of the times.
There is one story which describes Huey Long's early impressions of American economic life. The area suffered a depression during Long's youth, and the bank foreclosed on several local farms. At an auction of one farm family's property so that they could make some kind of payment to the bank, you Long is reported to have asked why was the bank taking this family's property when the bank didn't need it while the family did. Experiences like this one, combined with the teachings about populism and socialism to which Long was exposed created in his mind a suspicion of the big business and a kind of cynicism about "the system."
In 1910, Long left his family home in Winnfield, to be a traveling salesman. He did this for three years traveling about the state, making new friends (he had a photographic memory for remembering faces and names, etc., so this was easy for him.) He heard more about people's problems with the government and life in general.
In 1914, Long married Rose McConnell and entered Tulane Law School as special student. Long did not qualify as a regular student because he had neither a high school diploma or a college degree. Long had attended Winnfield public schools through the 11th grade. Until his 11th year in the public schools, the 11th grade was the last grade. The twelfth grade was added and the new requirement was added just in time for Huey's class. He refused to attend another year, and therefore, never officially graduated high school.
At Tulane, Long took a variety of classes doing what we now call "independent study." The next year he passed a special bar exam and was allowed to become a practicing attorney. For awhile he practiced with this older brother, Julius, iin Winnfield. This partnership did not last long, and Huey and Rose Long moved to Shreveport.
In Shreveport, Long decided to run for the Louisiana Railroad Commission, renamed the Louisiana Public Service Commission in 1921 to reflect the wide variety of responsibilities of the commission. Long visited friends he had made during his traveling salesman days and his family helped his campaign tirelessly. The result, Long won a position as one of three Commissioners. The duties of the state's Railroad Commissioners included regulating intrastate railroad traffic, pipelines, riverboats and other public utilities. Until Long's election to this commission, it had done very little. The officials that ran Louisiana previously had preferred not to regulate or tax business concerns.
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