The Attempted Presidency Of Huey Long

The Great Depression was a desperate low-point in America’s history: By 1932, over ten million citizens lost their jobs. Industry and development had slown to a crawl. Disease was running rampant in communities which could not afford proper food, medicine, or sanitation. Nearly half the banks in the entire country became insolvent, no longer being able return customer deposits. And far more people were leaving the country than entering it; one of the countries many voluntarily abandoned the land of the free for in search of job opportunities being the dictatorial Soviet Union, where at least there was a continued demand for labor, and the tempting possibility for free government services, though many who’d make the journey would eventually find themselves in forced labor camps.

Interest also turned to Italy, then under the dictatorial control of Benito Mussolini, who gave unto the government the ability to direct and command industry, as well as the distribution of it’s produced goods. National works projects were started as a means of creating more jobs; public housing was created to eliminate homelessness; healthcare coverage was provided to promote national wellbeing; and all manner of other government services were established.

Despite the dictatorial nature of these two countries, both attracted the attention of the traditionally freedom-loving American public; certainly ideology may have motivated this interest in some, but more than that, this was, again, a very desperate time. The people wanted a powerful government to protect them, to care for them, and provide for all their needs, and they were becoming increasingly willing to sacrifice incremental ounces of decentralization and democracy for swift, unanimous action.

That was precisely what many hoped then-candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt would provide. FDR campaigned on a promise of change, including a handful of the programs seen in big-governments countries overseas. The dire circumstances of the depression led countless supporters and a great deal of the media to demand Roosevelt assume emergency powers upon his ascendancy to properly guide America through the depression without congress to obstruct his actions. The outcry was so loud that Roosevelt’s vice-president, John Garner, proposed to the house of representatives a bill which would allow the President to dismiss officials, reorganize federal departments, and act freely of congressional authority except in the event of a 2/3rds vote.

While Garner’s bill never passed, Roosevelt consolidated an unprecedented degree of power within his presidential office, and served longer than any other US president before or after, winning an unheard of four presidential terms, and only seeing his presidency end upon his death; though his successors across both parties in the New Deal Coalition continued to reign at least until the end of the Johnson Administration.

FDR, an outspoken political pragmatist, immediately went to work without an extensive plan. Roosevelt felt he did not have the answers America needed, but rather, was willing to experiment with every possible avenue until an answer was finally discovered, resulting in what became the First New Deal. Initially, this meant amplifying various policies from Hoover’s administration, which, despite popular misconception, wasn’t hands off, but rather, raised taxes, increased government spending, and over-all expanded government intervention in the economy in hopes of alleviating the depression. Examples of such Hoover plans expanded or implemented under the Roosevelt administration include the Reconstruction Finance Corporation Act, the Emergency Banking Act, the Emergency Relief and Construction Act, and the Agricultural Adjustment Act to name a few.

Beyond his predecessor, Roosevelt also looked abroad for inspiration, developing an admiration for Mussolini, which the Italian dictator reciprocated; Mussolini referring to his own economic policies under fascism as “like your New Deal”.

As in Italy, mass infrastructure and construction projects were launched to create hundreds of thousands of jobs, while providing useful structures and utilities for the public. Farm surplus was bought up by the government to reduce supply at no cost to farmers, and freely distributed to alleviate hunger for those in need. And businesses were brought to cooperate with the government on new standards which would end competition, and promote cooperation across various industries, while promoting unionization under the shared guidance of the National Recovery Administration, all of which appeared eerily similar to the Corporatist model adopted by Italy.

While Roosevelt went about his presidency experimenting with policy to find an ultimate end to the troubles facing America, within the country existed another politician more ambitious and cunning, and unlike Roosevelt, he had an extensive plan.

Rewind just a few years earlier to 1928: The US state of Louisiana is a state suffering from terrible poverty, and increasing disunity brought on by growing cultural divides, all while being led by a small urban elite which has essentially alienated the poor rural population which occupied the majority of the underdeveloped state; but all that would change that fateful year.

Born into a poor community in the rural North of the state, Huey Long held high aspirations from a very young age, and demonstrated the characteristics of a governing man. So promising of a young man was Huey that he was awarded a full scholarship to Louisiana State, but so poor was he that he couldn’t afford the basic school supplies necessary to attend.

He’d enter the workforce, and study law on his free time, getting just barely two years of higher-education before successfully acquiring his license in law, practicing until he eventually transformed his legal career into the political one he desired since he was young.

He spoke of the real plights facing Louisiana, ignored the standard political talking points, and addressed that which was so frequently ignored. More than address these problems, he laid out his answers plainly in basic English: The system is rigged, the people have been abandoned, and nothing will change unless one of the people’s own take power.

Come 1928, Long won the governorship of Louisiana in a landslide, challenging the urban establishment on a message that resonated through the forgotten silent majority of his state: “Every man a king”.

As governor, Long clashed with the establishment still deeply entrenched in lower offices and the media; virtually every newspaper within the state having been controlled by the opposition, while state officials obstructed his path at every direction, going as far as to impeach him, but failing to remove him from office.

You might believe that with such strong opposition to his policy, certainly he must have been doing something criminal, and while it’s very likely various means of intimidation and borderline bribery were utilized by Long, such was par for the course of local politics at the time; Huey was simply using his legal know-how to push to the very limits of his powers, and used every lawful opportunity to secure or expand said powers.

But what drove the establishment so aggressively against him was that he was plainly very successful in fulfilling what he set out to do: He rooted out the corruption and debauchery in Louisiana’s cities, initiated a series of state-wide construction projects to bring Louisiana up to modern standards, provided government subsidized education to a state which suffered one of the lowest literacy rates in the country, and achieved so much more, all without breaking the bank.

Long’s philosophy was to cut taxes on the common man as much as possible, while placing the burden upon industries, and taxing more luxurious items of the time, including gasoline.

When the depression hit, Louisiana still had jobs aplenty, saw almost no bank closures, and continued along steadily; all this before FDR even took office, mind you. In fact, by the time Roosevelt had become President, Huey had already gone on to serve in congress so that he might bring his state-saving policies to the national scale.

Having grown up poor, but with greatness in his blood, Long came to believe every citizen ought have the resources necessary to achieve their full potential. Having grown up in a state where the majority of wealth was owned by a small urban elite, and out-of-state businesses, Long believed it was their hoarding of money which kept everyone else poor. Rather than trust these elites to responsibly use their money for the betterment of the country and their fellow citizens, Long concluded that the only way to both break stagnant power monopolies, and provide for the people was to redistribute wealth.

Understandably, this came off as highly socialistic, and a dangerous precedent which might swing America into a dictatorship, but Huey thought otherwise, believing that through this “economic fair play” elite special-interests would be stripped of their overreaching power, while calming the increasingly dissatisfied masses, saving the country from extreme ideologies like Communism or Fascism.

Huey had initially expected Roosevelt to see redistribution through, but while the new president certainly took a radical approach, it was not in the direction Long had hoped for, leading the two to quickly become bitter rivals; Roosevelt infamously stating that he aimed to “steal Huey’s thunder” by adopting pieces of his platform, but not the whole program.

With his faith in the American Establishment broken, Long stood determined to assume the presidential office himself; feeling that no other man stood capable of doing what he saw as absolutely necessary. But before he could even launch his campaign, he’d be assassinated in 1935, bringing an end to the complex and dynamic life of what some have called Louisiana’s dictator…but what if that changed?

What if Huey had not only survived the attempt on his life, but successfully campaigned for, and won the Presidency?

At the time of Huey’s death in 1935, it was expected that he’d be running in the presidential election of the following year, however, it’s been suggested that Long never intended to win in 36, but rather, hoped to use the election to set the stage for a victory in a subsequent 1940 presidential bid.
See, Long didn’t expect Roosevelt to be unseated as the Democrat nominee, meaning he’d be forced to run as an independent that would surely split the Democrat vote, while leaving the Republican vote mostly untouched.

Looking at a map of that election, we can see an obvious Democrat victory with Republican Alf Landon only carrying two states, neither of which were his home state. Surely there’s no threat of the Republicans winning even if Long split the vote, right? Well, not at all. If we assume Huey Long were to split the Democrat vote right down the middle across every state, suddenly Landon wins big in several North East states including New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois, not to mention parts of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains, giving him a likely total of 305 Electoral votes. Long, who is sure to dominate the Southern vote, would come in second place, outshining FDR across the South East, and possibly in the states of Minnesota and North Dakota, where the remnants of his movement were able to win some support following his passing. This would put Long in second place with some 165 electoral votes, far surpassing FDR’s measly 61.

This election would not only have earned Huey greater recognition, and potentially the direct support of the party, but would also briefly place what he considered an inept administration in charge of the depression, making the country all the more receptive to his radical message come the following election in 1940.

Landon was certainly a lukewarm politician of the time: A liberal Republican who would have attempted to balance FDR’s New Deal agenda with his own fiscal conservatism. While this cautious strategy might prove a successful approach, it could just as easily become a stagnant agenda which achieves nothing by the end of his presidency, leaving the door open for Huey to take power, but that, of course, isn’t guaranteed.

It should also be mentioned that while this prior theory of Long’s strategy is what has become most commonly known, Long’s own alternate history novel (yes, he actually wrote this) dates the first days of his presidency not in 1941, but in 1937, reinforcing the idea that he intended to win the election of ‘36. To keep things simple, let’s just suggest Huey’s 1936 campaign proves successful, winning him the presidency by a very narrow margin.

Now yes, you heard us right: Huey Long wrote what has ultimately become an alternate history novel which details the events of his presidency.

The Novel, titled “My First Days In The White House”, goes into great detail on who he planned on interacting with, what he planned to do, and how he planned to do it.

Long’s presidential agenda was comprised of five main points: Major Infrastructure projects, the most ambitious in the country’s history. A War on Disease unlike any other in the world. Major Criminal Justice Reform. Repairing the broken Federal Reserve system. And of course, the Share Our Wealth program.

Long would summon before him the heads of America’s largest industries to negotiate the details of what would become Share Our Wealth’s tax code.

The fortunes of all these men would be drastically reduced regardless of the outcome, but to fully understand the implications of such a tax, he intended to hear out their criticisms and counter-offers. The Rockefellers, Long speculated, would be the first to consent, given that the head of the Rockefeller family was far along in his years, and might seek to donate his fortune to this philanthropic cause; he would in fact die just later that year, as a matter of fact, which might complicate the negotiations if Rockefeller’s heir refused to comply. Long saw the compliance of the Rockefellers as crucial to encouraging the other tycoons, and would focus on maintaining positive ties with them primarily, taking a harder stance in negotiating with the others.

The conclusion of these discussions would see personal wealth capped at five million dollars, with the surplus being held by a government-owned corporation, which would then issue its own non-voting stock to the American people, which will award them a monthly divided based on the success of the industries paying into the corporation.

There would also be a brief grace period prior to the program’s initiation during which the moguls could use their excess fortune to reorganize their business assets by breaking them up amongst loyal employees, family members, and the like. In essence, one might hold onto 20 million worth of assets if it’s broken up between four partners, much like a partible inheritance.

While a good portion of the collected money will go toward said monthly dividends, it will also be invested in other social programs such as providing a house, car, and radio to every family, old-age pensions for everyone over 65, free vocational training available to all citizens, free college admission for those who tested positively for high mental aptitude, etc.

This would stabilize and prepare the public to resume working, buying, and creating at a higher level than ever before.

But before the country could become saturated with more laborers and consumers, there were still several who needed jobs right then and there. Borrowing from his experience in Louisiana, constructing much needed modern roads, dams, bridges, and the like, he embarked on an ambitious program which would not only replace old infrastructure and expand it, but use these projects to solve the natural catastrophes America was facing: Drought, flooding, hurricanes, dust storms; man would finally conquer these forces of nature, and never again would America need helplessly suffer their destruction.

Generals Lytle Brown and Smedley Butler would be put in charge of what Long called his Western Recovery Program. The Dust Bowl had long ravaged the American plains causing severe famine and property destruction; Long’s plan to remedy this involved the strategic construction of several dams, reservoirs, and man-made rivers which would rehydrate the former grasslands, while also serving as barriers against dust storms. Populations in this area, already suffering from scarcity and the danger posed by such storms, would be relocated to newly formed communities built near several of these construction projects, so that they might serve as a local source of paid labor.

This would be the primary focus of a grander national works project that would take place across the country, building flood and hurricane barriers along the southern coasts, redirecting excess water to areas of greater scarcity, and linking the nation closer together through a modernized road-system which would make transportation all the easier, and thus, reduce the cost of several goods.

10 Billion dollars would be dedicated to this program over five years, and was expected to employ millions of Americans, allowing the economy to start back up.

With all these construction projects, some in the more inhospitable parts of the country, Long anticipated America would need greater access to proper medical care so as to treat any number of injuries and ailments. Tuberculosis and various diseases which targeted weakened immune systems had become widespread due to a drop in sanitation standards, and malnutrition. To solve for this, Long would enlist the help of the Mayo brothers from the famed Mayo clinic to establish a lab in D.C which would investigate the causes and cures of all diseases currently troubling the country in what Long called a “War on Disease”. All valuable discoveries would be widely publicized through leaflets and posters, encouraging the public to adopt healthy habits, and educate them on how to avoid or cure various illnesses.

The federal reserve’s leadership would be reorganized into a board of directors, one from each state, each elected by the people of that state, nationalizing it into an essential fourth branch of government heavily checked by the other branches.

Finally, Criminal Justice would be reformed to take into consideration several personal, economic, and psychological factors when determining a sentence. This would be achieved through the creation of an evaluation board who would build a profile of the defendant as well as the circumstances surrounding a crime. Long believed this would allow for appropriate punishment or rehabilitation to be administered, as well as segregate irredeemable criminals from those unlikely to commit a crime again, preventing the latter from associating with the former, and from spiraling deeper into a life of crime.

This was Long’s agenda, and he expect to carry it out with major success, though he did anticipate some of his policies would lead to civil unrest or resistance from certain states. In his novel, he even details what nearly becomes a secession crisis brought on by one governor in particular. Now he does not specify which state and governor that is, but I was originally under the impression it may have been FDR as governor of New York, as Long describes the state’s neighbors as “the nearby New England states”, however, he later refers to the state as a Commonwealth, meaning it could only be Massachusetts, or maybe Pennsylvania.

In reality, Long could expect tremendous resistance from Congress, and the Supreme Court which is likely to challenge the constitutionality of his Share Our Wealth Program, and any other policy which might infringe upon separation of powers; this had been the case for some of FDR’s own policies, which Huey did live long enough to see struck down. Remember that during his entire time as a senator, Huey was not very popular among his peers, and failed to gain major political support for his policies, however, where he did hold support was with the public, and in ever increasing number.

No doubt that if Huey did not get his way, he’d use his public influence to primary every dissenting politician within his party come the midterm election, during which several seats in the strongly Democrat South and West would be up for grabs by Huey’s allies.
Long’s legal expertise would no doubt come in handy when justifying his policies before the supreme court, exploiting every loophole and opportunity he could find, much as he had back in Louisiana.

Loyalists would be appointed in every office Long had the authority to do so, and fortunately for him, it was during this same timeframe that five positions would open up on the Supreme Court, soon granting him control of the courts by the time of his second term.

By 1941, America is finding itself back on track, pursuing a goal self-sufficiency as per Long’s isolationist views.

Long never condemns Japan for it’s actions in Asia as the Roosevelt administration would have, and continues to conduct business with them on the basis of said business being of benefit to Americans, with little regard for the international impact; removing one of the factors which would have led to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

A minor part of Long’s agenda was also withdrawal from territories which gave the United States unnecessary obligations in far-off parts of the world, namely, the Philippines, which had been acquired during the Spanish-American War. Having essentially abandoned the islands, Long would have indirectly reassured Japan of American disinterest in East-Asian affairs, further diminishing the likelihood of a Japanese-American war.

Without Japan’s aggression against Hawaii, there’s no motive for the US to enter World War Two, leaving the conflict in the hands of Britain, China, and the USSR.

Lend-Lease probably wouldn’t be signed during a Long administration either, as it provides no real benefit to the country itself. Instead, we’d probably see the US function as a manufacturing hub for both sides of the conflict, though solely doing so for the sake of profit.

Without Lend-Lease, and the absence of US support on the continent, the war in Europe takes a drastic turn. It’s dramatically understated just how significant American resources were to the Soviet Union’s victories against Germany. The Soviet’s were caught terribly off guard, had only industrialized relatively recently, and were still rebuilding their military; there simply wasn’t the ability to extract resources, refine said resources, manufacture materials, and transport them to the front lines in sufficient quantity while also fighting off the Germans, but the US, as a removed neutral power, could act as a surrogate manufacturing base; such is not the case in this timeline.

Be it weapons, ammunition, machinery, vehicles, raw material, or fuel, the US propped up a great proportion of each, without which the Soviets would have undoubtably fallen, and this same sentiment has been confirmed by Soviet leadership.

Long would preside over a nation removed from the world, but perfectly capable of standing on its own two feet. He’d feel a great pride with what he’d accomplished, and pay little mind to what has transpired overseas. Whether or not he’d run for a third term as FDR did is unclear, as Long’s agenda only went as far as we’ve discussed. But whether he’d retire and allow a handpicked successor to take the office, or retain power indefinitely to build upon what he started, the politician from the sticks of Louisiana would have radically altered not only the course of American history, but the entire world.