Huey P Long Omnibus - From Election to Impeachment

In 1928, Huey Long was riding high. He'd beaten all opposition
and achieved the second step in his life-plan. Get elected to
minor public office, check. Get elected to the Governorship,
check. There's little doubt given everything we know about him
that he was already angling for a seat in the Senate - although
in his early addresses he was already lying about "ridding the
state of corruption and waste... without ambition for ever again
holding another public office." A bold claim for a man who had
"become President" on his to-do list.


But in order to do that, he would have to deliver on his
outlandish promises that he'd made in the campaign to be
Governer. He had to keep his base onside and prove that he wasn't
the lying demagogue that his hated media constantly portrayed him
to be. In the meantime, the powers that be in the state of
Louisiana dusted themselves off and began strategizing how they
would manipulate the young and inexperienced Governor to keep
their interests at heart.


They had dealt with demagogues before; Huey was not unique in
that respect, although few of them had made it to his lofty
position. Confidence was probably high amongst the establishment
that most of them could work with Huey, that things would
continue more or less as they had before, and in a few years -
promises largely broken - the political machines could wrestle
back control. This was how many people thought it was going to
go. A lot of them were mistaken. 


 


“I would rather go down to a thousand impeachments than admit
that I am the Governor of the state that does not dare to call
the Standard Oil company to account so that we can educate our
children and care for the destitute, sick, and
afflicted.”  

Huey called mass rallies, warning his supporters to “beware the
lying newspapers, pay no attention to what they say”. At the
rallies, he quoted his favourite poem, Invictus:


“I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul!”

This is the story of the impeachment of Huey Long.