Talk:Huey Long

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[edit] Average Family Income?

In the text it says he wanted to guarantee a $2000-$3000 minimum annual income which is characterised as approximately 1/3 the average family income. I question this. In the 50's a $10,000 a year man was a big guy. Probably equivalent $100,000/yr in the mid to late 70's/early 80's. How then was $6000-$9000/yr the average family income in the middle of the depression? Someone has seriously messed things up here I think. I could be wrong but even a corvette only cost 2 or 3 grand at one point, and they didn't show up till the 50's. Seriously, this has to be WAY off base. CLEARLY citations are required or this article should be started from scratch with only citable material.

It might be useful, at least on this discussion page, to consider the use of an inflation calculator, of which several exist online. By that calculator, the purchasing power of $2,500 in 1934 would be $37,640.03 in 2006. Typofixer76 (talk) 14:20, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Control of Press/Private Army

Dictatorial control of the press? In fact, the Louisiana press was almost universally hostile to Huey Long, not surprising since it was owned by the elite who Huey blamed for Louisiana's problems. The Shreveport Times chortled when the Caddo Parish School Board refused the free textbooks that Huey provided for schools, proudly stating that "the expense of buying textbooks teaches our students to value education" (note: taught my grandmother to drop out of school because her family of 11 children could only afford textbooks for the male members), and the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the state's most-read major newspaper, regularly ran editorials decrying Long as evil and depraved. A few smaller newspapers, such as in his hometown of Mansfield, were more conciliatory towards Long. I'll see if I can get a copy of one the editorial cartoons that the Times-Picayune ran, they make the anti-Bush cartoons run by left-wing bloggers look tame. User:badtux26 May 2006

I thought he had a private armyFalphin 19:42, 8 May 2005 (UTC) (No, no private army, but he did used the Louisiana State Police at times as if it were his private army -- User:Badtux 26 May 2006).

Doesn't this article have NPOV issues? seems to be a lot of unsourced rumours here (shot by his own guards, dictatorial tendencies, unprecedented levels of graft) compared with very little about the public works programme, taking on oil companies, etc. 86.135.227.101 19:16, 4 September 2005 (UTC)]] (Indeed, it is difficult to talk about Huey Long because there is so much unsourced rumors and innuendos floating about, for example, some people apparently believe Huey created the Louisiana State Police as his private army, when in fact it was created in 1922 -- User:badtux26 May 2006)

The complaints about his control of the press wern't about how he succeded in making them like him but about how he tried to violate the 1st amendment in using government power to supress the ones that did criticise him(the article even states that at one point he got a law passed forbiding criticism of elected officials.) this is in response to badtux's coments. Just because things are critical of a person dosn't mean that they arn't true and over all I find this article FAR more forgiving of him than almost all theother sources I have seen. 71.112.93.170 23:25, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Charity Hospitals?

This article doesn't mention Huey's funding of the Charity Hospitals at all. I'm not a Huey Scholar (although if I can dig up one of my books on the Longs I could get my cites correct, I suppose) but I see no mention of the Charities, or for that matter, now that I think about it, his support of LSU and the fact that he started the LSU Medical School. --In the section marked 1930-1932 the second paragraph states the designer of the Charity Hospitals while Long was governor.Bee514bee 04:27, 2 July 2007 (UTC)July 2, 2007

[edit] Curious pattern

I would award this the Unlikely Target of Long-Term Vandalism Barnstar, but apparently someone's taken that one off the list.--Pharos 03:13, 1 December 2005 (UTC)

Not surprising Long was a colorful and controversial figure who is still the subject of films or documentaries. That said wasn't he generally called "Huey P. Long?" Granted Google search has 50% more for "Huey Long", but I'm not sure that's significant.--T. Anthony 12:12, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Assassination Theories

I examined the site which supposedly supports the claim that eyewitnesses saw no gun in Weiss's hand. It says nothing about it. I will be removing this statement later this evening unless someone can support it with citation.--Ramon omar 19:14, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

It is not likely that the details of this incident will ever be known. I edited the summary of the shooting to describe that he died. Readers who are interested can see the details and theories about his death later in the article. RPellessier | Talk 18:46, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bibliography?

Considering the enormous number of books written on Huey Long, I'm surprised there's no bibliography attached to this article. I'll be putting together a very selected bibliography in a week or two, as soon as I'm back home in Baton Rouge. --Michael K. Smith 15:16, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

Couldn't wait. I had a free couple of hours from my conference and dug into my own files, and posted a selected list. If the prefatory note isn't acceptable, someone can delete it. --Michael K. Smith 17:32, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] No references at all?

The article contains plenty of detail, but not a single references. Bibliography does not equal references. Bibliography is for further detail. But what was used to create the article? Was it copied from some other site? Patiwat 10:21, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

There have been quite a few modifications to this article since, but the bulk of the material was written by me earlier this summer. I used these 5 books as references,and listed them in the bibliography:
   * Boulard, Garry. Huey Long Invades New Orleans: the Siege of a City, 1934-36. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Co., 1998.
   * Brinkley, Alan. Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression. New York, NY: Knopf, 1982. 
   * Hair, William Ivy. "The Kingfish and His Realm: The Life and Times of Huey P. Long." LSU Press, 1991.
   * White, Richard D., Jr. Kingfish: the Reign of Huey P. Long. Random House, 2006.
   * Williams, T. Harry. Huey Long. Knopf, 1969.
At the time, I didn't really think of citing every sentence, especially since a lot of the material comes from several books simultaneously. If there were a couple of specific things in particular you think should be cited I could try and dig up page numbers and such, but I'm really not up for re-reading all five books in order to cite the entire article.Praxedis G 16:12, 7 October 2006 (UTC)


I can give one citation for the "alternate theory" of Long's death. It's contained in "Bones, A Forensic Detective's Casebook" by Dr. Douglas Ubelaker and Henry Scammel on pages 223-226, although all Ubelaker determined was that so many bullets hit Weiss from all directions that it might be a bit surprising if nobody else was injured. DavidJohns 22:15, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Lt.Governor, fired?

How could Governor Long fire Lieutenant Governor Cyr (an elected official)?. This needs to be explained. GoodDay 17:52, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

I've clarified how Cyr was removed form office and added a citation to the article. Praxedis G 19:53, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
The citation isn't linked. GoodDay 20:05, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
I cited a book, not a website, so it's not supposed to be linked. Praxedis G 20:29, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
Sorry 'bout that. I ment to say, there wasn't a 'direct' to the Bibliography/References of this page. There's is now (you've just fixed it), thanks. GoodDay 20:38, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
No problem, I should've figured that that's what you meant.... Praxedis G 20:48, 12 March 2001 (UTC)

[edit] Quality of article

Seems to have a lot of good material, but without someone giving inline citations for quotes and assertions from scholarly sources, the article is unlikely to get the recognition it deserves. From what I've seen, reviews for good and featured articles are rigorous.--Parkwells (talk) 19:26, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Date of end of senate term

If Long died on September 10 1935 why is the end date of his senate service given as August 30 1935? Geoff97 (talk) 20:12, 25 May 2008 (UTC)