Huey Long

LittleSpeer

Monthly Donor
I have heard much of the man but not a lot of the extension of his life.
What could he really have done if he had lived on?
 

Ariosto

Caused Chaos.

In reality it depends on how you perceived the man. Some think him a demagogue in waiting, others a God Send who was taken before his time.​
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
He would've remained a colorful thorn in the side of the Democrats, despised by every one of his Senate colleagues and legislatively impotent, just like OTL.

Huey's one of those folks that tends to get talked up. Like, a lot.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
LittleSpeer said:
Could he really have split the vote in '36 or '40?
Click to expand...
I'd be really surprised if he managed it. The Democratic Establishment hated the guy, and I can't see him siphoning more than a few thousand votes from Roosevelt. And his Share the Wealth movement attracted its fair share of crazies who really didn't know how to hide their craziness. Coughlin and Gerald K. Smith (who presided over Long's funeral) were just two of the nuttier ones who wasted no time jumping from populism to outright fascism.
 
Zioneer

Zioneer

Banned
Seeing as how my user title used to be "Utah's Huey Long", I'll give you a bit more favorable opinion on him (I think he was a great person, but not a good person), then those who have commented thus far.

I think that, had he lived, he could maybe have had a chance to be a Democratic President, but his scheme to split the vote was harebrained and unlikely to work, for multiple reasons; one being that it relied on him not getting the blame for a Democratic defeat, two being that it relied on the Republican candidate not simply co-opting the New Deal, and thus avoiding making Share the Wealth an attractive option, and third being that he simply didn't have the national infrastructure that he had in Louisania; even if he did manage to create the party, it wouldn't win national elections soon enough for his liking.

If Long lived and didn't do the Share the Wealth Party, but simply made himself a Democrat espousing the Share the Wealth platform, he could have a chance to grow powerful from that, but not the third party.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Top