U.S. History 1877-Present 8.5: Plans for Recovery

excess and redistribute it to the masses... kind of like Robin Hood, if Robin Hood

was a bombastic Louisiana senator. Well, many people accused Huey of being a [Long dressed as Robin Hood]

demagogue, which is a politician who appeals to the masses by tapping into [demagogue definition]

their base desires and prejudices rather than by proposing policies that actually

make sense. Well, demagogue or not, Huey definitely had popular appeal. Tons of

poverty-stricken Americans ate up his Robin Hood-y message and went crazy for [Americans "eat up" Long's rhetoric]

his folksy charm. Some of Huey's memorable shtick included comparing the

Depression-era economy to a Louisiana barbecue. He asked, "How many men ever went [Long uses BBQ analogy]

a barbecue and would let one man take off the table what's intended for

nine-tenths of the people to eat? The only way you'll ever be able to feed the

balance of the people is to make that man come back and bring back some of

that grub that he ain't got no business with." Great... now we're hungry. Bring the

potato salad. All right, Huey continually went off on mega-rich guys like Morgan,

Rockefeller, and Mellon, saying they'd taken away more than their share. Well, [rich men are upset]

what were these fat cats going to do with all that money? asked Huey. Basically, he

painted the rich like Smaug sitting on his golden hoard, and Huey claimed to know

how to slay the dragon... and he wasn't talking about tickling them to death. Well, these [Long paints a dragon]

days most would agree that Huey's plan was wildly unrealistic. That, of course,

didn't stop him from becoming wildly popular. America has always liked to play

pretend. By 1935, Long claimed that more than 7.5 million Americans subscribed to the [Long pushes popular but unrealistic ideas]

mailing list of the 27,000 Share Our Wealth clubs scattered throughout the

country. Long, who criticized the New Deal as too conservative, pondered an independent

run for the White House in 1936, and Democratic polls indicated he might win [Long considers running for president]

as many as three or four million votes, potentially costing President Roosevelt [election poll results]

his re-election. Well, the thought of losing because a guy who used barbecue

metaphors made FDR pretty steamed. Roosevelt even called Huey one of the [steam from FDR's ear]

two most dangerous men in the country. Some even feared that Huey Long's wild

popularity made him a likely candidate to become an American fascist dictator. [Long called a potential dictator]

Yeah, we kid you not. As it turned out, the most dangerous man in America was in

danger himself. His left populist challenge to Roosevelt ended on [Long pictured]

September 8, 1935 when he was assassinated inside the Louisiana State

Capitol by the son-in-law of a local political enemy. Stick a fork in him [Long assassinated]

there, he's done. What? No more barbecue metaphors? [picture of fork]