estimable day!Michael Stusser , here , with another This sidereal day in Blogstery !
read the hilarious interview after the saltation …
THE INTERVIEW
Huey Long ( Aug. 30 , 1893 - Sept. 10 , 1935 )
Michael Stusser : Can I call you Kingfish ?
Huey Long : I reckon . The name came from a eccentric on the " Amos " ˜n ' Andy" wireless show , George " Kingfish" Stevens , who execute the Mystic Knights of the Sea .
MS : passel of recording label have been tossed in your direction — communist , clown , fascist , Despot of the Delta , Caesar of the Bayou . How would you account yourself ?
hectoliter : come up out for yourself . I wrote an autobiography [ Every Man A King ] at the stamp age of 39 . Too much bein ' tell about me without me sayin ' it !
MS : Could you give us the synopsis ?
HL : You have it away the label , eh ? Well , I hypothesize I ’d call myself an anti - corporate populist . But that miss the part about being an modern , ornery , revolutionary rabble - rouser , now does n’t it ?
MS : How ‘bout dictator ?
HL : Dictator ? You ever hear of a dictator who widened the base of suffrage in his land ? Or repealed a poll tax that kept the little confrere from voting ? dictator do that ?
MS : Yeah , but you took control of all the taxation . And you charter all the police and ran the DoS militia . In fact , in 1934 , you used your influence to abolish the local governance altogether and make a law that only you could appoint state employees .
HL : Uh huh .
MS : citizen had no say in what was going on . I ’m just sayin ' , it ’s kinda like a dictator .
hectoliter : Listen — I messed around a good bit with what went on ‘cause Louisiana ’s loose ; things would ’ve set out out of manus if I had n’t . They came to me with problems , looked to me for leadership , and I give it to ‘em . And countenance ’s not forget : When I ran for regulator in 1928 , I advance 93,000 votes ; the other guy had 3,700 . [ It was the great vote margin in the state ’s history . ]
MS : You loved to campaign , did n’t you ?
HL : I loved spreadin ' my message to the good phratry of Louisiana .
MS : relieve up , Kingfish . You ’re starting to sound like a used - car dealer .
hectoliter : You ’re favorable I ’m numb , boy ! Did you hear about the two gent who tried to pressure me during my Senate campaign ?
MS : Yes , Mr. Long . You had them kidnap until two days after the suffrage . It ’s a good model of why opponents hate your methods .
HL : Hey , I learn all those antic from them when they were tryin ' to keep me out . Them crooked bellyachers used to launch the province for themselves . Do n’t palpate real bad for ‘em now , do ya ?
MS : What did you conceive about the racial conflict in your state ?
hectoliter : There were too many unknowledgeable white people with hatred in their affectionateness from the Civil War . They did n’t require dyed folks to go to school , so I open night school day instead .
MS : And were they part of your other programs ?
hectoliter : Hell yes . I ’m for the wretched humankind , see ? Black people are entitled to house just like all of us . Got to give ‘em clinics , too — keep ‘em goodly . I tried to do thing for everybody — blacks , White , do n’t matter . My issuance are magnate and political economy ; I ’m stayin ' out of race and religion . Do n’t need that fight .
MS : Tell us a little about Hattie Caraway .
HL : Senator Hattie Caraway . She was the first cleaning lady to get elect to the Senate , and my own political party decided not to support her re - election ! I said I ’d help her — I liked her estimation — and she won two - to - one . I would ’ve brought Roosevelt down , too , if I ’d had the prison term .
MS : talk of Roosevelt , FDR called you one of the most dangerous men in America .
HL : Yep , but he did n’t have the spunk to support my sound idea .
MS : Which was ?
HL : The Share - Our - Wealth computer programme — a home redistribution of juicy - cat riches that put caps on incomes and would have confiscated inheritances of more than a million dollar .
MS : It ’s a wonder that never took cargo hold .
hectolitre : Listen , sonny , my thought was to guarantee an annual income and a homestead to families . If that sound ultra , then I ’m ultra .
MS : You made a habit of bashing the rich .
HL : Boy , it was 1935 . The gravid Depression was five years honest-to-god and there were 10 million unemployed . What should I have done , praise ‘em ? Rockefeller , Morgan , and the lot " ¦ 4 percent of the people owned 85 percentage of the riches ! That ai n’t right .
MS : You once order you ’d be happy to go out political life once your dream for America was realized . truthful ?
HL : We ’ll never know , will we ? But I will say this : We ’re still not even close to bein ' there . Alleviating the lot of the dispossessed ? Feeding the thirsty ? Closing the gap between rich and poor ? I shoulda been President of the United States . The country call for me more than ever .
multiple sclerosis : Do you cerebrate the copious had you assassinated ?
HL : Naw . Carl [ Carl Weiss , the adult male who fatally shot Long ] was just angry I was puttin ' his daddy out of a job . [ Weiss ' father - in - law was a Louisana judge about to be gerrymander . ] But if he had n’t done it , somebody else probably would have .
MS : It ’s a shame we ’ll never fuck what you would have done as president .
HL : Just read My First Days in the White House [ published posthumously ] . That ’ll tell you all about it .
MS : Thanks for meeting me , sir . And I bed the pajamas . Nice touch modality .
hectolitre : Come see me in Louisiana anytime . And tell me , how ’s my favorite city , New Orleans , hold up ? big city in the world !
MS : Have a mint mint julep , sir . In fact , I ’ll have one , too " ¦
