Huey Long

The recent remake of the Robert Penn Warren's classic American novel, All the King's Men, as a film starring Sean Penn has not been a commercial or critical success, so it is unclear just how much new interest it has awakened in the Louisiana populist politician Huey Long. One of the strange aspects of Long's career is that he comes out of the tradition of American populism, which basically represents the concerns of the "little man." While much populist sentiments today are directed at intellectuals, liberals, Hollywood, elites, and the mainstream media, Long directed his brickbats at those who controlled American wealth. (Read more about Long at Wikipedia.) Here in this Morning Edition piece (12/23/1997 - 3:19), we can hear Long in a broadcast from December 1934, attack J. D. Rockefeller, among others.

Musings

• Imagine Long's speech in 2006. What politician today would make such a speech? Would that person be a conservative or liberal? Was Long a liberal or a conservative?
  
  
• Populism is a little understood but nonetheless still powerful force in American life. Read more about populism here.

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