Huey Long campaigns to a rural audience in his trademark white linen suit Courtesy of LSU Libraries Special Collections
In 1928, Huey Long ran again for Louisiana governor, campaigning with the slogan, “Every man a king,” a phrase adopted from populist hero William Jennings Bryan. Huey’s revolutionary campaign and victory toppled the corrupt political establishment that had ruled since the French. Louisiana — and its politics — would never be the same.
Key Facts:
Huey campaigned on “Every Man a King,” promising roads, education, healthcare, and lower property taxes.
He traveled 15,000 miles, made 600 speeches, and used flyers, posters, and radio to reach voters.
His fiery speeches, humor, and showmanship drew massive crowds, transforming Louisiana politics forever.
He defeated Louisiana’s political establishment, winning by the largest margin in state history.
He rejected racial politics, focusing instead on economic reform and fighting corporate control.
Louisiana was stirring … The trappers and fishermen of the bayous, the Cajun farmers of the south and the redneck farmers of the hill parishes, the sharecroppers and tenants everywhere, and the laborers in the towns and the small businessmen in the villages … Now suddenly a champion had appeared to them, one who promised to lead them to a better life …
Biographer T. Harry Williams, "Huey Long"
Historical Timeline
Jan 1924
Death of Lenin, rise of Stalin in Soviet Union
Apr 1924
Huey Long defeated by conservative Henry L. Fuqua for La. governor
May 1924
Johnson-Reed Immigration Act sets strict quotas on Southern and Eastern Europeans, excludes Asians
Sep 1924
City of New Orleans enacts racial zoning law enforcing neighborhood segregation (later struck down by U.S. Supreme Ct.)
Dec 1924
J. Edgar Hoover becomes FBI director
Jan 1925
Benito Mussolini assumes dictatorial powers in Italy
Jul 1925
Scopes 'Monkey Trial' in Tennessee pits evolution vs. creationism in public schools
Jul 1925
Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf in Germany
Aug 1925
30,000+ members of the Ku Klux Klan march on Washington, D.C.
Nov 1926
NBC Radio Network debuts with 19 stations, expanding mass media
Apr 1927
Mississippi River flood displaces over one million people; New Orleans dynamites levee inundating Black and poor white communities
May 1927
Charles Lindbergh makes first solo nonstop transatlantic flight
Apr 17, 1928
Huey Long elected Governor of Louisiana in landslide victory
Louisiana was run by the New Orleans-based political establishment, called the “Old Regulars,” who exercised total control of state government through the legislature and a network of local sheriffs and “courthouse rings.” These “machine politicians” enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with the wealthy planter class and large corporations and utilities, who were given free reign to profit off the state in return for their support.
Meanwhile, Louisiana was widely regarded as the most backward state in the nation. Public education was virtually non-existent among the masses, and one in four adults could not read. Most families could not afford to purchase the textbooks required for their children to attend school. Dirt roads and abundant water hazards made travel and commerce difficult. The poll tax hindered the lower classes from voting, and the poor paid disproportionately high property taxes for state services they never received.
A brilliant orator, Long made hundreds of campaign speeches among rural voters, expressing a vision for a new Louisiana in which government would be responsive to the needs of its people. He promised Louisiana’s needy citizens good roads, bridges, free hospital care, free education, and lower property taxes.
Long won the election by the largest margin in the state’s history, and his closest opponent refused to face him in a run-off. His support transcended the traditional Protestant-Catholic divide of Louisiana politics and replaced it with a new division between the “pro-Long” average citizens and the “anti-Longs” from the wealthy establishment that had been ousted from power. At Huey’s inauguration, more than 15,000 supporters flocked to the capital to see one of their own take the oath as governor.