![]() Huey Long’s life was not as easy as that of Franklin Roosevelt and while he was an excellent salesman, the businesses that employed him went out of business more than once, leaving him in dire financial straights. Franklin Roosevelt went to Albany where he became a prominent member of a number of reform minded Democrats, hostile to the powerful Tammany Hall machine, which dominated New York City’s politics. FDR was interested in politics and ran for and won a seat in the New York State Senate from an ordinarily Republican district. Roosevelt’s time in law offices was less to earn a living than a respite from his other activities. Roosevelt did finish all his required courses and was also a lawyer, although he was never especially interested in practicing law. The twenty-one year old Long passed the Bar examination with ease.įranklin D. Huey Long didn’t complete his courses at Tulane, but managed to take a special oral exam to pass the Bar. Long did manage to attend the University of Oklahoma Law School briefly and his brother, Julius, who was a lawyer, gave him the money to study law at Tulane University. Huey managed to stay for one semester, but rapidly concluded he did not want to be a preacher. She urged Huey to become a Baptist minister and actually sent him to attend a seminary in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Huey’s mother had always hoped her son would be drawn to the ministry. Only seventeen years old, the irrepressible Huey Long traveled widely throughout the South selling his wares, which included cooking oils and questionable medicines. Long felt he could not afford the cost of books and room and board, so he opted to take a job as a traveling salesman. Huey Long had actually won a scholarship to attend Louisiana State University after he had excelled in a statewide debating competition. ![]() Huey violently protested when his parents insisted he attend a one-room schoolhouse after his parents and other parents in Winn Parish had collectively raised enough money to hire a teacher for their children. In some respects, her children received a better education than that provided by the public schools in Louisiana at the time. Long determined her own children would receive an education and she painstakingly provided an education for her youngsters. While there was no public school in Winn Parish, Mrs. Huey was not being entirely truthful and his mother, Caledonia, would likely have been horrified by her son’s statement. I have not the learning to do otherwise, and therefore my ignorance is often not detected.” But the thing that takes me far in politics is that I do not have to color what comes into my mind and into my heart. I have not even had a high school education. President, I am not undertaking to answer the charge that I am ignorant. Huey’s formal education ended early in his life and during a speech on the floor of the United States Senate once said, “Mr. Roosevelt attended the best schools, including Groton and Harvard. Winn Parish and the Hudson Valley were as different as Huey Long and Franklin Roosevelt. Robber baron financier Jay Gould bought Lydenhurst mansion, an American castle, in the Hudson Valley as his retreat from the pressures of business. Among the neighbors of the Roosevelts were some of the wealthiest families in the country, including that of Ogden Mills and Frederick Vanderbilt. The Hudson River, while once considered quite treacherous to navigate, flows between the banks of large estates. The trees glisten in the soft autumn sunlight as the vibrant yellows, red, and orange leaves sway gently in a soft breeze. Anyone who has witnessed fall in the Hudson Valley can never forget it. ![]() Folks were generally kind to one another, as neighbors needed one another to survive.įranklin Delano Roosevelt was born on the estate of the family home, “Springwood”, a sprawling mansion in the lush Hudson Valley of New York. Most families in Winn Parish subsisted on whatever they could raise on their farms and life was hard as they had few diversions and acquired little or no education. That was a stark contrast to most of the families in Winn Parish, as most of them were dirt poor. Long, Sr., was a livestock farmer and his family lived in a large home. By the standards of the time, his family was certainly comfortable, if not well off. Long liked to claim he had been born into a very poor family, which was not true. Long was one of nine surviving children born into a family in Winn Parish, Louisiana, one of the poorest parts of the state. The handsome, courtly Roosevelt was the scion of a famous and wealthy family, the coddled and adored only child of his parents. Two of the most successful politicians of the same era, Huey Pierce Long and Franklin Delano Roosevelt could hardly have been more different. Huey Long in full regalia, on parade, 1934.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |