Ken Burns America Collection: Huey Long (1985)

America's memory of Huey Long owes a lot to two films: this 1985 documentary by Ken Burns, and Robert Rossen's 1949 movie, "All The King's Men." Both the documentary and the movie portray a hero of the common people, who rises to be dictator of his state, then falls to an assassin's bullet. Yet there are large differences.The movie was inspired by Robert Penn Warren's novel of the same title, which in turn was inspired by Long's career (a fact that Warren famously and unconvincingly denied). The movie's hero (named Willie Stark) is very bright, but a hick - a redneck - by birth and childhood circumstances. His political career only catches fire when he learns to hammer his audiences with the tough sternness of a hick pounding fellow-hicks.In contrast, Huey Long, in the documentary, is born to a hardworking, middle-class family, which sent most of its offspring to college, at a time when only one in twenty American children had that privilege. Huey was an accomplished debater in high school, and a persuasive salesman in his first full-time job. After just a year in Law School, he passed the bar, and soon was elected, at age 24, to the Louisiana Railroad Commission.The movie confines Stark's political career to governor and boss of his state, and his policies primarily to state-sponsored public works, e.g., highways, public education, hospital care. The documentary adds Long's years as United States Senator, crusader for the redistribution of Americans' wealth, and probable candidate for the Democratic nomination for President in 1936.The documentary includes colorful excerpts from Long's speeches, crusading against economic inequality: "4% of the American people own 85% of the wealth of America," while "70% of the people of America don't own enough to pay the debts they owe." "The Lord has answered the prayer, he has called the barbecue. Come to my feast, he says to 125 million American people. He has invited Americans to his feast, but Morgan, Rockefeller, and Mellon and Baruch have walked up and took 85% of the victuals off the table. Now, how ya gonna feed the balance of the people? What are Morgan, Rockefeller, Mellon and Baruch gonna do with all that grub? They cain't eat it, they cain't wear the clothes, they cain't live in the houses. Give `em a yacht! Give `em a palace! Send `em to Reno & give `em a new wife if they want, if that's what they want. But when they've got everything on God's living earth that they can eat, and they can wear and they can live in, and all their children can wear, and live in, and eat, and all their children's children can use, we gotta call Mr. Morgan and Mr. Rockefeller and Mr. Mellon back, and say: Come back heah, put back on this table heah what you took away from heah, the stuff you don't need; leave something for the American people to consume."The documentary notes the tremendous public response to Long's crusade, but fails to take seriously his plan for redistributing American wealth. The plan is not described; its merits, pro and con, are not weighed. This failure is my reason for giving Burns' work four, rather than five stars. I won't try here to discuss the merits of the plan, but its main provisions -- very large taxes and subsidies -- are stated below. I found them in a slim book of Long's speeches, entitled "Kingfish to America: Share Our Wealth," edited by Henry Christman,1985, and available on Amazon.By taxing savings and property, the wealth of the very rich would be reduced, so that "no one would own more than 3 or 4 million dollars." Income would also be taxed, to "limit the total anyone could earn or inherit in one year to $1 million." [These 1934 limits were actually less severe than they sound in 2009. Due to inflation, one million 1934 dollars would equal over 15.4 million 2009 dollars, and four million 1934 dollars would equal over 61 million 2009 dollars.]The money thus gained was estimated to provide every needy family in America with "a home and the comforts of home, including such common conveniences as a radio and an automobile, free of debt." The government would "guarantee food and clothing and employment for everyone who should work, by shortening the hours of labor to thirty hours per week, and to eleven months per year." Education would be free for every child, not just through high school, but on through college and vocational education. Everyone over 60 years old, whose income was less than $1,000 per year, or whose net worth was less than $10,000, would receive a pension sufficient to support them in comfortable circumstances.

"Huey Long" (1985) by Ken Burns tried to defame and demonize Huey Long, but failed...Long was a "good guy," and this doc shows that.U.S. Senator (and former Lousinana governor) Huey P. Long was an opponent of Franklin Roosevelt, and might have won the 1936 USA Presidentail election, but he was murdered in cold blood in front of dozens of people in September of 1935, the year before the 1936 election.Revisionist history instructs us all (especially if we attended government schools, which always provide doctrinaire political viewpoints when USA history is taught) to revere President Franklin Roosevelt and all he did (nobody much now questions the USA entering World War II which killed half a million USA citizens in less than 4 years, even though most of pre-WWII America opposed entering the war, and many historians opine that Roosevelt engineered and manipulated USA entrance into that war...many state that entrance into WWII was neither desirable nor justified).That same revisionist history demonized Sen. Huey P. Long, and anti-Long slogans from his opponents have made their way into post WWII history books and movies and become "respected facts." The Ken Burns "Huey Long" (1985) tries to be anti-Long, but fails.Many anti-Long partisans, some very famous and influential, state the anti-Long case, but somehow, they are not believable.What comes through in this documentary, in spite of the obvious bias of the filmmakers who present it, is that Sen. Huey P. Long was a man of astonishing ability and accomplishment who had goals many politicians of the 1930's and later stated they shared, but came much closer to delivering on his public promises than most others stating they shared his same "redistribute the wealth" agenda ever did.Huey Long delivered.That is the unmistakable message of this documentary.The anti-Long sentiment and invective melts away in the face of that message, and the considerable evidence which supports it.He was a good man who died young, and people hoping for good people part of politics in the USA's future can and should remember who he was, and how close he came to getting national leadership power, and using it well.--------------Written by SAG Actor Tex (David) Allen.

Huey Long is without a doubt one of the most fascinating and troubling figures in American history. And once again Ken Burns does a magnificent job profiling a true American original. With Ken's typical exhaustive research, interviews with people who knew him Ken gives a very balanced look had a very complicated man. Huey Long was adored and despised at the same time. He was a man who many felt was the only one that cared about the poor, yet he was one of the most corrupt and dishonest politicians in history who took tons of money for himself and his cronies. Somebody who had such an obsession with power, that he didn't want to stop being governor of the state of Louisiana even after he was elected to the Senate and even that wasn't enough for him ultimately he wanted to be president. As the documentary shows there was almost as many people who were relieved when he was shot to death in the state capitol then we're saddened by it. Another superb documentary from Ken I very much recommend this

Every Ken Burns production is well-researched and produced in a compelling manner. This particular rendition is important because it demonstrates the danger of demagogues lurking in America and able to promote themselves in the name of some populist cause during dire times. While Long was a comical character in many respects, he was equally scary in what he was able to accomplish in a short amount of time. Invariably these champions of the people are adept at enriching themselves (love "the deduct box") while concurrently advancing their causes.

A brilliant way to find out the Huey Long story. This may be one of Ken Burns' earliest documentaries but it is none the worse for it. A fantastic filmmaker making an informative flick about a brave if out there Dixie politician...what's not to like?Also recommended is the T. Harry Williams' biography of Huey Long. Read that if you want more information after viewing this fine film.