Senator in 1930. If we could only succeed in having the government hold fortunes down to a few million dollars to any one man, then there would be something on which to run the country and for the people. By the summer of 1935, there were more than 27,000 Share Our Wealth clubs with a membership of more than 7.5 million. Chapter 1 Wherein a New President Takes Office and Outlines a Program to Share Our Wealth. were forming local units of Long's Share Our Wealth Society, the purpose of which, Long claimed, was to advance his economic program, but whose real goal, most observers believed, was to promote Long's … Long advocated free higher education and vocational training, pensions for the elderly, veterans benefits and health care, and a yearly stipend for all families earning less than one-third the national average income – enough for a home, an automobile, a radio, and the ordinary conveniences. Liberal journalists alleged that a prominent Wall Street bank hired a public relations firm to plant negative stories about Long in the media. [10], "Every Man a King" redirects here. Long with some of the 60,000 pieces of mail he received weekly at his U.S. Senate office. [5], The official slogan of the Share Our Wealth movement was "Every Man a King (But No One Wears a Crown)", which also became the title of a song co-written by Long in 1935 to promote his proposal. Long, a left-wing populist, first proposed the plan in a national radio address, which is now referred to as the "Share Our Wealth Speech". To stimulate the economy, he advocated massive … According to the tables which we have assembled, it is our estimate that 4 percent of the American people own 85 percent of the wealth … Annual incomes would be limited to $1 million and inheritances would be capped at $5.1 million. Huey P. Long, “Every Man a King” and “Share our Wealth” (1934) Amid the economic indignities of the Great Depression, Huey P. Long of Louisiana championed an aggressive program of public spending … Meanwhile, the conservative national media dismissed Long’s program, lampooning Long as a "hick", "buffoon", "communist", "socialist" and "fascist dictator". Read the full text of Huey Long's original Share Our Wealth speech. (Historians note that at the time there were only … Huey Long "Kingfish", A Senator from Louisiana who proposed a "Share Our Wealth" program that promised a minimum annual income of $5,000 for every American family which would be paid for by … The poor regarded Long as a champion of the common man and swept him into power by large majorities. By 1935, Long was the third-most photographed man in America, after President Roosevelt and celebrity aviator Charles Lindburgh. Long frequently used national radio addresses to champion his causes to an estimated 25 million listeners. Following one of his radio speeches, Long received more than 720,000 letters in less than a month, far surpassing the amount of mail received by the President. The key planks of the Share Our Wealth platform included: Long believed that the underlying cause of the Great Depression, (which he called "Mr. Roosevelt's depression") was the growing disparity between the rich and everyone else. For the Huey Long book, see, "Huey Long's Programs - Share Our Wealth, Share the Wealth", Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, "Assassination of Huey P. Long - Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Death of the Louisiana Kingfish", "Huey P. Long's Last Operation: When Medicine and Politics Don't Mix", "Share Our Wealth (a.k.a. When I proposed such a thing here, it looked like it would set the woods on fire against me.”. Centralized power in the hands of a few, with centralized credit in the hands of a few, is the trouble.”. Share Our Wealth was a movement that began in February 1934, during the Great Depression, by Huey Long, a governor and later United States Senator from Louisiana. In a national radio address on February 23, 1934, Huey Long unveiled his “Share Our Wealth” plan (also known as Huey Long's "Share the Wealth" plan), a program designed to provide a decent standard of living to all Americans by spreading the nation’s wealth among the people. Huey Long, Share Our Wealth (1935) Huey Long, "Share Our Wealth" (1935) Huey Long cemented his control as governor of Louisiana by using state power and state funds to improve social services, to build roads, bridges, and schools, and to reform tax codes. After addressing a crowd of 15,000 in Pittsburgh, a local official estimated that Long could easily win 250,000 votes in his district if he ran for President. Huey Long addressing the nation on CBS radio. Huey Long was Governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1930. Sincerely, Huey P. Long… Expect that. Huey P. Long (1893- 1935): Governor, U.S. In 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, the American people voted into the Oval Office one of the most progressive presidents we've ever had. Many of today’s federal programs address causes championed by Huey Long: “The same mill that grinds out the extra rich is the same mill that will grind out the extra poor, because, in order that the extra rich can become so affluent, they must necessarily take more of what ordinarily would belong to the average man,” said Long. Huey Long speaking with John A Simpson, President of the National Farmer's Union, in 1934. Huey Long's Share Our Wealth Speech In a national radio address on February 23, 1934, Huey Long unveiled his “Share Our Wealth” plan, a program designed to provide a decent standard of living to all Americans by spreading the nation’s wealth among the people. Long charged that the nation’s economic collapse was the result of the vast disparity between the super-rich and everyone else. Excerpt from Essay : An Analysis of Huey Long’s “Share Our Wealth” The purpose of this paper is to provide a discussion concerning Huey Long’s speech, “Share Our Wealth,” delivered in a nationwide … Franklin D. Roosevelt believed in using the power of the federal government to actively fight the Depression. Share Our Wealth was a movement begun during the Great Depression by Huey Long, governor and later senator from Louisiana. Free education and training for all students to have equal opportunities in all schools, colleges, universities, and other institutions for training in the professions and vocations of life. To balance agricultural production, the government would preserve/store surplus goods, abolishing the practice of destroying surplus food and other necessities due to lack of purchasing power. Institutionalised as a nationwide Share Our Wealth Society, Long’s movement soon had no fewer than 7.5 million members. In 1934 Long organized his o… The raising of revenue and taxes for the support of this program was to come from the reduction of swollen fortunes from the top, as well as for the support of public works to give employment whenever there may be any slackening necessary in private enterprise. But be that as it may, it will still be more than any one man, or any one man and his children and their children, will be able to spend in their lifetimes; and it is not necessary or reasonable to have wealth piled up beyond the point where we cannot prevent poverty among the masses.”. He ruled Louisiana as a virtual dictator, but he also initiated massive public works programs, improved public education and public health, and even established some restrictions on corporate power in the state. He blamed the mass suffering on a capitalist system run amok and feared that impending civil unrest threatened the democracy. Long countered that the national newspapers were the pawns of the wealthy Wall Street financiers who were threatened by his program. Democratic National Committee Chairman James Farley estimated that Huey could draw up to 6 million popular votes in the 1936 election. good. Long’s deluge of fan mail prompted the Senate to provide Long with extra office space to accomodate 32 typists, who worked around the clock to respond to all the mail. “Our present plan is that we will allow no one man to own more than $50 million,” Long told the radio audience of millions. His “Share the Wealth” plan proposed that no one would make more than a million a year. [1] Long, a left-wing populist,[2] first proposed the plan in a national radio address, which is now referred to as the "Share Our Wealth Speech".[3]. A political poll by the Roosevelt re-election team, the first national poll of its kind, revealed that Long was siphoning key Democratic support from FDR's campaign. Veterans would be paid a pension and healthcare benefits. In 1934 a senator from Louisiana, Huey Long, proposed a plan he called "Share our Wealth." D. Share Our Wealth asks students to compare and contrast Huey Long’s Share our Wealth Program, as presented to the U.S. Senate in 1934, with Franklin Roosevelt’s 1934 Fireside Chat, Review of the Progress of the Seventy-third Congress. By 1934, nearly half of all American families lived in poverty, earning less than $1,250 annually. White supremacists charged that Long was attempting to organize blacks to vote. Huey Long never received credit for the government reforms that resulted Smith traveled the nation, drawing huge crowds in support of Long’s program, and by the end of 1934, the movement already had three million members. [6], Long was a populist, extremely popular in his home state of Louisiana, but many saw his Share Our Wealth proposal as an unworkable plan that threatened the reforms of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, especially by the right. Huey Long rose to national stature in the early 1930s for his avid criticism of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal. Because no one could afford to buy goods and services, businesses were forced to cut their workforces, thus deepening the economic crisis through a devastating ripple effect. Share Our Wealth Plan explained:-use income tax to tax away large fortunes-Promised every family in the entire country: … As a senator, Long burnished his national profile. Huey Long's Share Our Wealth. In subsequent speeches and writings, he revised his graduated tax levy on wealth over $1 million to cap fortunes at $5 - $8 million (or $60 - $96 million today). But on September 10th 1935, Huey Long died after being shot by the vengeful son of a local political rival in New Orleans, leaving the Share Our Wealth … Yearly income, however, cannot exceed more than 300 times the size of the average family income. Now that I am pressing this program, the lies and abuse in the big newspapers and over the radio are a matter of daily occurrence. $12 million today), Limit inheritances to five million dollars each (about $60 million today), Guarantee every family an annual income of $2,000 (or one-third the national average), Free college education and vocational training, Greater regulation of commodity production to stabilize prices, Labor rights, minimum wage and 40-hour work week standards. Long split with Roosevelt in June 1933, becoming a prominent critic of his New Deal. Long’s rapid rise in national popularity is credited with Roosevelt’s Second New Deal of 1935, a more liberal version of his New Deal agenda, which included proposals for Social Security (old age pensions), the Works Progress Administration (public works projects), the National Youth Administration (financial aid and employment for students), the National Labor Relations Board (rights of unions to organize, minimum wage and 40-hour work week), the Public Utility Holding Company Act (regulation of public utilities), the Farm Security Administration (assistance to farmers), and the Wealth Tax Act (graduated income and inheritance taxes). Huey Long: Share Our Wealth (1935) Huey Long cemented his control as governor of Louisiana by using state power and state funds to improve social services; to build roads, bridges, and schools; and to … His Share Our Wealth Plan and Share Our Wealth Society (established late 1934) proposed a heavy tax on the wealthy and established a maximum limit to accumulated wealth. After Huey Long restructured the tax code in Louisiana, the average family saved the equivalent of $5,100 in today's dollars. While Long was an early supporter of Franklin Roosevelt, by the fall of 1933 the Long-Roosevelt alliance had ruptured, in part over Longs growing interest in running for president. Share the Wealth Washington, D.C., December 11, 1935 Huey Long. By requiring corporations to pay their share of taxes and shifting the burden for public services from local munici­palities to the state, the cost of living went down and the standard of living went up — dramatically and quickly. Long … Long proposed his own radical Share Our Wealth program, which called … Senator, Radical Populist and Founder of the “Share Our Wealth Society” Ed. It is the nucleus of a … >> Learn more about Huey Long's economic reforms and other programs. In a national radio speech on February 23, 1934, Huey Long unveiled his Share Our Wealth plan, a program designed to provide a decent standard of living to all Americans by spreading the nations wealth among the people. In Long’s view, this concentration of money among a handful of wealthy bankers and industrialists restricted its availability for average citizens, who were already struggling with debt and the effects of a shrinking economy. Huey Long first came to national attention as governor of Louisiana in 1928 and U.S. Loyal followers met every week to discuss Long’s ideas and spread the message. 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