Messiah of the Masses

Glen Jeansonne,MESSIAH OF TH MASSES; HUEY LONG AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION, (Addison-Wesley Longman Publishers, N.Y., 1993,204 pp.). Jeansonne was born into a Cajun family in 1946. He grew up in New Roads, Louisiana, and earned his bachelor's degree from the UL Lafayette(then- University of Southwestern Louisana) in 1968. After receiving his Ph.D. in history at Florida State University in 1973, he taught at Williams College in Massachusetts and the University of Michigan before he became a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee in 1978. Jeansonne is the author of four books and 15 articles on Louisiana in the 20th century. His book on the infamous Wiscousin born bigot og the 1950's GERALD L.K.SMITH: MINISTER OF HATE, was nominated for a pulitzer Prize for biography in 1988.

MESSIAH OF THE MASSES;HUEY LONG ANF THE GREAT DEPRESSION is a biography of Huey Pierce Long. Jeansonne starts the book with Long's childhood. He was born in Winnfield, Louisiana on August 30,1893. He was one of ten children born to Hugh and Caledonia Long. It continues with Long as a candidate for public office. He ran for the Railroad commissioner which he was elected to in 1918. Long ran for governor, which he lost in the primary, in 1923. He was reelected to the Railroad Commission in 1924. Jeansonne the move through Huey Long's campaigns for governor in 1928, which he won; Long's impeachment, which was dismissed; Long's election to the U.S. Sente, which he served from 1932-1935; and Long's bid to become President of the United Statesin 1936. Jeansonne ends his book with Huey P. Long's the assassination and legacy. As Huey Long left the Governors office and proceeded to the house, he was approached by Carl Austin Weiss, a Baton Rouge physician. Long was shot once in the abdomen and died of internal bleeding at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge, within two