In 1934 a senator from Louisiana, Huey Long, proposed a plan he called "Share our Wealth." Long countered that the national newspapers were the pawns of the wealthy Wall Street financiers who were threatened by his program. Chapter 1 Wherein a New President Takes Office and Outlines a Program to Share Our Wealth. 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. $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. Share Our Wealth was a movement begun during the Great Depression by Huey Long, governor and later senator from Louisiana. Long’s message struck a chord with a public desperate for relief. Share the Wealth)", Huey P. Long House (Forest Ave., Shreveport, Louisiana), Huey P. Long House (Laurel St., Shreveport, Louisiana), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Share_Our_Wealth&oldid=985433514, United States National Recording Registry recordings, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, No person would be allowed to accumulate a personal. Every family was to be furnished with a homestead allowance of not less than one-third the average family wealth of the country. Long frequently used national radio addresses to champion his causes to an estimated 25 million listeners. Long believed that it was morally wrong for the government to allow millions of Americans to suffer in abject poverty when there existed a surplus of food, clothing, and shelter. Read the excerpts below and answer the question: What does Long's plan have in common with the principles of … As … 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 … By the summer of 1935, there were more than 27,000 Share Our Wealth clubs with a membership of more than 7.5 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 … Note: This entry is based entirely on material copied with permission from the “Long Legacy Project.” More details about the life and contributions of Senator Huey Long … Primary Source: 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 and wealth … He later proposed a debt moratorium to give struggling families time to pay their mortgages and other debts before losing their property to creditors. Share Our Wealth Plan. 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. Senator, Radical Populist and Founder of the “Share Our Wealth Society” Ed. Smith brought the Share Our Wealth Society into a brief coalition with the followers of radio priest Charles Coughlin and old-age pension advocate Francis Townsend in support of the short-lived Union Party, a third party effort which ran William Lemke of North Dakota for President in 1936, but under his leadership, the Share Our Wealth movement quickly fell apart. 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). Long by-passed the negative press by distributing his own newspaper, The American Progress, and he spoke directly to a national audience through radio speeches and speaking engagements. For this activity, 1. students work in groups to examine Huey Long… Meantime go ahead with the work to organize a share-our-wealth society. Long … Veterans would be paid a pension and healthcare benefits. 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. To stimulate the economy, he advocated massive … His program, including America's first forms of federal insurance through things like social security, was called the New Deal. 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 … “Our present plan is that we will allow no one man to own more than $50 million,” Long told the radio audience of millions. By 1934, nearly half of all American families lived in poverty, earning less than $1,250 annually. Chapter 2 Huey Long was Governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1930. [8][9] Control of the Share Our Wealth Society fell to Gerald L. K. Smith, who was widely viewed as a political demagogue. Democratic National Committee Chairman James Farley estimated that Huey could draw up to 6 million popular votes in the 1936 election. 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). (Historians note that at the time there were only … Every family was to be guaranteed an annual family income of at least $2,000 to $2,500, or not less than one-third of the average annual family income in the United States. Read the full text of Huey Long's original Share Our Wealth speech. Long charged that the nation’s economic collapse was the result of the vast disparity between the super-rich and everyone else. The "Share Our Wealth" organization is first of all a glorified mailing list, already one of the largest in the land, but certain to grow much larger once the Long campaign gets under way. Huey Long never received credit for the government reforms that resulted 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. To build grassroots support for his program, Long announced the formation of the Share Our Wealth Society with the slogan "Every Man a King", and he encouraged the public to write to him to learn more. 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. 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. He blamed the mass suffering on a capitalist system run amok and feared that impending civil unrest threatened the democracy. [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]. 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 P. Long (1893- 1935): Governor, U.S. 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. 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. 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 … To organize a network of Share Our Wealth clubs around the country, Long enlisted the help of Reverend Gerald L. K. Smith, a charismatic minister from Shreveport with a gift for public speaking. Franklin D. Roosevelt believed in using the power of the federal government to actively fight the Depression. This page was last edited on 25 October 2020, at 22:57. 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. According to aides, Roosevelt hoped to “steal Long’s thunder” by embracing some of his causes. >> Learn more about Huey Long's economic reforms and other programs. Courtesy of LSU Libraries Special Collections, Baton Rouge, Now, my friends, we have got to hit the root with the ax. 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. The Great Depression persisted Expect that. — Huey Long on FDR's opposition to the Veterans Bonus, Share Our Wealth radio address, February 23, 1934 T he people of this country want relief, and they do not have to eat a whole side of beef to tell when it is tainted. They have bitten off the hoof of this situation in the … Huey Long speaking with John A Simpson, President of the National Farmer's Union, in 1934. PLAY. When I proposed such a thing here, it looked like it would set the woods on fire against me.”. 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 … 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. Long also proposed shortening the work week and giving employees a month vacation to boost employment, along with greater government regulation of economic activity and production controls. 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. As an alternative, he proposed the Share Our Wealth program in 1934. In February, 1934, Senator Huey Long announced during a nationwide radio address that he was forming the Share Our Wealth Society, dedicated to the redistribution of the nation's wealth. adopted policies to regulate the economy and provide for the public A nominal Democrat, Huey Long was a radical populist, of a sort we are unfamiliar with in our day. In 1934 Long organized his o… [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. Meanwhile, the conservative national media dismissed Long’s program, lampooning Long as a "hick", "buffoon", "communist", "socialist" and "fascist dictator". Loyal followers met every week to discuss Long’s ideas and spread the message. As a senator, Long burnished his national profile. from his Share Our Wealth movement. 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