Earl Kemp Long - National Governors Association

Thank you my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that on June 18, 1959, Governor of Louisiana Earl Kemp Long was committed to a state mental hospital after a mental breakdown.

Uncle Earl | 1985
A 1985 documentary about the life and political career of Earl K. Long, who served as the Governor of Louisiana from 1939-1940, 1948-1952, and 1956-1960. It chronicles: his early life in Winnfield, Louisiana; his relationship with his older brother Huey P. Long; his campaigns for governor; his political and governing style; his accomplishments in supporting the poor white and black citizens of Louisiana through programs like free hot lunches and old age pensions; his tirade in the state legislature that led to his commitment to a mental hospital; his affair with stripper Blaze Starr; and his successful Congressional campaign shortly before his death in 1960. This documentary includes interviews with family members, colleagues and political observers. Narrator: Henry Clements
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnWO339AjGU

Images:
1. A portrait of former Louisiana governor, Earl Kemp Long sitting on desk
2. Gov. Earl Long, famous for his fiery oration, addresses a crowd in 1960.
3. photograph of governor Earl K. Long photographed just after arriving at the state hospital at Mandeville, June 18, 1959.
4. June 25, 1939, depicts Earl Kemp Long being sworn in as the forty-fifth governor of Louisiana. His predecessor, Richard Leche (with hat and cane), stands in the center.

Biographies
1. 64parishes.org/entry/earl-long-2
2. knoxfocus.com/archives/this-weeks-focus/uncle-earl-earl-k-long-of-louisiana/]

1. Background from {[https://64parishes.org/entry/earl-long-2]}
"Earl Kemp Long served as governor of Louisiana for three nonconsecutive terms—from 1939 to 1940, from 1948 to 1952, and from 1956 to 1960—endearing himself to his constituents with the folksy nickname “Uncle Earl.” Though he was always in the shadow of his flamboyant older brother, Louisiana governor and US senator Huey Long, Earl Long’s march through Louisiana politics was characterized by his colorful verbal expressiveness and eccentric behavior—he was briefly admitted to a mental hospital in 1959 and was unabashed in his affair with a Bourbon Street stripper, Blaze Starr. Nonetheless, Long helped bring much-needed social reform to the Pelican State. He established an impressive record that included progressivism in the field of civil rights—a particularly unique achievement for a white southern politician in the mid-twentieth century. Long’s personal indiscretions, however, were also an important part of his record. In the end, voters knew what they would get from Long—a crusader for the common man, a heavy dose of entertainment, and an unpredictable personality that often produced unwanted results.

Early Life

Born on August 26, 1895, in Winn Parish to livestock farmer Huey Pierce Long Sr. and Caledonia Tison, Earl Kemp Long enjoyed a peaceful childhood in a large family. In 1912 he dropped out of high school to follow his favorite brother, Huey, to Memphis, Tennessee, where he found employment with the Faultless Starch Company. Later Earl bounced around as a traveling salesman and tried his hand at college, enrolling briefly in the Louisiana Industrial Institute (now Louisiana Tech) in Ruston and Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. While tirelessly campaigning to help Huey get elected to the State Railroad Commission in 1918, Earl Long found his own calling: politics. Earl recalled his contributions to Huey’s successful first attempt at a run for public office: “I put up the $125 qualifying fee for Huey’s first fun for the Railroad Commission, and I wore out an old jitney working for him. I sold him more than the baking powder I was supposed to be selling.”

As Huey’s political star began to rise, he regularly turned to his brother for advice, and the younger Long proved to be not only a faithful supporter but also an astute political thinker. In 1924 Earl Long entered Loyola College (now Loyola University) in New Orleans and began a two-year non-degree program that would prepare him to take the state bar exam. Despite passing the exam in 1926 and opening a private practice in New Orleans, politics remained his primary interest. When Huey campaigned for governor, Earl Long was there, serving as his brother’s primary advisor and helping build the powerful Long political machine. Over time, however, Earl began to feel underappreciated for all he had done to catapult his brother into the spotlight, leading to a falling out between the brothers starting in 1930, when Earl began to openly defy his brother’s political directives. By 1932 the situation had grown so tense that Earl ran for lieutenant governor on an anti-Huey Long platform. Even after losing the race, Earl continued to openly defy his “yellow coward” brother until he returned to Huey’s fold in 1934.

Life after Huey

Huey Long’s assassination in 1935 created a power vacuum in the Long political machine. Rather than grasp for control, Earl bided his time, strategically placing himself in a position to assume power when the opportunity presented itself. Serving as lieutenant governor during the corrupt administration of Richard Leche, Long helped push a sweeping series of reform initiatives through the legislature, including enormous improvements in state services such as transportation, health, education, and welfare. As charges of corruption began encircling Leche, he stepped down, clearing the way for Earl Long to serve as governor from 1939 to 1940. Plagued by association with the administration responsible for bilking the state of millions, Long lost a bid for the executive seat to reform candidate Sam Jones in 1939. Long would have to wait almost a decade until Louisiana voters, following their historic alternating pattern, grew tired of “reform” and returned him to the governor’s mansion.

By 1948 Earl Long correctly discerned that Louisianans were again ready for his flamboyant brand of campaigning and leadership in Baton Rouge. “Uncle Earl,” who would later remark, “I had plenty of snap left in my garters,” worked sixteen-hour days barnstorming the state, doling out free food, money, and plenty of entertainment as he pilloried his hapless opponents. Long’s campaign brought the energy of a circus to nearly every town in the state. His speeches often lasted more than an hour, never followed a prepared address or even a logical sequence, but always managed to hold his audience in rapt attention through wit and colorful anecdotes. Donations funding his campaign exploits flowed openly from politicians, organized crime, and big business, including oil and gas interests as well as numerous under-the-table deals. In one such arrangement, congressman F. Edward Hebert, a fervent anti-Longite, stunned many when he backed Earl in the governor’s race. He wrote, “Of all the people in the world for me to support, Earl Long. But being in the system, and being of the political system, I made the sign of the cross, said an act of contrition, and asked God to understand my weakness and my necessity.” Long, it turns out, had threatened to run a strong candidate against Hebert in the upcoming congressional elections if he did not give his support in the race for governor.

Earl Long won the 1948 governor’s race—sweeping New Orleans and carrying sixty-two out of sixty-four parishes—as well as victories for seventy-five percent of all Long-endorsed candidates for the legislature and local office. “Happy days are here again,” Earl declared. “The Longs are back in the saddle.” Electoral success enabled Long to push a host of reform initiatives through the legislature, endearing him to many Louisianans. From expanding pension benefits and school lunch programs to raising teachers’ pay, Long devoted much of his considerable energy to improving state services and infrastructure. Road construction, public hospitals, and other infrastructure initiatives were also on his agenda, all paid for by increases in sales, “sin,” and severance taxes.

Fans and Critics

In a state long ruled by privileged elites known as the “Bourbons,” Long provided assistance to Louisiana’s disproportionately high number of impoverished citizens. Through his folksy stories, biting sarcasm, and down-home lifestyle—typified by his beloved farm he named the “Pea Patch”—Long convinced many of his allegiance to the common working man. Explaining the difference between his unsophisticated style in comparison to his more urbane opponent, Chep Morrison, Earl famously said, “He wears $400 suits. Put one of them $400 suits on Uncle Earl, and it’d look like socks on a rooster.” Not everyone, however, found his antics amusing. As the tax burden increased and rumors of the governor’s questionable involvement with organized crime spread, many lamented the return to Longism and the excesses associated with it. When the 1952 election rolled around, Louisiana voters chose the reform governor, Robert Kennon, instead of Long’s hand-picked successor, Carlos Spaht. Once again, “Uncle Earl” found himself on the sidelines.

Four years later, Long—who many thought was finished politically—returned to easily win the 1956 gubernatorial election. Long celebrated his election in grand style in his suite at the Roosevelt Hotel in downtown New Orleans, where he provided his supporters with enormous quantities of food and alcohol. Long spent much of the evening eavesdropping on the phone calls his desperate opponent, Chep Morrison , placed to ward leaders across the state as the dismal results began to roll in. The wiretap had been illegally placed on Morrison’s home phone by private detectives, and while the FBI suspected Long was responsible, they were never able to directly implicate him. Long began his term with little fanfare and few successes. Reforms put in place by his predecessor, Robert Kennon, such as an amendment requiring a two-thirds legislative majority for all tax increases, greatly restricted Long’s ability to bend the political establishment to his will. Adding to his difficulties, Long found himself in the minority regarding the growing civil rights movement. As governor in 1948, Long worked behind the scenes to encourage the enfranchisement of thousands of black voters and occupied a moderate position during a time of extremism. In contrast, most southern white politicians of the era either ignored the disenfranchisement of black voters or actively supported its perpetuation.

In 1959 Earl Long gave a two-hour tirade before a joint session of the state legislature in which he indiscriminately insulted his opponents in a rambling oration. Long lashed out against Willie Rainach—a North Louisiana segregationist legislator who had led a successful campaign to purge thousands of black voters from the rolls—and his supporters with graphic obscenities, shouting and pacing before stomping out of the session. This outburst led many observers to conclude that he had come undone. Joe Waggoner, a Rainach ally and future congressman from North Louisiana, remarked, “I’ve heard it said you were sick, but since I’ve been here this morning, I’ve been able to diagnose you as sick. If I’ve ever seen a man in my life with constipation of the brain and diarrhea of the mouth, you’re that man.”

Recognizing that he needed to make amends with the public for his nearly six straight months of erratic behavior, Long took the advice of friends and supporters and prepared a speech to deliver on May 26, 1959. Instead of apologizing, however, Long spent ninety minutes ranting and lashing out against his opponents. Spotting Rainach in the crowd, Long launched into the salacious details of the murder of Rainach’s uncle, killed by a black man who had caught him in bed with the man’s wife. In one of Long’s most famous remarks, he told the crowd, “After all this is over [Rainach will] probably go up there to Summerfield, get up on his front porch, take off his shoes, wash his feet, look at the moon, and get close to God.” Pointing and shouting at Rainach, he continued, “And when you do, you got to recognize that niggers is human beings!” When he concluded his tirade, Earl was rushed to the governor’s mansion and locked in a bedroom where he grew violent. At one point, he stood in the smashed bedroom window shouting, “Murder!”

Concerned about his mental health, Long’s family had him institutionalized in Texas before transferring him to the Louisiana State Hospital in Mandeville. With the assistance of his subordinates, however, Long won release from the asylum, firing the director in the process, and proceeded on an interstate buying spree trailed by national press agents. Many have speculated on the cause of Long’s apparent breakdown, with at least one biographer convinced the politician suffered from bipolar disorder. Others speculate that Long’s all-night escapades in New Orleans, including dalliances with dancer Blaze Starr, coupled with the regular ingestion of large amounts of alcohol and the powerful stimulants Dexedrine (according to interviews with his family and close associates) undermined Long’s perception of reality. Regardless of the cause, it was clear to many, including the national press, that Long needed an extended vacation.

Constitutionally unable to succeed himself, Long ran as lieutenant governor in 1959 on a ticket headed by James Noe. As in the past, however, Louisianans again turned away from the excesses of Longism. Although disheartened by the defeat, Long simply could not remain out of the political spotlight. In 1960 he successfully ran for a seat in the US House of Representatives to serve the Eighth Congressional District. On September 5, 1960, Long died before he could assume his new post, effectively ending a political era.

Author Keith Finley

Suggested Reading
Kurtz, Michael L. and Morgan D. Peoples. Earl K. Long: The Saga of Uncle Earl and Louisiana Politics. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1990.
Liebling, A. J. The Earl of Louisiana. Updated ed. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2008.
Litton, G. Dupre. The Wizard of Winnfield. New York: Carlton Press, 1982."

2. Background from {[http://knoxfocus.com/archives/this-weeks-focus/uncle-earl-earl-k-long-of-louisiana/]}
"‘Uncle Earl’ Earl K. Long of Louisiana
By design on July 10, 2016
By Ray Hill
“Someday Louisiana is going to get good government. And they ain’t gonna like it.” – Earl K. Long
Huey Long has gone down in American political lore for a host of reasons. Huey Long is still well remembered today and he founded a political dynasty that lasted for more than half a century. Huey, his widow Rose, and son Russell, all served in the United States Senate. Earl Long, Huey’s younger brother, was three times governor of Louisiana, and a battalion of Longs populated the halls of Congress at various times.
Earl K. Long is not as well remembered as his older sibling, and if he is remembered today, it is usually for his romping with stripper Blaze Starr. The movie with Paul Newman did little to enhance “Uncle Earl’s” reputation and diminished a surprising record of achievement. While not as mesmerizing a speaker as Huey, Earl Long was masterful in his use of ridicule and was a highly entertaining stump speaker in his own right. Huey Long was perfectly capable of using good manners when he wished to, but Uncle Earl was more earthy, crude, and homespun. For all his rhetoric, Huey Long saw himself as a spokesman for the common man, but he never believed himself to be one. Huey reputedly owned more than a hundred tailored suits, yet Earl Long always looked as if he had slept in his clothes for days.
For those who thought Huey Long unpredictable, Earl K. Long was downright frightening. Uncle Earl used every means at his disposal during a campaign and wasn’t afraid of a physical scrap. When Earl got into a fight with an opponent in the halls of the Louisiana State Captiol and Huey was told of the fracas, he asked eagerly, “I bet Earl bit him, didn’t he? Earl always bites.”
As indeed he had.
Louisiana has produced some remarkable political characters, but none more so than Earl K. Long.
Earl sulked in the shadow of his more famous brother, especially when Huey was at the peak of his power. Earl craved political office himself, but Huey didn’t much like the idea of another Long sharing the stage with him. Huey’s departure from this earth gave Earl the opportunity to blossom and come into his own.
Uncle Earl was full of advice and some of his more outlandish quotes survive him. Earl once said, “Don’t write anything you can phone. Don’t phone anything you can talk. Don’t talk anything you can whisper. Don’t whisper anything you can smile. Don’t smile anything you can nod. Don’t nod anything you can wink.”
Earl Long was slated to run for lieutenant governor in 1935 on the Long ticket with Richard Leche, who was the candidate for governor. The Leche – Long ticket won the election and Uncle Earl became governor when Leche resigned amidst charges of corruption. Earl sought to be elected governor in 1940, but lost to Sam Houston Jones, who ran as the anti-Long candidate. Jones promised to restore honest government to Louisiana, which probably few truly believed, but enough voters hoped for the best and Earl Long lost his first campaign for governor. It was an especially bitter loss for Governor Long, as he had led in the first primary and lost a close race in the run-off election.

Nobody believed Earl Long was done with politics and he was a candidate for lieutenant governor again in 1944 on a ticket with Congressman Lewis Morgan. Once again Uncle Earl led in the first primary, only to lose the run-off election. Earl had been somewhat wary of running for governor again as singing cowboy (and the author of the song “You Are My Sunshine”) Jimmie Davis was making a strong bid for the office.
The persistent Earl Long decided to run for governor in 1948 when Jimmie Davis could not succeed himself. Facing former governor Sam Houston Jones, Judge Robert Kennon and Congressman James Morrison in the Democratic primary, Earl faced his old foe Sam Jones in the run-off election.
The election results in the first primary astonished and appalled more than a few people. Earl Long had won over 41% of the vote with Sam Houston Jones finishing with about 23%.
Once again, Jones was the good government candidate, a conservative, and business oriented. Uncle Earl ran on a platform promising old age pensions, higher salaries for teachers, the end of civil service in Louisiana, as well as doubling the amount the state spent on school lunches for children, hospitals that extended charity, and even the state asylums. Long’s campaign was not hurting for money, as other political figures helped to raise money, and money from oil and gas producers flowed into his coffers. Reputedly, Uncle Earl also got significant contributions from organized crime. It was a mighty sweet victory for Uncle Earl as he beat Jones easily.

Earl Long won almost 66% of the vote.
Uncle Earl had once said, “I can make them voting machines sing ‘Home Sweet Home’” and indeed he had.
One Tennessee newspaper groused that Uncle Earl had promised everybody everything, save for the moon.
That same year saw a revival of the Long machine. Twenty-nine year old Russell Long, Huey’s son and Earl’s nephew, became a candidate in a special election for the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Senator John H. Overton. Judge Robert Kennon, who had run third in the recent gubernatorial election, proved to be a very strong candidate for the Senate. Ultimately, Russell Long won by 10,475. The next day Russell Long turned thirty and would remain in the U. S. Senate until 1987.
Uncle Earl summarized one of his strengths, saying, “The kind of thing I’m good at is knowing every politician in the state and remembering where he itches. And I know where to scratch him.”
Uncle Earl was restricted by Louisiana’s ban on governors being able to run for a second consecutive term and watched unhappily as Judge Robert Kennon finally won statewide office to succeed him.
The former governor merely bided his time to return to office in 1956. Earl Long faced a rather weak lot of candidates, the strongest being New Orleans Mayor deLesseps (Uncle Earl invariably pronounced his name as “Dellasoups”) Morrison. Long won the first primary, which rarely occurred in Louisiana gubernatorial elections.
“Huey never done that, did he?” Uncle Earl crowed.
Earl Long’s second term was to be tumultuous and puzzling. Governor Long quietly induced the legislature to equalize pay amongst white and black teachers. Long eventually feuded with the legislature over attempts to restrict voting by African-American citizens. Long came out for black folks being given the right to vote unhampered in Louisiana.
Uncle Earl toyed with the idea of resigning a few months before the expiration of his term, thinking he could skirt Louisiana’s prohibition on governors succeeding themselves in office. Instead, Long ran for lieutenant governor and once again, he lost.
It was during Earl Long’s second administration that he attracted unceasing publicity, yet much of it covered his behavior, which was increasingly bizarre. Long’s marriage to his wife, Blanche, was falling apart. Recognized as a shrewd woman, with a fine sense of what constituted good politics, and a gracious manner, “Miz Blanche” would eventually become a respected political figure in her own right and would live to the ripe old age of ninety-three.
Earl’s marriage had long since ceased to be a source of pleasure to either partner and Miz Blanche watched with dismay as the governor threw away money by excessive betting on the horses. If that weren’t bad enough, Uncle Earl almost compulsively bought thousands of dollars of odds and ends he didn’t need, and worse still, began a public affair with stripper, Blaze Starr. Governor Long’s behavior became manic and highly erratic. Miz Blanche had been horrified when she noticed her husband was drinking champagne with his breakfast.

After a rambling and largely incoherent speech on the floor of the Louisiana House of Representatives, Miz Blanche had a drugged Uncle Earl trundled off to a waiting state plane and flown to Galveston, Texas where he was promptly admitted to a mental hospital.
The commitment had to be certified by a court and the wily Uncle Earl gathered his wits and quickly outsmarted his wife. He convinced his nephew, Senator Russell Long, and his wife that he would agree to get help, but only in Louisiana. Miz Blanche agreed and dropped her commitment suit in Texas.
Uncle Earl arrived at the mental hospital in New Orleans and walked out the next day. A determined Miz Blanche immediately affixed her signature to fresh commitment papers and Governor Long was apprehended and taken to the state asylum in Mandeville.
An exceedingly angry Governor Long demanded to be released, but the doctor in charge refused to let him loose. Long fired the state superintendent in charge of the Louisiana asylum and hired a new superintendent, who in turn, fired the doctor. Uncle Earl emerged from the asylum triumphantly and a court later confirmed even if he were crazy, he had the power and authority to fire the offending superintendent.
Governor Long roared he was “not nuts”, but went on to say if he were, he had been “nuts all my life.” There were a good many Louisianans who would have agreed.
Uncle Earl and Miz Blanche finally separated and headed for the divorce court. Their divorce was not yet final when Earl died.
Uncle Earl’s later years, for all his successes, seemed to close in around him. Beset by personal and political troubles, not the least of which was his troubled marriage to Blanche, he sought to revive his political career by running for Congress from Louisiana’s Eighth District in 1960. To get to Congress, Uncle Earl would have to beat an incumbent in the Democratic primary. Harold McSween had been elected when Earl’s brother, George Shannon Long, a dentist popularly known as “Doc”, died in 1958. It was a grueling campaign, held during the heat and humidity of a Louisiana summer. A third candidate siphoned off enough votes to cause Uncle Earl to trail Congressman McSween in the first primary. Earl campaigned even harder, making five and six speeches per day, and he won the run-off election.
By the time of the election, Earl was obviously ailing. It was especially obvious to his friends, one of whom thoughtfully put a sedative in Long’s coffee, which caused him to sleep for hours. When he awakened, Earl began fretting. Sixty-five years old and sensitive to how his illness would be perceived by voters, Earl summoned a flock of reporters to his hotel room where he announced there was nothing wrong with him save perhaps for “a touch of ptomaine”, which he attributed to a barbecue pork sandwich.
The truth was quite different. Uncle Earl had suffered a heart attack. It was his second heart attack. Legend has it he had suffered his first heart attack while pursuing an unruly pig up a hill on his farm.
Suffering from severe chest pains, Earl K. Long was in the hospital the day he won the Democratic nomination. More than a week later, Earl Long was still in the hospital in an oxygen tent and he must have been mighty tired for when death came for him, he “rolled over and died” from a heart attack.

It was the only time Earl K. Long had rolled over without a fight in his life."


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Lol, crazy people in Congress, who would of thought.

Louisiana politics have always been a bit shaky, but this sounds like something that could be coming out of DC in 2020.