The Catholic Priest and the Boy from the Piney Woods

Huey Long was Governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1930. Ambitious, endowed with supernatural energy, and totally devoid of scruples, Long was a fiery, spellbinding orator in the tradition of southern populism. As governor and then U.S. senator, he ruled Louisiana with an iron hand, keeping a private army equipped with sub-machine guns and a "deduct box," where he kept funds deducted from state employees' salaries. Yet the people of Louisiana loved him because he attacked the big oil companies, increased state spending on public works, and improved public schools. Although he backed Roosevelt in 1932, Long quickly abandoned the president and opposed the New Deal as too conservative. Long championed the "little man" against the rich and privileged (Williams).

A farm boy from the piney woods of North Louisiana, he

Early in 1934 Long announced his "Share Our Wealth" program. Vowing to make "Every Man a King," he promised to soak the rich by limiting private fortunes to $50 million, legacies to $5 million, and annual incomes to $1 million. The confiscated funds, in turn, would be distributed to the people, guaranteeing every American family an annual income of no less than $2,000, in Long's words more than enough to buy "a radio, a car, and a home." He also promised everyone over age 60 an old-age pension (Sindler).

Like Long, Father Charles Coughlin was an early supporter who turned sour on the New Deal. For about sixteen years, from the mid-twenties until the United States entered World War II, Father Charles Coughlin was probably the most influential religious figure in the United States. Father Coughlin first took to the airwaves in 1926, broadcasting weekly sermons over the radio. By the early 1930s, the content of his broadcasts had shifted from theology to economics and politics. Just as the rest of the nation was obsessed by matters economic and political in the aftermath of the Depression, so too was Father Coughlin. Coughlin had a well-developed theory of what he termed "social justice," predicated on monetary "reforms.” He began as an early Roosevelt supporter, coining a famous expression, that the nation's choice was between "Roosevelt or ruin." Father Coughlin was an early and passionate supporter of President Roosevelt, since he viewed FDR as a radical social reformer like himself. Roosevelt's rhetoric during his inaugural address implicitly promised to "drive the money changers from the temple." This was music to Coughlin's ears since a core part of his own message was monetary reform. Roosevelt's early monetary policy seemed to fulfill this promise and

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