Kingfish

Mention Louisiana and among the first things that come to mind are New Orleans, Mardi Gras and jazz.  But other places in the Pelican State offer history, intrigue, and glamour in abundance.  The state capital, Baton Rouge, is one such place,  and the state's 40th Governor, Huey P. Long, -- "The Kingfish" -- was (and remains) a larger-than-life figure in Louisiana politics and history.

Governor Huey P. Long, Jr.

Huey Pierce Long, Jr. was the seventh of nine children.  His middle-class parents advocated hard work, education, and giving back  to the community.  At the age of seventeen, he honed his oratory and people skills selling everything from canned goods to patent medicine.  His brother encouraged him to go into law, and even provided financial support to attend Tulane University Law School.  He proved his skill by passing an oral exam and being admitted to the Louisiana Bar after only one year of law school.  He was a brilliant lawyer but was quickly drawn to politics.  His platform was aimed at providing the ordinary person with free education, healthcare and lower taxes.  He spoke out against big business and the political hierarchy in New Orleans.  He lost his first bid for state-wide office, but four years later, took his campaign to rural Louisiana and with great personal charisma, got out the vote.  True to his promises, as Governor he provided free textbooks, more accessible healthcare, 9,700 miles of new roads, 111 new toll-free bridges, and more.  How did he pay for these programs?  One way was to tax big business.  For example, he taxed Standard Oil 5 cents per barrel on oil refined in the state.  At the same time, each state employee was expected to pay into a political war chest which he used at his own discretion.  He was called an outspoken reformer and a demigod.  He served one term as Governor from 1928 to 1932, and then was elected to the United States Senate.  His assassination in a hallway of the State Capitol building in Baton Rouge in 1935, at the age of forty-two, is still shrouded in mystery.  His supporters declared him a savior; his detractors demonized him.  Whether respected or hated his audacious personality made "The Kingfish" a legend.

The Louisiana Governor's Mansion, built in 1932, was home to nine
Governors until Gov. Jimmie Dixon built a new mansion in 1963

"I want to be able to find the lights  switches when I get there" Huey Long is said to have told the architects in 1932, instructing them to design the new (now the old) Governor's Mansion as a replica of the White House in Washington.  Without the knowledge or consent of the legislature, Long had the existing Governor's Mansion declared uninhabitable and had it razed.   The "Louisiana White House" was built in the midst of the Great Depression at the cost of $150,000 ($2,430,000 in today's dollars).  The Georgian-style mansion remained the official residence for nine Governors until 1963.  Its longest-tenured resident was the colorful Earl K. Long,  Huey Long's younger brother, who served three non-consecutive terms as Louisiana's Governor.  Although he carried on a public dalliance with New Orleans exotic dancer Blaze Star, "Uncle Earl" continued to be popular.  He was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1960, but died before he could take office in Washington.  Following the construction of the third (and current) Governor's Mansion in 1963, the old Governor's Mansion went through a complete restoration in 1999.  Today it can be rented for weddings and other celebratory occasions, as well as being open for tours.

From the dining room of the mansion, this ornate
door leads into the ballroom

Close-up of the top of the door frame shows a carved
Pelican, the Official State Bird of Louisiana

The antique hand-blocked wallpaper in the State
Dining Room is from the Alsace-Loraine region of France

The pattern is called Vue de l'Amérique du Nord. While she was
First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy had the identical pattern installed
in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House 

Ornate crystal chandeliers hang in the ballroom.  The room 
was originally designed as the Mansion's living room

Mirrors on opposite walls in the ballroom give the illusion
that the room is many times larger than it actually is.

Another pelican, this one carved into the fireplace surround
in the Mansion's library

Governor Long's office in the Mansion

Governor Huey Long's bedroom

Huey Long also built a new capitol building; fortunately, the original Baton Rouge statehouse was not demolished.  Designed and built between 1847-1850 by James H. Dakin in the style of a Gothic Revival Castle, it is majestically situated on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. The building was seized and burned by Union soldiers in 1862 during the Civil War.  After a lapse of twenty years the state government returned to Baton Rouge and architect William Freret supervised the restoration of the State Capitol in 1882.  A new State Capitol was built in 1932 under the auspices of Governor Huey Long.  Today the Old State Capitol is the Center for Political and Governmental History and is open for tours.

The old state capitol, built over a 3-year period, 1847-1850, was designed to look
like a Neo-Gothic medieval castle. However, Mark Twain, as a steamboat pilot
plying the Mississippi River in the 1850s, called it "pathetic...a sham of a castle".

The House chamber.  The building underwent a face lift in the
1990s and is today known as the Museum of Political History

Ornate walls and woodwork, looking up from
the second floor balcony

Spiral staircase leading from the first to the second floor.  This
staircase was not part of the original design and construction
of the building.  It was added during the 1882 reconstruction

Second floor rotunda.  The Gothic-style building is said to be haunted
by the ghost of Sarah Morgan, a Civil War-era Baton Rouge resident

The stained glass dome as well as the circular staircase were added by
engineer and architect William A. Freret during the 1882 restoration

One of the rooms contained a fascinating display of
original Mardi Gras parade costumes over the years

A statue of George Washington once stood in the rotunda
but was captured by Union troops. Only the base remains.
A projected image recreates the statue, but periodically
the light goes out and the statue again "disappears"

Brass door handles and rosettes are another sign

of the grandeur of the building after restoration 

Stunning detail...a marble sill plate at the entrance to
every room shows what the room is used for.  This detail
even extends to the men's and women's washrooms

Governor Huey Long spearheaded the  construction of the current  Louisiana State Capitol which was completed in 1932 at a cost of $5 million (just over $81 million in 2016 dollars).  The Art Deco structure is 34 stories high and is the nation's tallest state capitol.  The four-hundred-fifty foot tall structure is one of only four skyscraper capitols in the U.S.   The state of Nebraska was building its own capitol at the same time as Louisiana.  Reportedly, Governor Long ordered the architects to increase the height of the building to 450 feet to make "his" capitol building the tallest in the United States. 

This postcard from 1940 shows the "new" Louisiana State Capitol,
located "on the site of the old State University Campus, on University
Lake" and describes it as "the tallest building in the South".

The Louisiana capitol is one of four "skyscraper" capitols in the
U.S., and one of nine state capitols that do not have domes

The current Governor's Mansion, built in 1963.  The "old" (1932)
mansion was not air-conditioned, and it was more cost-effective to
build a new mansion than to add air conditioning to the existing one.

Driveway entrance to the current Louisiana Governor's Mansion

Huey P. Long was  poised to run for the Presidency in 1936.  In fact, the first political poll used to assess the "electability" of a candidate was designed by the Franklin Roosevelt re-election committee to evaluate Long as a threat to Roosevelt's re-election.  It had become apparent that this Southern governor was a national force.  One has to wonder how history might have changed had "The Kingfish" lived to challenge Franklin Roosevelt.

A larger-than-life figure whose death remains shrouded in mystery.  Huey P. Long, "The Kingfish" is one of Louisiana's great Road Stories. 

From the only state that has "parishes" rather than "counties",
this is the only place in the U.S. that I have ever seen a
CONSTABLE car.


This edition of Road Stories is dedicated to our favorite
CONSTABLE ON PATROL, our nephew Jim, a Cop in Charleston, SC