In a New Orleans hotel suite sat an unkempt man, his flesh folding in rolls above his belt. He sipped contentedly from a jar of pure honey, bestirring himself now and then to waddle across the room, or to scratch himself, or to snap his suspenders, while the returns from the Democratic primary election for governor dinned into his ears: "Long 112,261 . . . Morrison 87,128 . . . Preaus 25,948 . . . Grevemberg 16,863 —McLemore 18,227." "Looks good," he croaked. "It's in the bag."
As the evening wore on, it grew clear to all that the unkempt man, Earl Kemp Long, had been elected for four years as governor of the great state of Louisiana. Since Earl Long was the younger brother of the late Huey Pierce Long (d. 1935), it was only natural that memories of "the Kingfish" should crowd into the hotel room, given the victorious occasion and the company. Around Earl sat some of Huey's old associates: former Governor Richard W. Leche (rhymes with flesh), who went to jail in 1941 for mail fraud; Robert S. Maestri, mayor of a graft-ridden New Orleans for ten years, until ousted by a reform candidate in 1946; George Reyer, Maestri's police superintendent; and Abe L. Shushan, former president of the levee board, who also went to jail in 1941 for mail fraud. Earl began to reminisce to the boys in the room about their late leader:
"The pioneering that Huey did had a lot to do with my victory," Earl Long said. "We were more or less opposite types, however. I'm the slow, plodding type, and Huey was quick and ready at all times. He was kind of on the style of Alexander the Great. Alexander conquered the world before he was 21 and cried be cause he didn't have more worlds to conquer. Huey was like that. I've often wondered how Huey would have made out physically if he had lived to be an old man. He died when he was 42. I'll be 61 next August." Earl Long then went outside, and over to his campaign headquarters. "This is a great victory—not just for Earl Long," he proclaimed to his followers, "but for a cause."
"I Can Sell Anything." Nobody thought that Louisiana's new Governor-designate Earl Long had the fiber and versatility of brother Huey, who had made Louisiana his private province. Nonetheless, there were stirrings of shock, or of joy, that the Longs were making a comeback. Huey's son Russell is an able and respected U.S. Senator from Louisiana; another of Huey's brothers, George Long, is member of Congress from Louisiana's Eighth District. Earl's election put the capstone on Louisiana's monumental living tableau to the memory of Huey.
Governor-designate Earl Long, like Huey, grew up amid the piney woods of northern Louisiana, stamped by the social doctrine their father believed in.
"There wants to be a revolution," the father used to say. "What do these rich folks care for the poor man—their women don't even comb their own hair."
Huey, accenting the positive, translated this into "Every Man a King."