What did the opposition have to offer? Nothing. All they could talk about was autocrats and high taxes and state debts. Well we have always had taxes, the state has always been in debt, but never until Huey Long was elected did the people get anything for their money.

Look at our university. It used to be a disgrace to the state. Now it is one of the best in the country and the pride of everyone."

— gas station attendant (Huey Long's Regime in Louisiana, Ingham County News – Mason, MI, Feb. 20, 1936)

He was fair to colored people, good to all people. He walked the land like Jesus Christ and left nothing undone."

— Rivers Livous, "a laboring man" (T. Harry Williams, Huey Long, p. 705)

We felt he had no prejudices. He gave the Negroes and all poor people hope."

— Vivian S. Bernard, schoolteacher (Williams p. 705)

The lives of great men do not end with the grave. They just begin."

— Rev. Gerald L.K. Smith at Huey Long's memorial service, Sept. 12, 1935

Huey must have liked people. He made these people feel important, and somebody should have."

— Edmund T. Reggie (Williams p. 703)

His enemies — not satisfied to have the man in his grave — saw their chance to drag his name through the mud — to dig his bones from his grave where they had been placed with love and dignity and bury him a second time — this time in shame, for crimes he did not commit."

— Russell B. Long, National Press Club, Jan. 23, 1985

Russell, never forget that you had a great father, not an ordinary man. You only saw a human father, a man who was always abused, always distressed, always harassed, always pilloried, always misunderstood — even by his close associates, at times. His mind and thinking was so far ahead of his day, and ahead of his associates, that they never could keep up with him. But he knew right from wrong, and he tried to do right. He knew that he would be attacked if he sought to insist that great and powerful people, and politicians in control of government, were to be challenged. And he wasn’t afraid of any man, not even FDR."

— personal letter to Russell Long from George Maines, former Hearst reporter and Huey Long press agent

Huey had said there was something wrong in a society where people were in want in a land of plenty. Apparently the United States government finally came around to his way of thinking. No one in the national government or the the national news media ever gave Huey any credit for his part in bringing these changes about. In fact, the national news media and cheap politicians continued to try to discredit Huey's ideas long after he was dead. Even today they can hardly mention Huey's name without kicking his corpse a few times."

— Calvit Walker, Share Our Wealth Society member

We hope to God that Louisiana men awake to these wrongs and to the sole remaining method of righting them."

— newspaper editor Hodding Carter (Hammond, LA) advocating for Long's assassination; Long's home was subsequently the target of a drive-by shooting (Williams p. 728)

Looking back, I know that part of our failure arose from an unwillingness to approve any Long-sponsored proposal for change, regardless of its merits."

— Hodding Carter, journalist (American Mercury Magazine, 1949)

He is a creature devoid of every element of honor and decency."

— former Louisiana Governor John Parker (Williams p. 470)

Jesse James was a gentleman compared with Long because Jesse James at least wore a mask. Long has the face of a clown, the heart of a petty larceny burglar, and the disposition of a tyrant."

— former Louisiana Governor Ruffin Pleasant (Williams p. 470)

He has not only common ways, but a common, sordid, dirty soul." His face betrayed that he had the qualities of the lower animals: "the greed and coarseness of the swine, the cunning of the fox, the venom of the snake, the cruel cowardice of the skulking hyena."

— Mrs. Ruffin Pleasant, former First Lady of Louisiana (Williams p. 470)

Huey Long is not the first scoundrel to be elected governor of Louisiana. A good many of our governors have been scoundrels. But they have always been gentlemen."

— a New Orleans dowager, Vanity Fair, March 1935 (Williams p. 749)

It's all very well for us to laugh over Huey. But actually we have to remember all the time that he really is one the of two most dangerous men in the Country."

— Franklin Roosevelt to Rexford Tugwell — the other "dangerous man" was identified as General Douglas McCarthur (Williams p. 640)

Don't put anybody in and don't help anybody that is working for Huey Long or his crowd: that is a hundred percent."

— Franklin Roosevelt on placing anti-Longs in charge of federal spending in Louisiana (Williams p. 795)

No public works money is going to build up any share-the-wealth machine."

— Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes (Williams p. 813)

Others had power in their organization, but he had power in himself. And he brought them all to their knees."

— Herve Racevitch, Old Regular who joined Long (Williams p. 737)

It was remarkable. You knew you were going to vote for the bills anyway. But when he explained them you couldn't see any bad angles, even though you knew they were there. I've often wondered how so many sensible men could sit there and listen and believe for the moment what he said. It was like we were mesmerized. It wasn't just that he had power or patronage, although you knew he had. But he carried you along with him."

— James Burns, Louisiana State legislator (Williams p. 748)

I used to go up and see Huey in his apartment at the Mayflower. I said, 'Huey, you have a great capacity. Watch out for the people around you.' He said, 'I haven't got any money. This is the way I live. I live simple.' I don't think he enriched himself. But he did have a lot of thieves around him. He spent himself. He tore his passion to tatters, as Shakespeare would put it."

— Raymond Moley, member of Franklin Roosevelt's original Brain Trust (Studs Terkel, "Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression", p. 251)

Huey Long is as little understood in September, 1935, as was Abraham Lincoln in April, 1865."

— U.S. Senator Thomas D. Schall (R-MN)

He is not a fascist … He is a dictator. He rules, and opponents had better stay out of his way. He punishes all who thwart him with grim, relentless, efficient vengeance."

— Raymond Swing, The Nation, January 1935

Imagine ninety-five Senators trying to out-talk Huey Long. They can't get him warmed up."

— Will Rogers (Williams p. 623)

The Senate had thought it could haze Huey into submission. Instead he had been hazing it ever since he arrived."

— Rodney Dutcher, Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, 1933 (Williams p. 624)

Next to President Roosevelt, Huey Long is "the most vital figure in public life."

— correspondent on Huey's huge audiences in the Senate galleries

They do not merely vote for him, they worship the ground he walks on. He is part of their religion."

— St. Louis Post-Dispatch correspondent on Huey's popularity, 1935 (Williams p. 762)

They don't know Huey Long. They never saw him and would not know him if he stepped off the train at our station. But they know him in name and you can't make them believe he is not their defender."

— local south Louisiana politician to New Orleans States reporter on Long's reputation as Public Service Commissioner, 1921 (Williams p. 152)

He was a crook — but he had no money; a corrupt politician — but the cost of government is third-lowest in the country; a demagogue — but he kept his campaign promises; a hillbilly — but he had no racial prejudices; an ignoramus — but he ran a business administration; a dictator — but he broadened the suffrage; an opportunist — but he had ideals."

— Washington Columnist Drew Pearson’s proposed epitaph in response to false charges against Long (reprinted in "Huey Long’s Regime in Louisiana," Ingham County News, Mason, Mich., Feb. 20, 1936)