Scott here with another episode of the History Unplug podcast.

One of the most radical political programs in American history that was never enacted

was Huey Long's share-our-wealth plan, which the Louisiana governor put forward in the 1930s.

He wanted to confiscate individual fortunes exceeding a million dollars in order

to fund health care, free college education, and a guaranteed minimum income for families

who were struggling through the Great Depression. The plan was so radical and sparked theories

that his 1935 assassination was orchestrated to silence his challenge to the economic elite.

The plan was also massively popular.

There were tens of thousands of share-o wealth clubs across the United States with millions of members involved.

Long was able to do this because his common-sense proposals gave people hope in the depths of the Depression,

particularly the incredibly poor parts of the Deep South,

and he was successful in launching social programs before

the New Deal even got started, building up roads, hospitals, schools, and bypassing the traditional

media by pushing his message through his radio programs where he would talk for hours a day,

in many ways he was a proto Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump.

From his early days as a plain-spoken lawyer to his transformative 10-year's governor and U.S. Senator, Long's media mastery and his colorful antics, like

coaching LSU football from the sidelines, or greeting foreign diplomats in his pajamas

and giving speeches possibly drunk, and his relentless fight against oligarchies, taking

on groups like standard of will, cemented his reputation as the greatest politician of the 20th century.

Today's episode, I'm speaking to Thomas Patterson,

author of American populist,

Huey Long of Louisiana,

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