Historical Context
Louisiana Politics and Huey P. Long
The Populist Movement, which espoused increased powers for the
farmer and the working man, swept through a large part of the postCivil War South but failed to find a foothold in Louisiana, thanks to the
entrenched wealthy interests that had historically governed Louisiana:
Standard Oil, the banks, the railroads, and rich landowners. Average
citizens struggled along, sending their children to poorly supported
schools over unpaved, pot-holed roads. Many were sharecroppers, who
didn’t own their own land and who barely made enough money to buy
seeds for the next year’s crop.
Huey P. Long, the widely acknowledged model for Willie Stark, began
his life in politics by winning a position on the state railroad
commission. He promptly set up that position as a bully pulpit from
which he attacked Standard Oil. He accused the corporate giant of
influencing the state government in its favor, making him a hero of the
“little people,” who felt left out of the prosperity many in Louisiana
enjoyed. In 1923, he ran an unsuccessful campaign for the
governorship, lacking the usual big-money support a candidate would
attract in that state. In 1928, he came back to win, supported by a huge
majority. Long’s impassioned speeches and vibrantly written pamphlets
attracted those who felt it was time for a change.
The tension between the group of wealthy landowners who had ruled
Louisiana for a hundred or more years and Long’s supporters forms the
backdrop for the relationship between Willie Stark and Anne Stanton in
the novel. Anne’s family was a part of the elite ruling class, and her
father had served as governor. Willie stood for clearing out the ruling
elite and spreading their wealth through increased taxes. Their affair
would have been a scandal not only because Willie was a married man
but because of the taboo associated with members of these two classes
associating with each other.
As governor, Long instituted a series of programs to benefit what he
saw as the majority of Louisiana citizens, who had never enjoyed any
representation in their state government. These included public works
programs (for bridges, roads, schools, airports, and municipal
buildings) that expressed the optimism of a new period. To pay for all
of this, he increased the taxes on the smaller and wealthier portion of
Louisianans who did not vote for him. His attempt to impose a tax on
Standard Oil resulted in an effort to impeach him. This failed, and he
emerged from the fight stronger and more popular than ever.
In 1930, Long was elected to the United States Senate, but he still
firmly held the reins of power in Louisiana for some time to come. In
fact, the Long family controlled state politics in Louisiana until 1960.
Long’s heavy-handed tactics to achieve his goals and visions were
legendary, but apparently Long felt that he had to employ such means
to accomplish his goals.
The Dust Bowl
On April 14, 1934, after months of intense drought, extremely high
temperatures, and nonstop winds, huge dark dust clouds blotted out the
sun in western Kansas. Over the next few days, the clouds of dust sped
south and west toward Texas, western Oklahoma, eastern Colorado,
and New Mexico, eventually covering more than three hundred
thousand square miles. But the dust storms affected more than just
these central and western states; between May 10 and 12, 1934, about
twelve million tons of soil fell on Chicago, and a dust cloud covered
the entire East Coast.
In the areas referred to as the Dust Bowl, agriculture slowed
significantly or stopped completely. Temperatures remained above one
hundred degrees for weeks on end. The winds from additional dust
storms cut down stalks of wheat and covered crops still in the fields
waiting to be harvested. As farmers lost their crops, loans became due,
and banks foreclosed on many properties and families. More than
350,000 people, often referred to as Okies, left the Dust Bowl for
California and what they hoped was a better life.
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Unfortunately, California was not the land of milk and honey as so
many had hoped. Images from Hollywood films had given the migrants
the impression of a golden land where they could make a new start. As
in the novel, many who fled to California eventually returned to their
homes in the Midwest.
By 1939, heavy rains and efforts by President Roosevelt’s
administration had reduced the Dust Bowl area from a high of more
than eight million acres to a bit over one million acres.
The Great Depression
Within two years of the stock market crash of 1929, economic
depression was worldwide. In the United States, unemployment soared
from a precrash rate of just over three percent to more than twenty-five
percent in 1933. The drop in the gross national product (the amount of
goods and services produced in a year) by 1933 sent that index to levels
not seen in twenty years. Why this happened was a mystery, as there
were plenty of men lined up to work while factories stayed shuttered
and dark. There had been no war or natural disaster, and yet there were
stories of men in the Pacific Northwest setting forest fires just to be
hired to extinguish them. Young men wandered the country searching
for any kind of work, and families lived in small shantytowns called
Hoovervilles (after Herbert Hoover, the president at the time of the
crash) on the outskirts of the cities. The suicide rate rose thirty percent
between 1928 and 1930. Farmers began dumping or holding back their
products to protest the low prices they were receiving. The dust storms
in the Midwest also contributed to the depression.
Eventually, through various government efforts, signs of a recovery
began to appear in 1937. Huey P. Long, the model for Willie Stark, led
a movement that pushed for a dramatic redistribution of wealth through
taxes and other programs. But the economy showed mixed signals until
after 1939, when the United States began increasing its military
spending in anticipation of World War II.
African Americans in the 1930s
The language used in the novel to describe African Americans—
specifically the use of the word “nigger”—reflected common practice
in the 1930s southern United States. Blacks in the South found movie
theaters, water fountains, hotels, restaurants, and swimming pools
either off limits or restricted in their use by blacks. In many states,
African Americans were kept from voting through a number of
techniques including poll taxes and literacy tests. Jim Crow laws
(legislation separating the races) in many southern states relegated
blacks legally to second-class status. Lynchings of innocent blacks
were not uncommon.
But there were signs that the times were changing. Roosevelt appointed
blacks to positions in the administration of the New Deal programs and
nominated the first African-American federal judge, William Hastie. In
1939, African-American author James Baldwin published Native Son,
and the book became an immediate hit. African Americans suffered
disproportionately from the depression but took steps to help their
communities through the economic downturn. For example, in New
York, Harlem residents led the “Don’t Shop Where You Can’t Work”
campaign.