Kingfish U

Huey Long and LSU

Robert Mann

• Publisher: LSU Press
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN:
  9780807180013
• Topic: Histoire
• Subtopic: Biographies politiques

No political leader is more closely identified with Louisiana State University than the flamboyant governor and U.S. senator Huey P. Long, who devoted his last years to turning a small, undistinguished state school into an academic and football powerhouse. From 1931, when Long declared himself the "official thief" for LSU, to his death in 1935, the school's budget mushroomed, its physical plant burgeoned, its faculty flourished, and its enrollment tripled. Along with improving LSU's academic reputation, Long believed the school's football program and band were crucial to its success. Taking an intense interest in the team, Long delivered pregame and halftime pep talks, devised plays, stalked the sidelines during games, and fired two coaches. He poured money into a larger, flashier band, supervised the hiring of two directors, and, with the second one, wrote a new fight song, "Touchdown for LSU." While he rarely meddled in academic affairs, Long insisted that no faculty member criticize him publicly. When students or faculty from "his school" opposed him, retribution was swift. Long's support for LSU did not come without consequences. His unrelenting involvement almost cost the university its accreditation. And after his death, several of his allies—including his handpicked university president—went to prison in a scandal that almost destroyed LSU.Rollicking and revealing, Robert Mann's Kingfish U is the definitive story of Long's embrace of LSU.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1 I Want a Band
• 2 I Am on My Way
• 3 The Father of LSU
• 4 This Temple of Vanity
• 5 We Must Get a President
• 6 I Don’t Fool Around with Losers
• 7 The Whangdoodle
• 8 I Did My Damndest
• 9 A Cow College
• 10 You Have to Dare a Bit
• 11 Cane Juice
• 12 What Does the Band Think?
• 13 I Want a Play
• 14 Sell Them Plugs
• 15 Who Is That Awful Man?
• 16 Tell Them They Can Go to Hell
• 17 A Laughingstock
• 18 It Was Huey Long’s University
• 19 I. O. Huey
• 20 Senator Abe Mickal
• 21 The Reveille Seven
• 22 That Bunch of Buzzards and Varmints
• 23 Hollywood’s Idea of a University
• 24 Make Them Steal for the Schools
• 25 Blood on the Polished Marble
• 26 The Second Louisiana Purchase
• 27 The Louisiana Scandals
• Conclusion: Neither Saint nor Devil
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index