Kingfish U: Huey Long and LSU
Files
Description
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 schools budget mushroomed, its physical plant burgeoned, its faculty flourished, and its enrollment tripled.
Along with improving LSU?s academic reputation, Long believed the schools 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. Longs 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 Longs embrace of LSU.
Link to Catalog
LOC Call Number
LD3113 .M36 2023
ISBN
9780807179529
Publication Date
2023
Department
Manship School of Mass Communication
Publisher
Louisiana State University Press
City
Baton Rouge
Recommended Citation
Mann, Robert, "Kingfish U: Huey Long and LSU" (2023).