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In reply to the discussion: America Is Becoming a Bit More Liberal. That's Pretty Unusual Six Years Into a Democratic Presidency [View all]IrishAyes
(6,151 posts)Huey was repugnant in many ways but undeniably brilliant. When the state legislature refused to fund all the paved roads he wanted, he took the miniscule amount they did give him and used most of it (minus his usual 'commission') to build a series of 1-mile paved stretches spaced out all over the state. People would be struggling along in the dust or mud, then hit that blessed pavement, and suffer even more when the dirt road resumed. Next time Huey asked for road $, he got plenty.
Although born into poverty, he managed to acquire a superficially elegant manner and could speak and move comfortably in upper echelons. But he never lost the common touch. I've seen film of one of his home state speeches where he's pounding the podium and shouting that he's "gonna make those crooks in Washington give back summa that grub they ain't got no business with!"
If he had lived, he almost certainly would've made it to the WH and become America's worst, most savage dictator. I don't think he was any saner than Earl.