 Franklin Roosevelt sitting at the Resolute Desk where he would be found dead | |
| Date | September 29, 1938 |
|---|---|
| Time | 2:41 p.m. (EDT) |
| Location | White House, Washington D.C., U.S. |
| Type | Stroke[a] |
| Deaths | Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
On Sunday, September 8, 1935, United States senator and former Louisiana governor Huey Long was mortally wounded at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Long was an extremely popular and influential politician at the time, and his death eliminated a possible 1936 presidential bid against incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Long was at the capitol to pass a redistricting bill to oust Judge Benjamin Henry Pavy, an opposition state judge. Shortly after passing the bill, Long was ambushed in a hallway by Carl Weiss, Pavy's son-in-law. According to the most widely accepted version of events, Weiss shot Long in the chest, and Long's bodyguards shot Weiss, killing him instantly. There remains some controversy over whether Weiss actually shot Long, with an alternative theory claiming that Weiss instead punched Long, who was then killed in the crossfire when his bodyguards opened fire on Weiss.[1][2] Long was rushed to the Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, where emergency surgery failed to stop internal bleeding. He was pronounced dead at 4:10 a.m. on September 10, thirty-one hours after being shot.
Over 200,000 people attended Long's funeral. His remains were buried on the grounds of the Louisiana State Capitol, which he had constructed. A statue of Long by Charles Keck was erected on his grave in 1940. Without Long as its leader, his Share Our Wealth movement collapsed, clearing the way for Roosevelt to be re-elected to the White House in a landslide. Long and Robert F. Kennedy of New York (in 1968) are the only two sitting United States senators to be assassinated.
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- ^ Roberts, Sam (August 13, 2019). "Dr. Carl Weiss Jr., 84, Dies; His Father, He Said, Didn't Kill Huey Long (Published 2019)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
- ^ Times-Picayune, Robert Travis Scott, The. "Controversy, mystery still surround the death of Huey P. Long". NOLA.com. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
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