Power

The dominant theme of the book is Huey Long's need for control and power. The Kingfish could not be a part of a group or a team. He had to be the leader who exercised absolute control. Everything had to be done his way and he had to control people and situations. Those who opposed Huey Long had problems.

Huey amassed a power base over a number of years in Louisiana basically through the practice of patronage. He awarded jobs to those who were loyal to him, which led to his control of the state and its government apparatus. This allowed him to easily implement the programs that he wanted in Louisiana. He would use a variety of tricks, like having the provisions of his programs included in other bills voted on by legislators, knowing they didn't have the time to read them. He felt that his programs...