03/29/2013
"Long created a public works program for Louisiana that was unprecedented in the South, with a plethora of roads, bridges, hospitals, schools and state buildings that have endured into the 21st century. During his four years as governor, Long increased paved highways in Louisiana from 331 miles to 2,301, plus an additional 2,816 miles (4,532 km) of gravel roads. By 1936, the infrastructure program begun by Long had completed some 9,700 miles (15,600 km) of new roads, doubling the size of the state's road system. He built 111 bridges and started construction on the first bridge over the Mississippi entirely in Louisiana, the Huey P. Long Bridge in Jefferson Parish, near New Orleans... All of these projects provided thousands of much-needed jobs during the Great Depression, including 22,000 – or 10 percent – of the nation's highway workers."
It would be interesting to know if any leader at any time as done more to provide necessary infrastructure and gainful employment in so short a time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Long
Huey Pierce Long, Jr. (August 30, 1893 – September 10, 1935), nicknamed The Kingfish, was an American politician who served as the 40th Governor of Louisiana from 1928–1932 and as a member of the United States Senate from 1932 until his assassination in 1935. A Democrat, he was an outspoken left-win...
