I forget the circumstances, but he once won a debate which involved the congressional intent of a New Deal law when he stood up and said he was at his Daddy's side the night the bill was voted on and recounted the issues surrounding the debate in 1935. _______________________ Longtime Sen. Russell Long, 84, Dies Louisiana Democrat Pushed Earned Income Tax Credit, Employee Stock Options By Martin Weil and Clarence Williams Washington Post Staff Writers Saturday, May 10, 2003; Page A04 Former senator Russell B. Long (D-La.) who as longtime head of the Senate Finance Committee used wit, gregariousness and mastery of detail to place his stamp on the nation's tax policy, died last night at George Washington University Hospital. He was 84. When paramedics arrived at Long's home in Foggy Bottom at 8:54 p.m., CPR was in progress. He was pronounced dead at the hospital at 10 p.m. No cause of death was reported. Long, the son of legendary Louisiana politician Huey Long, was a quotable, colorful figure who served 36 years in the upper chamber, entering at the age of 30, the minimum permitted by the Constitution. Many regarded him as one of the last survivors of a phalanx of southerners who, through seniority and legislative acumen, dominated Capitol Hill for decades. However, it was not so easy to classify Long. Students of the Senate saw him as influenced both by the populism of his father and by the power of the oil and gas interests of his state. His support of legislation that encouraged employee stock option programs, and hence employee ownership of corporations, was viewed as a reflection of his father's "every man a king" philosophy. Long also was known for promoting the earned income tax credit, which was viewed as an alternative to the family assistance program proposed by the Nixon administration. Of Long's enthusiasm for the earned income plan, a former aide once said, "He liked the idea because it encouraged work." The literature of American politics has numerous sayings ascribed to Long. Among the best known was one that reflected his amused awareness of the difficulties involved in building constituencies for imposing needed taxes. It went: "Don't tax me, don't tax thee, tax the man behind that tree." He also said that "in politics, you must help your friends or you won't have any." What, Long once asked, "is a tax loophole?" His answer was that it is "something that benefits the other guy. If it benefits you, it is tax reform." He was believed to be unique in that both his parents served in the Senate. His mother, the former Rose McConnell, served out the Senate term of his father, who was shot to death in Louisiana in 1935. Long was born in Shreveport on Nov. 3, 1918, and he was originally named Huey Pierce Long III, after his father. But his father, beset by controversy for years, decided that the name could harm his son's future prospects, and it was ultimately changed to Russell Billiu Long. He went to high school in New Orleans, received a bachelor's degree from Louisiana State University and received his law degree there in 1942 after finishing third in his class. He commanded landing craft in the Mediterranean as a naval officer during World War II. After the war, he practiced law in Baton Rouge. When one of the state's U.S. senators died in 1948, Long entered the contest to fill the two years of his term. He won the Democratic primary by 10,000 votes of 500,000 cast, the narrowest margin of his career. Fellow Democrats elected him whip in 1965, but his success in the post was spotty, in part, it was said, because of a drinking problem that he later overcame. He was replaced in 1969. But his brightest days came during his 16 years as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which lasted until the Republican takeover of the Senate in 1981. "My father was a revolutionary," he said. "I'm more of an evolutionary. . . . I'd simply double the wealth of the country and spread it around more evenly." He did not seek reelection in 1986. His wife and two daughters survive.
From the NYTimes _____________ May 11, 2003 Russell B. Long, 84, Senator Who Influenced Tax Laws, Is Dead By JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr. ASHINGTON, May 10 — Russell B. Long, who carried the legacy of his powerful Louisiana family through four decades as a United States senator, died in Washington on Friday. He was 84. The cause of death was apparently a heart attack, his family said. The son of Huey P. Long, the legendary populist known as Kingfish who as governor of Louisiana and a senator ran the state's political machinery with almost dictatorial power until he was assassinated in 1935, Russell Long was elected to the Senate in 1948, just days before reaching the constitutional minimum age of 30. A Democrat, he exercised great influence as chairman of the Committee on Finance. The Wall Street Journal once called him the fourth branch of government. President John F. Kennedy, when he proposed a major tax reduction to stimulate the economy, chose Mr. Long, then the Finance Committee's vice chairman, to manage the bill on the floor since the committee's chairman was not enthusiastic about the bill. Mr. Long's success in maneuvering it forward in early 1964 cemented his reputation as a rising leader. His influence over tax laws lasted to the end of his career, when he helped write a major simplification of income tax laws in 1986. He decided not to run for re-election that year. His concentration on reshaping the tax code and expanding Social Security was his way of continuing the populist mission of his father, according to Robert Mann, author of "Legacy to Power: Senator Russell Long of Louisiana" (Paragon House, 1992). "He was his father's son, always concerned about the concentration of wealth in the upper levels of society," Mr. Mann said. "But while his father was a revolutionary politician, Senator Long considered himself, quite accurately, as an evolutionary figure." When Hubert H. Humphrey was nominated for vice president in 1964, Mr. Long became the Democratic whip in the Senate, one of the most powerful posts in Congress. "In the heyday of the Southern chairmen, Russell was at the top of the list of big, strong figures representing the South who were national leaders that every president had to deal with," said Representative Billy Tauzin, Republican of Louisiana, who is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "Nothing could happen without them." He was also one of the great storytellers, with a family history that provided an anecdote to match any mood. When tempers flared during especially bitter debates on the Finance Committee, Mr. Long would break the mood with a story of the escapades of his father or his equally colorful uncle, the former governor Earl Long. He was also a master of political aphorism whose most memorable line, skewering his colleagues when they sought changes in his tax bills, is a perennial favorite in Washington: "Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that man behind the tree." But that was just one of his many insouciances that still seem timely. "The distinction between a campaign contribution and a bribe is almost a hairline's difference," he said in 1971. Senator John B. Breaux, Democrat of Louisiana, in a statement on Friday night said that "it was his kind manner and his quiet charisma that endeared so many people to him." Russell Long was considered quiet by family standards. "He was a cleaned-up version of Huey Long," said John Maginnis, publisher of the Louisiana Political Fax Weekly of Baton Rouge. "Russell was seen as the next generation, with the rough edges smoothed out." In midcareer, though, his reputation as a heavy drinker tarnished that image. One evening at the end of the 1963 Senate session, reporters in the press gallery were startled to see him marched onto the floor, propped up by two other senators, when his presence was needed for a quorum call so that legislative business could proceed. The Senate clerk, just beginning to call the roll in the usual alphabetical order, called Mr. Long's name out of order so that he could record himself as being present before being hustled out of the chamber. "He hit the bottle pretty hard in the 1950's and 1960's and that cost him a bigger role in the Senate," Mr. Maginnis said. Still, Mr. Long was a pioneer in establishing employee stock option plans, and he sometimes said that making them commonplace was one of his most important accomplishments. He also championed the earned income tax credit for the working poor. He was protective of Louisiana industries, like oil and gas producers and shrimp fishermen. His promotion of the state was legendary. To save Fort Polk, an Army base, he stood down first President Kennedy and then President Lyndon B. Johnson, refusing to cooperate on critical legislation unless each in his turn agreed to keep it open. In the 1960's, opposing what he called "forced integration," he voted against a motion in 1964 that was needed to enact civil rights legislation that southerners were blocking with a filibuster. But he may not have been a segregationist at heart, voting before other southerners to abolish the poll tax. He said later that he usually voted with the Southern bloc because he knew that to do otherwise would have cost him his seat. The country was better off, he acknowledged later in his career, for having moved ahead on civil rights. By the 1970's, with the security that comes from seniority, he could vote against the popular opinion in his home state, as he did when he cast a vote to ratify the treaty giving up United States control over the Panama Canal. He said on the floor that while his constituents might disagree with him, the framers of the Constitution would have expected him to vote for the treaty on principle. Russell Billiu Long was born in Shreveport, La., on Nov. 3, 1918. His mother, Rose McConnell Long, held the Senate seat after her husband's death in 1935. Mr. Long graduated from Louisiana State University in 1941 and received his law degree there in 1942. He served as a lieutenant in the Naval Reserve from 1942 to 1945. He opened a law practice in Baton Rouge in 1946, and was elected to the Senate two years later, filling the vacancy left by the death of John H. Overton. He was re-elected in 1950 and five more times, the last in 1980. His first marriage, to Katherine Mae Hattic, ended in divorce. He is survived by his second wife, the former Carolyn Bason; two daughters, Rita Katherine Mosely and Pamela Prescott McCardell; a brother, Palmer; and a sister, Rose Long MacFarland.
