Earl Long - Eccentricity and Hospitalization

Eccentricity and Hospitalization

Long was well known for eccentric behavior, leading some to suspect that he suffered from bipolar disorder. In his last term in office his wife, Blanche Revere Long (1902–1998), and others attempted to remove him on the grounds of mental instability. For a time, Long was confined to the Southeast Louisiana Hospital in Mandeville, but his legal advisor, Joseph A. Sims, was said to have "rescued" Long from the institution. Long was never formally diagnosed with any mental illness, and a large part of the motivation for this effort may have been political; his wife's involvement may have been related to his connection with Blaze Starr. Some have even speculated that he may have suffered from dementia in his last days.

Additionally, in his later years he was alleged to have suffered from strokes, resulting in further mental impairment. He also had a severe heart attack in 1951.

While confined in the mental hospital in Mandeville, Long kept his political machine running via telephone. His staff discovered that nothing in Louisiana law required him to relinquish power because he was confined to the mental hospital; so Long ordered Jesse Bankston, the head of the state hospital system, fired and replaced him with a supporter, who had Long released. Bill Dodd, who experienced times of positive association with Long followed by alienation, defended Long over the mental hospital confinement. So too did long-time State Senator Sixty Rayburn of Bogalusa, a personal and philosophical ally of Long's. Earl and Blanche separated, and he died before a divorce could be finalized.

Only a few months after his term as governor expired in 1960, Earl Long was nominated by Democratic voters to the United States House of Representatives, but he had suffered a fatal heart attack while in the Baptist Hospital (later Rapides General Hospital) in Alexandria. He is interred at the Earl K. Long Memorial Park in Winnfield.

The House seat that Long had sought once had been held by his late brother George Long. Earl Long had defeated incumbent Congressman Harold B. McSween for renomination. McSween had been elected after the death of George Long. After Earl Long's death, the Democratic State Central Committee gave the nomination to McSween anyway. McSween was hence unopposed in the 1960 general election for a second consecutive term in the U.S. House. McSween was, however, defeated in the 1962 primary by his fellow liberal Gillis William Long, who claimed to be the rightful heir to Earl Long.

The American journalist A.J. Liebling wrote about Long's unusual career in a series of the articles for The New Yorker which were published in 1961 as The Earl of Louisiana by Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-3343-9.