Rose Long (née McConnell; April 8, 1892May 27, 1970) was an American politician who served as a Senator, and the wife of

Huey Long Huey Pierce Long Jr. (August 30, 1893September 10, 1935), nicknamed "the Kingfish", was an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a United States senator from 1932 until his assassination ...

. She was the third woman to ever serve as a U.S. Senator, and the first from

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

Life and work

Rose Long at desk with photograph of Huey P

Rose McConnell was born in

Greensburg, Indiana Greensburg is a city in and the county seat of Decatur County, Indiana. The population was 11,492 at the time of the 2010 census. History Greensburg was laid out in 1822. The founder, Thomas Hendricks Sr.'s wife being a native of Greensburg, ...

. She met Huey Long after she won a cake baking contest that he had organized to promote a product he was selling at the time. After a two-and-a-half year courtship, Rose and Huey were married in 1913. The next year he turned to the study of law, and became a lawyer after passing the bar. They had three children together. Huey Long became a highly successful politician, elected as governor of Louisiana in 1928 and then US Senator from Louisiana in 1930. After Huey's assassination in 1935, in an example of

widow's succession Widow's succession was a political practice prominent in some countries in the early part of the 20th century, by which a politician who died in office was directly succeeded by their widow, either through election or direct appointment to the se ...

, Rose was appointed to serve in his seat in the United States Senate until a special election could be held. She won the

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

on April 21, 1936, to serve the remaining months of her husband's term, but was not a candidate that fall for re-election to a full six-year term. Because Hattie Caraway (D-Arkansas) was already serving in the Senate when Rose Long was elected, it marked the first time that two women had ever served simultaneously in that body. Rose Long died in Boulder, Colorado, in 1970, where she lived near her daughter, Rose Lolita Long McFarland. She was also survived by her sons, Palmer Reid Long of Shreveport, Louisiana, and Russell B. Long, then the sitting

United States Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

from Louisiana.

Legacy

Mrs. Long was portrayed by

Ann Dowd Ann Dowd (born January 30, 1956) is an American actress. She has played supporting roles in numerous films, including ''Green Card'' (1990), ''Lorenzo's Oil'' (1992), ''Philadelphia'' (1993), '' Garden State'' (2004), '' The Manchurian Candidate' ...

in the 1995 television movie '' Kingfish: A Story of Huey Long.'' On February 1, 2014, Mrs. Long was

posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death * ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987 * ''Posthumous'' (E ...

inducted into the

Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame The Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame is a museum and hall of fame located in Winnfield, Louisiana. Created by a 1987 act of the Louisiana State Legislature, it honors the best-known politicians and political journalists in the state. H ...

in Winnfield. Six others were honored as well, including John S. Hunt II, son of her sister-in-law Lucille Long Hunt, and who had served on the Public Service Commission from 1964 to 1972. Robert "Bob" Mann, press secretary to Senator Russell B. Long, was also inducted.

References

External links

Rose McConnell Long (1892–1970)
Find A Grave Memorial , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Long, Rose Mcconnell 1892 births 1970 deaths Burials in Louisiana Democratic Party United States senators from Louisiana First Ladies and Gentlemen of Louisiana

Rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

Louisiana Democrats Female United States senators Politicians from Boulder, Colorado People from Greensburg, Indiana Politicians from Baton Rouge, Louisiana Women in Louisiana politics

Life and work

Legacy

See also

References

External links