The Kingfish and the Constitution: Huey Long, the First Amendment, and the Emergence of Modern Press Freedom in America

The Kingfish and the Constitution is an in-depth analysis of the poisonous relationship that evolved between Huey Kingfish Long, legendary governor of Louisiana, and the state’s daily newspapers. Long’s political battle over the newspaper tax in the Louisiana legislature in 1934 and the subsequent battle over the constitutionality of his attempt at censorship by taxation culminated in the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Grosjean v. American Press Co. in 1936, a landmark decision that laid the basis for the protection of modern freedom of the press in America. This study will be of interest to scholars and students of political science, constitutional law, and American history.