On September 8, 1935, Huey Long, a United States senator and former Louisiana governor, was fatally shot at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Long was an extremely popular and influential politician at the time, and his death eliminated a possible 1936 presidential bid against Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Long was at the capitol to pass a redistricting bill to oust Judge Benjamin Henry Pavy, an opposition state judge. Shortly after passing the bill, Long was ambushed in a hallway by Carl Weiss, Pavy's son-in-law. According to the most widely accepted version of events, Weiss shot Long in the chest, and Long's bodyguards shot Weiss, killing him instantly. There remains some controversy over whether Weiss actually shot Long, with an alternative theory claiming he was shot by his bodyguard(s) by accident during the fight and another was that Weiss instead punched Long, who was then killed in the crossfire when his bodyguards opened fire on Weiss. Long was rushed to the Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, where emergency surgery failed to stop internal bleeding. He was pronounced dead at 4:10 a.m.
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