In dealing with so controversial a figure, Williams admits to only two predispositions: he regards Long as one of those rare men of power with a potential for great good or great evil or both, who ""appear in response to conditions, but. Long, Huey's son, who provided access to Huey's friends and intimates for interviews which proved frank enough to require occasional anonymous billing as a ""confidential communication."" (Because of a lack of significant Long documents, Williams adopted and became increasingly enchanted with the method of oral history.) Williams spent over ten years accumulating the material for his monumental (896 pages) volume. In 1955 he secured the blessing of (but also a duly contracted free hand from) Senator Russell B. Harry Williams (author of the well-received Lincoln and His Generals, 1952) has made pretty darn sure that his is going to be the definitive biography of Long.
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