Oral history with Mr. Howard Dudley Long

              Oral history with Mr. Howard Dudley Long
F341.5 . M57 vol. 746, pt. 1
Funding for this project provided by The Mississippi State Legislature, The Mississippi Humanities Council, The Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage at the University of Southern Mississippi.
This transcription of an oral history by the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage of The University of Southern Mississippi may not be reproduced or published in any form except that quotation of short excerpts of unrestricted transcripts and the associated tape recordings is permissible providing written consent is obtained from the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. When literary rights have been retained by the interviewee, written permission to use the material must be obtained from both the interviewee and the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. Please call ( 601) 266- 4574 for more information.
Biography
Mr. Howard Dudley " Blue" Long was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, on October 18, 1927, to Christine Payne Long and George Byron Long who was Tupelo's chancery clerk for twenty years. As a child, Mr. Long canvassed for votes with his father, and he heard many political speeches, including some made by Theodore Bilbo. When Mr. Long was in the third grade, on April 5, 1936, the worst tornado in Tupelo's history struck the town, destroying his family's home, but failing to kill any of his family.
In 1944, at the age of sixteen, Mr. Long was graduated from Tupelo High School, and he entered college at the University of Mississippi; two years later, at the age of eighteen, he entered the Army during World War II. He was in the occupation Army, in the Fortieth Military Government Company, in Seoul, Korea, for a year and a half. He returned to Mississippi and was graduated from Ole Miss with a law degree in 1952.
In 1956, Mr. Long got federal funds to start a housing authority in Tupelo; he procured a preliminary loan and approval for public housing units to be built, becoming the executive director of the organization that filed the first application for urban renewal in Mississippi. Mr. Long retired from his position as executive director in the early 1990s.
Table of Contents
I. Childhood
II. Tupelo tornado of 1936
III. Tupelo in the 1940s
IV. The Strand Theater's first air conditioner
V. Campaigning for father
VI. Theodore Bilbo
VII. Tupelo's train depot and the G, M, and O Railroad
VIII. Gum Pond
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