Carl Weiss
Carl Weiss was a physician from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, known for his notable medical career and family life. Born to a prominent medical family, Weiss graduated from Tulane University Medical School and built a successful practice in Baton Rouge. In 1933, he married Louise Yvonne Pavy, and they had a son in 1935. However, Weiss's life took a dramatic turn on September 8, 1935, when he was involved in the assassination of U.S. Senator Huey Long. Reports suggest that Weiss approached Long and shot him, leading to chaos as police officers shot Weiss multiple times. Despite his seemingly stable life as a husband and father, the motivations behind his actions remain unclear and debated. Some theorize that Weiss acted out of a sense of patriotism, while others believe personal animosity towards Long, who had targeted Weiss's in-laws, may have played a role. The circumstances surrounding Long's death were complicated by the absence of an autopsy and various conspiracy theories, leaving his assassination shrouded in controversy.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Carl Weiss
Assassin of U.S. senator Huey Long
- Born: December 6, 1906
- Birthplace: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- Died: September 8, 1935
- Place of death: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Cause of notoriety: Weiss, a physician and family man, shot Senator Huey Long and was himself immediately shot dead by Long’s bodyguards.
Active: September 8, 1935
Locale: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Early Life
Carl Weiss (kahrl wis) was the eldest of three children born to prominent Baton Rouge physician Carl Adam and Viola (née Maine) Weiss. Weiss rapidly began a distinguished medical career after graduating from Tulane University Medical School, interning at Touro Hospital in New Orleans, American Hospital in Paris, and Bellevue Hospital in New York and doing postgraduate work in Vienna.
Most reports state that he was a scholarly gentleman and regular church attendee at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. In 1933, Weiss married Louise Yvonne Pavy, the daughter of Benjamin Pavy, a longtime Opelousas judge and a political opponent of Huey Long. Weiss developed a successful medical practice in Baton Rouge, and in 1935 Yvonne gave birth to their son, Carl Austin Weiss, Jr.
Criminal Career
On the evening of September 8, 1935, Weiss told his family that he was going to check on patients at the local hospital. Instead, he went to the state capitol and quickly approached U.S. senator Huey Long. While there is no universally accepted eyewitness account of the shooting, the most commonly accepted version is that of state police officer Murphy Roden. Roden’s account was that Weiss approached Long rapidly and shot him once. Roden wrestled the gun from Weiss as state police officers shot Weiss between thirty and seventy times. At the time, Weiss was not known by any of those around the scene of the shooting and was referred to as “the man in the white linen suit.”
Observers recounted that Long voiced his wonder at having been shot. Some accounts have Long stating that he did not know Weiss at all. Weiss did not fit the profile of many other political assassins. There was no record of his being a political zealot, nor was there any recorded evidence that would suggest that he was psychotic. By most accounts, Weiss was a dedicated husband and father with a successful medical practice. Others have hypothesized that Weiss never actually shot Long and that Long was killed in the barrage of gunfire from Long’s bodyguards. Several reports cite poor medical attention as a contributing factor in the senator’s death. Regardless of these theories, Long died two days later, on September 10, after emergency surgery to save him proved unsuccessful.
Impact
The death of Huey Long remains questionable to this day. Much of the confusion and controversy regarding this case comes from the facts that there was no autopsy performed on Long’s body and there was significant delay in the investigation of the incident. Carl Weiss was buried the day after he died.
Part of the confusion of the stories may have been perpetuated by the significant popularity of Robert Penn Warren’s book All the King’s Men (1946). The book was a thinly veiled biography of Huey Long (referred to as Willie Stark), including his assassination by Dr. Adam Stanton. Although Long’s political machine was powerful, there was no clear line of succession after his death. Part of the way to solidify the political machine was to make Long a martyr. In order to keep the legend alive, his supporters may have spread several conspiracy stories that President Franklin D. Roosevelt and other anti-Long parties set Long up to die.
Some claim that Carl Weiss killed Long as an act of patriotism out of fear that Long was leading the United States to a fascist governmental system similar to those in Europe at the time. Others claim that Weiss was motivated by other factors. Long was known aggressively to slander political opponents and their families, and Pavy family members were targeted by Long.
Bibliography
Clarke, James W. American Assassins: The Darker Side of Politics. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1982. One chapter on Weiss explains that his lack of pathology or political zealotry makes him an “atypical” assassin.
Deutsch, Hermann B. The Huey Long Murder Case. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1963. Describes details in the lives of Weiss and Long to explain how this unforeseen act most likely occurred.
Zinman, David H. The Day Huey Long Was Shot: September 8, 1935. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1993. Zinman questions that Weiss actually fired the bullet that killed Long.