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Understanding 9/11tv Louisiana Old State Capitol CSPAN August 26, 2017 7:12am-7:22am EDT
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it did cost $25 million. and in 1899 governor theodore roosevelt said we're done. it's complete. and that marked the official end of the construction of the capitol. although i think some other work did continue. that's the official end of the construction story. >> we're standing in the second floor of the old state capitol along the mississippi river here in baton rouge, louisiana. it was built in 1847. started in 1847 and completed in 1851. it's one of the only gothic state capitols in the country, and it's a replica of actually a castle. and, you know, mark twain had always had a big problem with it. he didn't like it. he thought it was too european or too gothic, so to speak. and always very critical of it. but nonetheless, it's one of a kind.
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in this exact building, we had the secession of louisiana from the union. one of our past governors, huey long, was attempted to be impeached here. union troops occupied it during the civil war. and it was actually -- the interior was really destroyed from an inadvertent fire the union troops were cooking inside and it caught the building on fire and really destroyed the entire interior. i wanted to point out the famous, what we call the umbrella. umbrella because of the beautiful color scheme of the glass that we have that was done after the building was burnt in the civil war. it laid dormant for about 20 years. and when it was rebuilt, many of the elder legislators who had served or was aware of it remembered how dark it was in the old state capital and insisted that the architect build this magnificent glass dome that is supported by this
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post down the middle. and that's why we give it the famous name or just the umbrella. it's a sunny day or cloudy day, you can see the change in the glass. it's a magnificent focal point and right in the center of the building. it goes right atop this spiral staircase that we'll see in a moment. additionally, i wanted to point out, this is also what we call the -- the hall of the governors where we depict all the louisiana governors along the wall. we have governor edwin edwards who had served four terms as governor here on this wall. below him is governor mckiffen who was actually the father of the superdome in new orleans, i'll point out. he was -- it was under his administration. his idea with many members in new orleans that actually made possible the superdome in new orleans, louisiana.
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our current governor bobby jindal who is depicted here governor jindal was the first indian governor in the states and just got elected to a second term and will be taking office in january. served also as our -- congressman for some time. this large portrait here is that of huey long who was our u.s. senator and governor. this is, you know, as i indicated, he is also -- was attempted to be impeached here. it failed. and i'll show you the room where when i bring you into the house chambers in a moment. that's where louisiana seceded from the union and the vote to bring his impeachment hearing to the september took place along with many other historic issues that took place there.
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governor blanco served in the katrina era and actually i served under governor blanco for four years myself when i served in the senate. i'm going to bring you now into the house chambers. beautiful room. we bring forth the stained glass on both -- as you'll see in both the house and senate side. and this is the room that louisiana would have seceded from the union during the civil war. it would have been where they had many of the raging debates about louisiana lottery at the time, gambling in that era. you can see on both sides of the fireplaces, of course, at that time, this is how we heated the building. and -- >> what were some of the discussions during the talk about secession? >> well, i think one of the interesting things is that 80% of the delegates here to secede from the union were actual slave owners, so the outcome of that
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vote was pretty much predetermined, to be quite honest. the mean or the average income of those individuals exceeded $100,000. so you can imagine what $100,000 was worth in those days or by today's standards. we have a gallery up top that visitors could come and witness the proceedings. and again, this is where huey long, where we would have had the initial vote taken to bring the impeachment hearings to the other side. the senate chambers on huey long only for it to fail in that hearing. >> talk about the man who was behind the effort to impeach governor long. >> actually, he was actually a relative of the family who donated the property for this building. and huey long after that failed attempt was so incensed about what occurred to him in this
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building that he just had a very poor taste in his mouth about it and that's what was the impetus for him to go build, which is now the new state capitol which was built in the 1930s by huey long and is still the building that is utilized today by the louisiana state legislature. and a building in which i served. we're now going to enter the senate chambers. and as you can see, it's directly across from the house with the same stained glass windows on each side as they face one another. this room used to have fireplaces also that have been since removed. and of course, through the fire, the building has been brought back to its original status as best as could be. the one thing i do want to point out to you is this stained glass window here at the upper end, i don't know if your camera can catch that. but we left the exposed wood.
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that shows how it was charred during the fire. we decided to leave that upper end just for presentation. what it may have looked like in that period of time. we're back on the first floor of the old state capitol here in baton rouge. we're getting ready to go into what used to be the governor's office as depicted in this marble plate here on the floor. this would have been administrative type offices as you enter. the secretaries and various other individuals. and then you would enter his office here. we have a desk that is depicted in this picture on the wall that is huey long's desk. this would have been where at the then time, governor long would have operated from. and, of course, many places in historic buildings, if only the rooms could speak.
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and my ex-colleague from the senate, now lieutenant governor darden who was secretary of state at the time, and i was his first assistant, had many a meeting in here with small groups for lunch, and it was a great meeting venue to be able to bring individuals in and, you know, tell them stories about huey and to let them realize they were sitting in huey long's old office. >> does the history of huey long overshadow the history of other governors and their significance? >> i think it does. you know, it's amazing. the spire career of huey long only spanned about seven or eight years. his u.s. senate position and his position here as governor. and yet it overlays all of louisiana's history. i think the only governor close to that as far as being well known would be edwin edwards in more modern times who served four terms, not consecutively,
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but did come back and served four terms as louisiana's governor. but huey long is depicted at the new state capitol. that monument you see out there is where he's buried. and he's a folklore in louisiana politics, no doubt about it. and i think it continues on to this day. >> what is it about louisiana that attracts interesting political figures? >> well, i think it's, as best put, we talk about louisiana gumbo. louisiana is a collection of many, many nationalities. the french, spanish, creoles, the irish, the german that have landed here in louisiana and form a very eclectic group. to me it's a gumbo of individuals that at the end of the day becomes a very interesting sidebar to louisiana and its politics.
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