"The Day Huey Long Was Shot", by David Zinman

This book was first published in 1963, casting serious doubt on the official version of how Huey Long was assassinated back in 1935. Then, in the early '90s, the author re-opened his investigation. and in 1993 re-published his book with much additional material.

The official version is that a young doctor, Carl Weiss, came up to Long in the state capital building and shot him, and was himself then riddled with dozens of shots from Long's bodyguards. Why Weiss, a young doctor who was devoted to his family and his church and his medical practice, would suddenly do something so out of character has never been satisfactorily explained.

To make a long story short, what probably happened was that Weiss approached Long, Long uttered a racial slur at him, Weiss responded by punching Long, and Long's six bodyguards then unloaed a flurry of bullets, with Long being hit in the crossfire. This version is supported by the fact that Long had a cut on his mouth which was never satisfactorily explained, and by the fact that, when a nurse asked Long in the hospital about the cut, Long told her that "That's where he hit me". That the actions of the bodyguards caused Long's death is supported by the fact that his bodyguards refused to cooperate with the Coroner's Inquest. Weiss could not very well have first hit Long and then shot him, given that Long was surrounded by bodyguards.

There is a wealth of detail presented. This detail includes the result of a forensic examination of Weiss's body when it was exhumed in 1992. The forensic scientists concluded that there were serious doubts that the doctor had fired the fatal shot which killed Long.