The Kingfish encounters (again) Our Bob

“One day in 1932 two newly elected U.S. Senators met socially for the first time in the Washington hotel room of a mutual friend. One was North Carolina’s Robert Rice Reynolds, the other Huey P. Long, the Louisianian Kingfish. After the introduction, Huey looked at Reynolds attentively and said, ‘Don’t I know you from some place?’

” ‘Not to my remembrance, Senator,’ said Reynolds.

” ‘Ever been to Baton Rouge?’ persisted Huey. Reynolds had.

” ‘Why then sure I know you,’ said Huey. ‘You use to run that roller-skating rink down there.’

” ‘That’s right,’ said Reynolds. ‘And now I know you. You used to come in and win all the prizes for fancy skating. That’s when you were down there sellin’ snake oil.’

“The two shook hands again in fond recollection….”

— From ” ‘Our Bob’ Reynolds” in Life magazine (Sept. 8, 1941)

Buncombe Bob, won’t you please go home?

“The accomplishments of North Carolina’s Senator Robert (‘Buncombe Bob’) Rice Reynolds are varied. He has been married five times, sired four children, kissed the late Jean Harlow on the Capitol steps, and is the only U.S. Senator to shoot an enraged bull walrus at 20 feet.

“For 10 years he has been a labor-baiting, immigrant-hating demagogue, an implacable isolationist with Fascist trimmings and Fascist friends….. This week Senator Reynolds announced he would not run for re-election next year. No tears fell.”

— From Time magazine, Nov. 15, 1943