Background
Edward Vaughn Long was born on July 18, 1908 on his parents' farm in rural Lincoln County, Missouri, United States. He was the son of Leslie D. Long and Lillian Shields.
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Edward Vaughn Long was born on July 18, 1908 on his parents' farm in rural Lincoln County, Missouri, United States. He was the son of Leslie D. Long and Lillian Shields.
Long attended public elementary schools in Lincoln County and high school in nearby Eolia, Missouri, graduating in 1925. He studied one year at the University of Missouri in Columbia (1925 - 1926), then three years at Culver-Stockton College (1927 - 1930) in Canton, Missouri.
Long worked in a law office and read law in Quincy, Illinois, and passed the Missouri bar in 1932. He was a schoolteacher for three years before beginning to practice law in Bowling Green.
Long's public career began with his election as Pike County prosecuting attorney in 1937. Later he served as city attorney for Bowling Green, 1941-1945, then was elected to the state senate, where he served from 1946 to 1956. A shrewd and successful businessman, he grew increasingly wealthy, becoming president or major stockholder of several banks and small loan companies in towns in central Missouri. Although critics assailed his support for higher interest rates for loan companies and other measures as self-serving, his affable manner and loyalty to the Missouri Democratic party brought increasing recognition. In 1956 he was elected lieutenant-governor. When the sudden death of Thomas Hennings, Jr. , vacated one of Missouri's U. S. Senate seats in September 1960, state Democrats deadlocked over choice of a successor and Long emerged as the compromise choice. Appointed to serve until the next election, he was elected in 1960 and then in 1962 for a full term. His principal committee assignments in the Senate were the Banking and Currency Committee and the Judiciary Committee.
Long gained national prominence when, as chairman of the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure, he launched a series of investigations into invasion of individuals' privacy by government agencies. He became something of a hero to civil libertarians for his efforts, especially concerning government wiretapping. He gave speeches and wrote articles for national magazines and then wrote a book, The Intruders: The Invasion of Privacy by Government and Industry (1967).
Long's activity brought him national publicity that distinguished him from the famous Long of Louisiana. The press, however, charged that Long treated IRS and Justice officials with undue severity in his hearings, and underworld figures with leniency. In 1967 Life magazine charged that Long was deliberately misusing the hearings to discredit evidence obtained by wiretapping that had helped convict Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa. Life accused Long of accepting $48, 000 from Morris Shenker, his longtime friend and Hoffa's chief counsel. Long's defense was that he had accepted legal fees from a few clients he shared with Shenker. The Senate Ethics Committee investigated the charges and cleared Long, reported it could find "no facts" to show any connection between Shenker's payments and Long's "duties and activities as a member of the Senate. " Life, nevertheless, pursued the matter and uncovered ties between Shenker, also the broker for the Teamsters' pension fund, and investments in Las Vegas gambling enterprises with alleged underworld ties. Long eventually admitted receiving nearly $160, 000 from Shenker but insisted that the sum represented shared legal fees. This affair damaged Long's public image irreparably although he was never convicted of any crime. He lost the 1968 Senate Democratic primary to Attorney-General Thomas Eagleton and then retired from public life to his farm near Eolia, Missouri.
Events surrounding Long's personal affairs and death in 1972 proved as controversial as his Senate career. After his sudden death it was revealed he had revised his will after a family quarrel and had virtually cut off his wife and daughter. Instead, he left his $2. 3 million estate to his five-year old granddaughter and named his longtime secretary, Helen Dunlop, to be sole trustee. A flurry of lawsuits followed, with his wife suing his secretary for alienation of affections and charging fraud in business transactions. The secretary countersued, alleging that Long had been murdered with poisoned candy. An exhumation of the body confirmed that he died of natural causes; the lawsuits were later settled quietly out of court.
Except for these controversies, Long's career was in the main rather typical for a successful midwestern businessman-lawyer in politics. Affable and gregarious, he used his business skills and political connections to become a millionaire. His loyalty to the Missouri Democratic party helped him win high public office. Although protective of business interests, he remained a party loyalist and proved moderately liberal in the Senate.
His most significant achievement was to focus public attention on the invasion of privacy which new technology was making possible. The issues Long raised have continuing significance for both government and the individual. He was also instrumental in helping defeat Senator Estes Kefauver's proposal to investigate price fixing by dairy companies in 1963.
Long was a member of the Democratic Party. As a U. S. senator, he generally supported the agenda of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. He served as a floor captain in the bitter struggle to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. However, he usually opposed new government investigation or regulation of banking and business.
Long was a thirty-third-degree Mason and a very active Rotarian. He frequently traveled abroad for Rotary International.
On August 11, 1935 Long married Florence Adeline Secor. The couple had one daughter.
