McSween recalled having met Williams for the last time in 1976 in McSween's Alexandria home, where the former congressman asked the historian about the relationship between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Huey Long. McSween recalled Williams having referred to Roosevelt as "an elitist snob who looked down on Huey as a low-born common man not to be trusted. Huey underrated FDR and the huge political apparatus that FDR would set against him: sending a battalion of IRS agents to Louisiana and awarding political patronage to Huey's enemies. Huey reacted by extracting even more power from the Louisiana legislature, meeting in special sessions, for the caretaker state administration that he controlled from Washington as if governor."