Robert Penn Warren's All The King's Men is said to be a fictionalized account of the life of Lousiana Governor Huey Long. The main character of Willie Stark begins as a reform-minded candidate, but uses bribery and other underhanded tactics to get his legislation passed. By the end, he is thoroughly corrupted by the political process.
Robert Penn Warren won the Pulitzer Prize in 1947 for this novel and is the only person to have won a Pulitzer Prize for both fiction and poetry. He won the prize for poetry in 1958.
All The King's Men was made into a film on two different occasions. In 1949, the lead was played by Broderick Crawford and in 2006, Sean Penn reprised the role of Willie Stark.
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