From 1933 to 1934 there was a full-fledged plan to overthrow the government of the United States and install a military dictatorship, and only one man stood in the way to prevent it. Now that’s something they don’t teach us in school.
Retired General Smedley Butler, a highly respected veteran of wars in Cuba, China and World War 1 was indeed approached by agents associated with The American Legion and The Liberty League to be the leader of The United States following a military coup intended to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt, though he was from the elite upper-class himself, was engaged in an ethical battle against the richest and most powerful corporate magnates in the country. They resented his policies as he attempted to repair the damages of The Great Depression, and as the media soured on him Roosevelt had resorted to speaking directly to the public through his famous “fireside chats”.
The agents of the coup aimed to recruit Butler as the leader of a huge army of out-of-work soldiers, insert Butler into Roosevelt’s staff and actively direct domestic and foreign policy with the goal of driving the President from office. While The American Legion was to be the recruiting front, the next level up were the American fascist groups associated with The Liberty League and their affiliates. These mid-level right-wing revolutionaries were anti-New Deal, anti-labor, and anti-semitic. They labeled Roosevelt’s New Deal “Jewish Communism”. They were in turn backed financially by family names that are still recognized today; the Pitcairn family, Andrew W. Mellon Associates, Rockefeller Associates, William S. Knudsen of General Motors, E.F. Hutton Associates, J.Howard Pew, Robert Welch of The John Birch Society, and had American storm troopers the Silver Shirts as muscle. Near the pinnacle of the plot were Du Pont and J.P. Morgan interests. Weapons and equipment were to be supplied by Remington Arms on credit by the Du Ponts. The plotters had even sent one agent, a man named MacGuire to Europe to study all the fascist movements to see which fit best with American Culture.
Marine General Smedley Butler
In the Book “The Plot To Seize The White House – The Shocking True Story of the Conspiracy to Overthrow FDR” Jules Archer has peeled back the scab of American fascism and the story of the man who blew the whistle on the coup – Marine General Smedley Butler. Archer presents Butler’s life and adventures as a man with conservative leanings who finally saw that the military was being used as a blunt weapon for the powers of finance entrenched on Wall Street. Butler is famous for writing a short book called “War Is A Racket” where he basically said he was a hired gun for United Fruit and other interests. Both a straight arrow and true patriot, Butler gathered information as it was revealed to him and took it to a Congressional investigation. That was to be “The McCormack-Dickstein Committee, which verified virtually all of Butler’s allegations through interviews with MacGuire (the recruiter and fascist analyst that was sent to Europe) associates of Butlers and an investigative journalist that Butler put on the story for back-up. Archer paints a troubled but stubborn Butler as he unearths the plot and attempts to bring it to heel. The book reads very well and includes many great pictures of Butler in the field during his military adventures.
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What I took away from reading about Butler and the coup plot of 1934 is that things really haven’t changed. The United States today is run as a fascist, corporate state. The media has been consolidated and there are forbidden topics as well as legalized propaganda. Nobody will ever take the reins of power without the approval of Wall Street and energy and defense contractors. No matter who is President, the “deep state” grinds on slowly behind them, assuring nothing changes. Debt is the new form of slavery, pressed upon the youth with college fees and devalued homes they will never get their money out of. And war is still a “racket”.
If you are interested in researching the tipping point where America began to go fascist, Jules Archer’s “The Plot To Seize The White House” is a great start.
