"The Business Plot". It makes me nervous that I never heard of this:

[Smarmie Doofus]

Wiki:

>>The Business Plot (also the Plot Against FDR and the White House Putsch) was an alleged political conspiracy in 1933. Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler claimed that wealthy businessmen were plotting to create a fascist veterans' organization and use it in a coup d’état to overthrow United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, with Butler as leader of that organization. In 1934 Butler testified to the McCormack–Dickstein Congressional committee on these claims.<1> In the opinion of the committee, these allegations were credible.<2> No one was prosecuted.

While historians have questioned whether or not a coup was actually close to execution, most agree that some sort of "wild scheme" was contemplated and discussed.<3><4><2><5><6> Contemporaneous media dismissed the plot, with a New York Times editorial characterizing it as a "gigantic hoax".<7> When the committee's final report was released, the Times said the committee "purported to report that a two-month investigation had convinced it that General Butler's story of a fascist march on Washington was alarmingly true" and "It also alleged that definite proof had been found that the much publicized Fascist march on Washington, which was to have been led by Major. Gen. Smedley D. Butler, retired, according to testimony at a hearing, was actually contemplated".<8>>>>>

Embarassed also. ( I'm a History guy... or thought I was... and am supposed to know this stuff. ) But mostly nervous.


I was watching a youtube video of a Gore Vidal interview from circa 2000 in which he casually dropped the name "Smedley Butler".

One thing led to another and.....I'm significantly less ignorant today.


I thought McCormack was just that *really* old guy that was Speaker of the House during Kennedy-Johnson.


Sheeeezzz. So what else have I been kept in the dark about? That's the source of my nervousness.

Go easy, now. My bp meds are low.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot

[Fumesucker]

1. For want of a nail, the shoe was lost..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Want_of_a_Nail_(proverb)

It the conspirators had not picked Butler, history might well have been very different.

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

[krispos42]

2. Herbert Walker, Dubya's grandfather, was suppose to be involved in this.

Also, Walker refused to stop trading with Germany even after Pearl Harbor and the declaration of war. His company's assets were frozen for the remainder of the war. He claimed the Rupert Murdoch defense, if I recall correctly.

[leveymg]

3. The Business Plot was primarily Morgan Bank & DuPont interests.

Prescott Bush and Herbert Walker were Harriman, which isn't directly linked with this, but was Hitler's U.S bankers.

[Selatius]

4. It was a corporate response to FDR's left-wing policies of the New Deal/progressive taxation.

The thugs on Wall Street absolutely hated that man for imposing the SEC on them and getting Congress to levy taxes against them to pay for jobs programs and other New Deal programs. They called him a traitor to his class because FDR did come from a wealthy background.

[Smarmie Doofus]

5. What gets me is they were/are able to keep this on the down-low.

I know all about the red scares, McCarthy, the Palmer raids, etc etc etc.

But here's an actual RW *conspiracy* to overthrow the elected government RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL OF THE ABOVE and it is successfully hidden from history.

[Selatius]

6. It's probably due to the fact that corporate interests generally publish history textbooks nowadays.

I mean, most Americans are basically unaware of American labor history except the existence of Labor Day as a holiday. There is no historical awareness of their own labor history. I don't ever recall something so stark and alarming when I learned US history from my text books in high school. I believe the Business Plot did not exist in my text. I only found out from researching various left wing movements in American history and worldwide in my college years. It was natural that the search also included reactions to left-wing movements, and that is where I stumbled upon this almost-forgotten aspect of American history.

[Bigmack]

7. I taught about this in my HS History classes from 1975 to 1998....nt

[yardwork]

8. Howard Zinn's A People's History of the U.S. is very interesting reading.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_People's_History_of_the_United_States

[WhiteTara]

9. See if you can find "Constitution in Crisis"

it's a Bill Moyer doc from the early 90s. You'll have a few more sleepless nights. Then for a light read, a novel call "The Help" I know it's a movie too, but words on paper for me are much more powerful.

[Octafish]

10. Helps explain the Ultrarich's oppo to Social Security and the rest of the New Deal, wot?

Gen. Smedley Butler Stopped American Fascist Conspiracy to Overthrow FDR

[toddwv]

11. There's ALOT about the Great Depression era that people don't know and/or forget.

If they knew, the American people would outright reject the GOPers' agenda because it's like they took everything that was done wrong during the GP and made it into their political plan...