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The Business Plot (also called The White House Putsch)[1][2] was a political conspiracy in 1933 in the United States to overthrow the center-left social-democratic government of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and install a right-wing fascist dictator.[1] Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler asserted that wealthy businessmen were plotting to create a fascist veterans' organization with Butler as its leader and use it in a coup d'état to overthrow Roosevelt. In 1934, Butler testified under oath before the United States House of Representatives Special Committee on Un-American Activities (the "McCormack–Dickstein Committee") on these revelations.[3] Interestingly enough, no one was prosecuted.
At the time of the incidents, most major news media dismissed the plot, with a New York Times editorial characterizing it as a "gigantic hoax."[4] 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.[5][6][7][8]
The conspiracy was organized by the American Liberty League, American Legion, and a private army of 500,000, including former soldiers. Several bourgeois families were involved, including the Morgans and Rockefellers, as well as George H. W. Bush's father Prescott Bush.[9]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1
- ↑ NPR interview with Sally Denton, author of the book: When The Bankers Plotted To Overthrow FDR
- ↑ Schlesinger, p. 85
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ Schmidt p. 226, 228, 229, 230
- ↑
- ↑ Schlesinger, p. 83
- ↑ Gabriel Rockhill (2021-06-06). "Fascist plots in the U.S.: Contemporary lessons from the 1934 “Business Plot”" Liberation School. Archived from the original on 2022-02-18. Retrieved 2022-06-20.