The Whitehouse Coup (1933) 2 of 3

The "Business Plot" (also the Plot Against FDR and the White House Putsch) was an alleged political conspiracy in 1933 wherein wealthy businessmen and corporations plotted a coup détat to overthrow United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1934, the Business Plot was publicly revealed by retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler testifying to the McCormack-Dickstein Congressional Committee. In his testimony, Butler claimed that a group of men had approached him as part of a plot to overthrow Roosevelt in a military coup. One of the alleged plotters, Gerald MacGuire, vehemently denied any such plot. In their final report, the Congressional committee supported Butler's allegations of the existence of the plot, but no prosecutions or further investigations followed, and the matter was mostly forgotten.

On July 17, 1932, thousands of World War I veterans converged on Washington, D.C., set up tent camps, and demanded immediate payment of bonuses due them according to the Adjusted Service Certificate Law of 1924. This "Bonus Army" was led by Walter W. Waters, a former Army sergeant. The Army was encouraged by an appearance from retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler, who had considerable influence over the veterans, being one of the most popular military figures of the time. A few days after Butler's arrival, President Herbert Hoover ordered the marchers removed, and their camps were destroyed by US Army cavalry troops under the command of General Douglas MacArthur.
Butler, although a self-described Republican, responded by supporting Roosevelt in that year's election.

In a 1995 History Today article Clayton Cramer argued that the devastation of the Great Depression had caused many Americans to question the foundations of liberal democracy. "Many traditionalists, here and in Europe, toyed with the ideas of Fascism and National Socialism; many liberals dallied with Socialism and Communism." Cramer argues that this explains why some American business leaders viewed fascism as a viable system to both preserve their interests and end the economic woes of the Depression.

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

***audio is available for free using Realplayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/document/document_20070723.shtml

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• BBC
• Radio
• Whitehouse
• Coup
• Prescott
• Bush
• Nazi
• 1933
• Document
• USA
• right-wing
• American
• fascism
• fascist
• business
• President
• Franklin
• Roosevelt
• fdr
• war
• America
• Heinz
• Birds
• Eye
• Goodtea
• Maxwell
• House
• George
• Hitler
• Mussolini
• great
• depression
• peacetime
• democracy
• politics
• history
• new
• world
• order
• pnac
• bank
• handout
• bailout

[iconoclast911]

General Butler had big brass balls, and couldn't be bought.

Thanks Smedley, for standing up against tyranny, by telling it like it was. God Damn Fascist Nazi wall street traitors. also

Fuck Prescott Bush and his satanic progeny. May he rot in hell

[fukprc]

who the hell do you think pulls the strings and has obama and bush and clinton installed? did you vote for Rockefeller or Rockefeller?

[vengencefrom1979]

did you know that hitler was catholic and was appointed chancellor in a country which was 90% christian?

did you know that nazis were behind the killing of JFK and their first order of business after he was dead was to escalate the war in vietnam?

did you know that george bush's grandpappy was a nazi?

along with henry ford too?

not to mention quite a few big businesses on wallstreet.

did you know that 9/11 was an inside job and george bush destroyed all the evidence?

[httm241]

@TheDrilnos McCormick and rayburn were the best house speakers in my opinion

[TheDrilnos]

The truth would shatter their world. This is also why ppl so not desire the truth. I hate to say it but it's true coolwhatup. Ppl are viewed as sheep to the Corporate America.

[coolwhatup3]

That is why working people in corporate settings and sending them home to watch the TV, which is addictive, destroying their brain cells in the process, having them watch mindless crap is so effective. It keeps people psychologically enslaved. That is what our country is made of, mindless and apathetic individuals who can't rescue themselves cause they don't like reality. Great!

[ecalebw]

Blackwater...

[MathewsWire]

It was the third leg I would guess. Somehow they kept him in the dark, made him think he was working for the country, the people, freedom, etc. The take-over was not stalled in the least. FDR was used the same way. Gold confiscation 1933 I think or 35, etc, etc.

[mmarkmmart]

@badattitude77769

what?!

[GuinnevereB]

@john48martin It's happening, but Obama is NOT FDR. He's an "honorary" Bush (I put that in quotes because there IS no honor in the Bush family). He has continued Bush policies: Gitmo is still open for business, he has appointed big fascist banksters to oversee the nation's fiscal rectitude, with the result: there IS none, the Bush wars are still perking along merrily, while he pretends the troops in Iraq are just "advisers" now... Face it, he's as crooked as they are. But more eloquent.

[GuinnevereB]

@AmericaLoudNClear No. The White House is complicit in PRIVATIZING everything, including Medicare and Social Security. There are plots afoot right now to make SSA appear insolvent, so it can be bought by some corporation and sucked dry. They can't WAIT to get their greedy hands on that very solvent fund; they've been slavering over it these past 60 years-plus. Obama is spiritually the foster child of Prescott Bush, like wossname in The Godfather. He sympathizes with those fascist thugs.

[GuinnevereB]

@smujismuj They were blinded by greed; they could not imagine any man resisting the siren song of wealth and power, because none of them would have. Now, of course, their heirs test out their cats-paws beforehand. The failed coup was embarrassing to them. They were never in actual danger, they were all too well connected for that, but it must have stung to find out they'd overplayed their hand and the hated New Deal was going to be made the law of the land. Now, of course, they've fixed that...