This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 69.158.143.70 (talk) at 16:41, 5 July 2005 (→Denouement). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 16:41, 5 July 2005 by 69.158.143.70 (talk) (→Denouement)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Business Plot or the The Plot Against FDR was a supposed conspiracy against President Franklin D. Roosevelt among a group of millionaire businessmen, led by the Du Pont and J. P. Morgan empires. Alarmed by the President's plan to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor, these men allegedly plotted to overthrow Roosevelt with a military coup and install a fascist government over the United States. The alleged conspirators supposedly tried to recruit United States Marine Corps General Smedley Butler, promising him an army of 500,000, unlimited financial backing and generous media spin control. The plot was supposedly foiled in 1933 when Butler informed the Congress of a "business plot" to replace the constitutional government of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. However, no evidence of such a plot outside of Butler's personal testimony was ever presented. The question of whether or not a true "business plot" historically existed continues to the present day.
Ostensible Plot
It is estimated that the plot was conceived in the year 1932, in response to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal program for ameliorating the effects of the worldwide economic Depression in the United States. To fund New Deal spending in part the top tax rate escalated from 25% to 63%. This alarmed many members of the business establishment who saw this as a massive redistribution of their wealth to the poor. In addition, there were doubts that even this could prevent the obvious breakdown of the capitalist system, leading to a rapid transformation into socialism or communism. Thus a coup to eliminate the "creeping communism" of the New Deal and guarantee the future of American capitalism was created by the conspirators. While the full intentions of the conspirators are uncertain, critics of the plot highlight its fascist undertones.
Alleged Conspirators
The plot is said to have included some of America's richest and most famous names of the time:
- Irénée du Pont - Right-wing chemical industrialist and founder of the American Liberty League, the organization assigned to execute the plot.
- Grayson Murphy - Director of Goodyear, Bethlehem Steel and a group of J. P. Morgan banks.
- William Doyle - Former state commander of the American Legion and a central plotter of the coup.
- John Davis - Former Democratic presidential candidate and a senior attorney for J. P. Morgan.
- Al Smith - Roosevelt's bitter political foe from New York. Smith was a former governor of New York and a codirector of the American Liberty League.
- John J. Raskob - A high-ranking DuPont officer and a former chairman of the Democratic Party.
- Robert Clark - One of Wall Street's richest bankers and stockbrokers.
- Gerald MacGuire - Bond salesman for Clark, and a former commander of the Connecticut American Legion. MacGuire was the key recruiter to General Butler.
The hypothetical plan
Again, according to most versions of the story, General Smedley Butler was chosen to lead the coup. The plotters felt his good reputation and popularity was important to make the troops feel confident they were doing the right thing by overthrowing a democratically elected president. Initially other candidates were considered. MacGuire said to Butler, "The Morgan interests say that you cannot be trusted, that you are too radical, and so forth, that you are too much on the side of the little fellow; you cannot be trusted. They are for Douglas MacArthur at the head of it.... They want either MacArthur or MacNider. They do not want you. But one group tells them that you are the only fellow in America who can get the soldiers together..."
In a nutshell, the plotters are said to have wanted to keep Roosevelt as a figurehead while the real power would have been held by a newly created "Secretary of General Affairs" in the person of Butler. Butler would then implement fascist measures to correct the economy, as such steps were deemed at the time to be the most efficient way to fight communism while preserving socio-economic status quo.
MacGuire allegedly assured Butler the cover story would work: "You know the American people will swallow that. We have got the newspapers. We will start a campaign that the President's health is failing. Everyone can tell that by looking at him, and the dumb American people will fall for it in a second…" The businessmen also promised that money was not a problem: Clark told Butler that he would spend half his $60 million fortune to save the other half. In addition he is said to have stated "You know, the President is weak. He will come right along with us. He was born in this class. He was raised in this class, and he will come back. He will run true to form. In the end he will come around. But we have got to be prepared to sustain him when he does."
Denouement
The plot was aborted when Butler went public. His testimony before the McCormack-Dickstein Committee, which would later become the House Committee on Un-American Activities was largely ignored. The committee failed to call in any of the coup plotters for questioning, other than MacGuire.
Sources
House Committee on Un-American Activities report part 1
House Committee on Un-American Activities report part 2
House Committee on Un-American Activities report part 3