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The Business Plot, The Plot Against FDR, or The White House Putsch was an alleged conspiracy of moneyed interests who talked about overthrowing President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 using thousands of veterans. The allegations of the plot came to light a year later when retired Marine Corps General Smedley Butler testified that one Gerald MacGuire told him he had been selected to lead the plot, and he Butler had played along. He testified before before the House Un-American Activities Committee,or McCormack-Dickstein Committee in 1934 . In this testimony, Butler claimed that a group of several men had approached him as part of a plot to overthrow Roosevelt in a fascist military coup using the recently created American Liberty League constructed for the purpose of the coup with the model being the 1930's French fascist Croix de Feu. MacGuire vehemently denied any such plot. In their final report, the Congressional committee supported Butler's allegations on the existence of the plot , but no prosecutions or further investigations followed, and the matter was mostly forgotten.

Background

Shacks, put up by the Bonus Army on the Anacostia flats, Washington, D.C., burning after the battle with the military (1932).

In 1932, during the height of the the Bonus Army, composed of thousands of World War I veterans, demonstrated in Washington, D.C. seeking immediate payment of a "bonus" granted by the Adjusted Service Certificate Law of 1924, which deferred payment until 1945. They were led by Walter W. Waters, a former Army sergeant, and encouraged by an appearance from retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler. A few days after Smedley Butler's appearance the marchers were removed, and their camps destroyed, by federal cavalry troops under the command of General Douglas MacArthur. Butler had considerable influence over the veterans, being one of the most popular military figures of the time.

After the inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, some of the Bonus Army regrouped in Washington to restate its claims to the new president. Roosevelt also rejected the Bonus Army's claims.

Clayton Cramer, in a 1995 History Today article, reminded readers that the devastation of the Great Depression had caused many Americans to question the foundations of liberal democracy. Many Many liberals flirted with socialism and communism, and many conservatives viewed countries such as Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany as examples of how fascism could return stability and prosperity to countries ravaged by the Depression. This helps explain why some American business leaders viewed fascism as a viable system to both preserve their interests and end the economic woes of the Depression.

McCormack-Dickstein Committee

The events testified in the the House Un-American Activites Committee-- the McCormack-Dickstein Committee happened between July and November 1933. The Committee began examining evidence a year later on November 20, 1934. On November 24 the committee released a statement detailing the testimony it had heard about the Business Plot and its preliminary findings. On February 15, 1935, the committee submitted to the House of Represenatives its final report. The McCormack-Dickstein Committee was the first House Committee On Un-American Activities (HUAC).

During the McCormack-Dickstein Committee hearings, Butler testified that through Gerald MacGuire and Bill Doyle, who was then the department commander of the American Legion in Massachusetts, the conspirators attempted to recruit him to lead a coup, promising him an army of 500,000 men for a march on Washington, D.C., $30 million in financial backing, and generous media spin control. Despite Butler's support for Roosevelt in the election, and his reputation as a strong critic of capitalism, Butler said the plotters felt his good reputation and popularity were vital in attracting support amongst the general public, and saw him as easier to manipulate than others.

Butler said he was approached for about thirty minutes by Gerald MacGuire. MacGuire was a bond salesman for Robert Clark, an heir to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune, an art collector who lived mostly in Paris, and one of Wall Street's richest investors. MacGuire was a former commander of the Connecticut American Legion and had been an activist for the gold currency movement that Clark sponsored.

In attempting to recruit Butler, MacGuire may have played on the general's loyalty toward his fellow veterans. Knowing of an upcoming bonus in 1945 for World War I veterans, Butler said MacGuire told him, "We want to see the soldiers' bonus paid in gold. We do not want the soldier to have rubber money or paper money." Although such names as Al Smith, Roosevelt's political foe and former governor of New York, and Irene DuPont, a chemical industrialist were said to be the financial and organizational backbone of the plot, hard evidence has never surfaced. Butler stated that once the conspirators were in power, they would protect Roosevelt from other plotters.

Given a successful coup, Butler said he would have held near-absolute power in the newly created position of "Secretary of General Affairs," while Roosevelt would have assumed a figurehead role. Butler would then have implemented fascist measures to combat the Depression, as some conservatives at the time felt that such steps were necessary to ward off communist influence while preventing drastic changes in the economic structure.

Reaction to Butler's testimony by the media and business elite was dismissive or hostile. The majority of media outlets, including The New York Times, Philadelphia Record, and Time Magazine ridiculed or downplayed his claims, saying they lacked evidence. After the committee concluded the New York Times and Time Magazine downplayed the conclusions of the committee.

The House Un-American Activities Committee deleted extensive excerpts from the report relating to Wall Street financiers including J.P. Morgan, the Du Pont interests, Remington Arms, and others allegedly involved in the plot attempt. As of 1975, a full transcript of the hearings had yet to be traced.

Those accused of the plotting by Butler all denied any involvement. MacGuire was the only figure identified by Butler who testified before the committee. Others involved were actually called to appear to testify, though never were forced to testify.

Portions of Butler's story were corroborated by:

Veterans of Foreign Wars commander James Van Zandt, who told reporters that he had been approached to lead the 500,000-man march on Washington.
Captain Samuel Glazier—testifying under oath about plans of a plot to install a dictatorship in the United States.
Reporter Paul Comly French, reporter for the Philadelphia Record and the New York Evening Post.

Members of the McCormack-Dickstein Committee

John W. McCormack, Massachusetts, Chairman. McCormack served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1961 until 1971.
Samuel Dickstein New York, Vice Chairman. Evidence was later shown from the Soviet archives that Dickstein was a Soviet spy.
Carl May Weideman, Michigan. Democratic Congressman from March 4, 1933-January 3, 1935.
Charles Kramer, California. Democratic Congressman from March 4, 1933-January 3, 1943.
Thomas A Jenkins, Ohio. Republican Congressman from March 4, 1925-January 3, 1959.
James Willis Taylor, Tennessee. Republican Congressman from March 4, 1919-November 14, 1939.
Ulysses Samuel Guyer, Kansas. Republican Congressman from March 4, 1927-June 5, 1943.
Thomas W. Hardwick, Counsel.

From the McCormack-Dickstein Committee files found at wikisource.

Historical Treatment

Those who hold with the existence of the conspiracy propose several scenarios in explaining why the affair did not become a cause celebre, among which are:

The story was an embarrassment to people of influence, and it was best to sweep it under the rug as quickly as possible.

In 1934, newspapers were controlled by a relatively small elite — according to then-Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes, 82% of all dailies had monopolies in their communities. Proponents of the theory thus suggest that the media downplayed Butler's testimony based on the interests of their advertisers and owners.

Some of Roosevelt's advisors were in on the plot, and downplayed it when it was exposed to prevent their dirty laundry from being aired in public.

Those who doubt Butler's testimony claim that it simply lacked evidence.

Clayton Cramer in a 1995 History Today article, reminds readers that Roosevelt's first term was characterized by fierce political fighting between conservatives and liberal proponents of the New Deal; FDR's advisors could have fabricated the plot in order to discredit conservatives opposed to his program.

Historian Robert F. Burk: "At their core, the accusations probably consisted of a mixture of actual attempts at influence peddling by a small core of financiers with ties to veterans organizations and the self-serving accusations of Butler against the enemies of his pacifist and populist causes."

Historian Hans Schmidt: ""Even if Butler was telling the truth, as there seems little reason to doubt, there remains the unfathomable problem of MacGuire's motives and veracity. He may have been working both ends against the middle, as Butler at one point suspected. In any case, MacGuire emerged from the HUAC hearings as an inconsequential trickster whose base dealings could not possibly be taken alone as verifying such a momentous undertaking. If he was acting as an intermediary in a genuine probe, or as agent provocateur sent to fool Butler, his employers were at least clever enough to keep their distance and see to it that he self-destructed on the witness stand...MacGuire repeatedly perjured himself...Butler may have blown the whistle on an incipient conspiracy..."

Historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.: "Most people agreed with Mayor La Guardia of New York in dismissing it as a "cocktail putsch... As for the House committee, headed by John McCormack of Massachusetts, it declared itself "able to verify all the pertinent statements made by General Butler" except for MacGuire's direct proposal to him, and it considered this more or less confirmed by MacGuire's European reports. No doubt MacGuire did have some wild scheme in mind, though the gap between contemplation and execution was considerable and it can hardly be supposed that the republic was in much danger."

Historian James E. Sargent reviewing "The Plot to Seize the White House" by Jules Archer: "Thus, Butler (and Archer) assumed that the existence of a financially backed plot meant that fascism was imminent and that the planners represented a wide spread and coherent group, having both the intent and the capacity to execute their ideas. So when his testimony was criticized and even ridiculed in the media and ignored in Washington, Butler saw (and Archer sees) conspiracy everywhere. Instead, it is plausible to conclude that the honest and straightforward, but intellectually and politically unsophisticated, Butler perceived in simplistic terms what were in fact complex trends and events. Thus he leaped to the simplistic conclusion that the President and the Republic were in mortal danger. In essence, Archer swallowed his hero whole."

Final resolution

The Congressional committee report confirmed Butler's testimony. This report was published in the 1973 book The Plot to Seize the White House, by Jules Archer:

In the last few weeks of the committee's life it received evidence showing that certain persons had attempted to establish a fascist organization in this country...There is no question that these attempts were discussed, were planned, and might have been placed in execution if the financial backers deemed it expedient...MacGuire denied allegations under oath, but your committee was able to verify all the pertinent statements made to General Butler, with the exception of the direct statement suggesting the creation of the organization. This, however, was corroborated in the correspondence of MacGuire with his principal, Robert Sterling Clark, of New York City, while MacGuire was abroad studying the various form of veterans' organizations of Fascist character. (Excerpt from "The Plot to Seize the White House.")

Even though the Senate committee did take the threat seriously and did verify that a fascist coup was indeed well past a nascent planning stage, powerful financial interests made sure that the Commission's investigation stopped: its time was allowed to run out and its appeal to renew and continue its investigations was denied. In other words, the Commission was allowed to expire.

Next, the Department of Justice, though already with information to prosecute many of the involved, refused to do so.

External links

U.S. House of Representatives, Special Committee on Un-American Activities, Public Statement, 73rd Congress, 2nd session, (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1934)

U.S. House of Representatives, Special Committee on Un-American Activities, Investigation of Nazi Propaganda Activities and Investigation of Certain Other Propaganda Activities, Hearings 73-D.C.-6, Part 1, 73rd Congress, 2nd session, (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1935).

Adams, Cecil (November 18 2005). "Oh, Smedley: Was there really a fascist plot to overthrow the United States government?". The Straight Dope. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
Cramer, Clayton (November, 1995). "An American Coup d'État? Plot against Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1934". History Today. 45 (11): 42. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link) Examines Butler's testimony from both sides
LaMonica, Barbara (March–April 1999). "The Attempted Coup Against FDR". Probe.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link) CS1 maint: year (link)
Sanders, Richard (editor) (March 2004). "Facing the Corporate Roots of American Fascism". Press for Conversion! (53). {{cite journal}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
Spivak, John L. (January 29 1935; February 5 1935). "Wikisource: Wall Street's Fascist Conspiracy: Testimony that the Dickstein MacCormack Committee Suppressed; Wall Street's Fascist Conspiracy: Morgan Pulls the Strings". New Masses. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link) pdf file
Wolfe, L. (June 27 1994). "Franklin Delano Roosevelt vs. the Banks: Morgan's Fascist Plot, and How It Was Defeated". The American Almanac. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link) Third party candidate Lyndon Larouche paper. Very caustic and one-sided but informative.

Notes

Schlesinger Jr., Arthur M. (2003). The Politics of Upheaval : 1935-1936, The Age of Roosevelt, Volume III (The Age of Roosevelt). Mariner Books. ISBN 0618340874. p. 85 "As for the House committee, headed by John McCormack of Massachusetts, it declared itself "able to verify all the pertinent statments made by General Butler" except for MacGuire's direct proposal to him, and it considered this more or less confirmed by MacGuire's European reports."
Schlesinger, p. 85 "In March 1934, the House of Representatives authorized an investigation into "un-American" activities by a special committee headed by John W. McCormack of Massachusetts and Samuel Dickstein of New York. In the following months the McCormack-Dickstein Committee inquired into Nazi operations in America, exposed William Dudley Pelley and the Silver Shirts, looked into Smedley Butler's allegations, and called the Communist leaders up for testimony. Its manner of investigation commanded special respect. McCormack used competent investigators and employed as committee counsel a former Georgia senator with a good record on civil liberties. Most of the examination of witnesses was carried on in executive sessions. In public sessions, witnesses were free to consult counsel. Throughout, McCormack was eager to avoid hit-and-run accusation and unsubstantiated testimony. The result was an almost uniquely scrupulous investigation in a highly sensitive area."
Archer, Jules (1973). The Plot to Seize the White House. Hawthorne Books. ASIN: B0006COVHA. p. x (introduction); National Archives: The Special Committee on Un-American Activities Authorized To Investigate Nazi Propaganda and Certain Other Propaganda Activities (73A-F30.1) "The (McCormack-Dickstein Committee) conducted public and executive hearings intermittently between April 26 and December 29, 1934, in Washington, DC; New York; Chicago; Los Angeles; Newark; and Asheville, NC, examining hundreds of witnesses and accumulating more than 4,300 pages of testimony."
Schmidt, Hans (1998). Maverick Marine: General Smedley D. Butler and the Contradictions of American Military History. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0813109574. p. 219 "Declaring himself a "Hoover-for-Ex-President Republican," Smedley used the bonus issue and the army's gas attack in routing the (Bonus Expeditionary Force) B.E.F-recalling infamous gas warfare during the Great War-to disparage Hoover during the 1932 general elections. He came out for the Democrats "despite the fact that my family for generations has been Republican," and shared the platform when Republican Senator George W. Norris opened a coast-to-coast stump for FDR in Philedelphia....Butler was pleased with election results that saw Hoover crash in defeat. He had exerted himself in the campaign more "to get rid of Hoover than to put in Roosevelt," and to "square a debt." FDR, his old Haiti ally, was a "nice fellow" and might make a good president, but Smedley did not expect much influence in the new administration."
Feran, Tim (February 12 1999). "History Channel Looks At Plot to Oust FDR". Columbus Dispatch (Ohio): 1H. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
Beam, Alex (May 25 2004). "A Blemish Behind Beauty at The Clark". The Boston Globe: E1. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link); "In his congressional testimony, Butler described Clark as being "known as the "millionaire lieutenant" and was sort of batty, sort of queer, did all sorts of extravagant things. He used to go exploring around China and wrote a book on it, on explorations. He was never taken seriously by anybody. But he had a lot of money." "Clark was certainly eccentric. One of the reasons he sited his fantastic art collection away from New York or Boston was that he feared it might be destroyed by a Soviet bomber attack during the Cold War..."(Clark) was pointed out to me during a trip to Paris," says one on his grandnieces. "He was known to be pro-fascist and on the enemy side. Nobody ever spoke to him.""; Wikisource: McCormack-Dickstein Committee
"Plot Without Plotters". Time Magazine. December 3 1934. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link); "Gen. Butler Bares 'Fascist Plot' To Seize Government by Force; Says Bond Salesman, as Representative of Wall St. Group, Asked Him to Lead Army of 500,000 in March on Capital -- Those Named Make Angry Denials -- Dickstein Gets Charge". New York Times: 1. November 21 1934. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link); "Credulity Unlimited". New York Times: 20. November 22 1934. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link); Philadelphia Record, November 21 and 22, 1934;Time Magazine, 25 February 1935: "Also last week the House Committee on Un-American Activities 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."; New York Times February 16 1935. p. 1, "Asks Laws To Curb Foreign Agitators; Committee In Report To House Attacks Nazis As The Chief Propagandists In Nation. State Department Acts Checks Activities Of An Italian Consul -- Plan For March On Capital Is Held Proved. Asks Laws To Curb Foreign Agitators, "Plan for “March” Recalled. 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. The committee recalled testimony by General Butler, saying he had testified that Gerald C. MacGuire had tired to persuade him to accept the leadership of a Fascist army."
Chapter 10, FDR; Man on the White Horse of Sutton, Antony C. (June, 1993). Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution. Buccaneer Books. ISBN 089968324X. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link) Full book online.
Schlesinger, p 85; Wolfe, Part IV: "But James E. Van Zandt, national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and subsequently a Republican congressman , corroborated Butler's story and said that he, too, had been approached by "agents of Wall Street." "Zandt had been called immediately after the August 22 meeting with MacGuire by Butler and warned that...he was going to be approached by the coup plotters for his support at an upcoming VFW convention. He said that, just as Butler had warned, he had been approached "by agents of Wall Street" who tried to enlist him in their plot."
Burk, Robert F. (1990). The Corporate State and the Broker State : The Du Ponts and American National Politics, 1925-1940. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674172728.
Schmidt p. 226, 228, 229, 230 Excerpts of Schmidt's book dealing with the plot are available online.
For a very critical review of this book see, Sargent, James E. (November 1974). "Review of: The Plot to Seize the White House, by Jules Archer". The History Teacher. 8 (1): 151–152.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: year (link); Schmidt, p. 245 "HUAC's final report to Congress: "There is no question that these attempts were discussed, were planned, and might have been placed in execution when and if the financial backers deemed it expedient." The committee had verified "all the pertinent statements made by General Butler, with the exception of the direct statement suggesting the creation of the organization.""
Schlesinger, p. 83
Wolfe, Part IV: "New York's Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who was known as the "Little Flower"...a (supporter) of the fascist program of Mussolini, coined the term "cocktail putsch" to describe the Butler story: It's a joke of some kind, he told the wire services, "someone at a party had suggested the idea to the ex-marine as a joke."
Schmidt, p. 245: "Journalist John L. Spivak, researching Nazism and anti-Semitism for New Masses magazine, got permission from Dickstein to examine HUAC's public documents and was (it seems unwittingly) given the unexpurgated testimony amid stacks of other papers. Spivak's two-part feature "Wall Street's Fascist Conspiracy" appeared in early 1935, a month after the hearings closed. He cogently developed a case for taking the suppressed testimony seriously. But this relevant material was embellished with overblown aspersions against "Jewish financiers working with fascist groups"-a mishmash of guilt by association that connected Morgan interests with Jewish financier Felix Warburg, HUAC, and certain members of the American Jewish Committee. Spivak was intent upon grinding his own axes, and elucidation of the plot was obscured. The suppressed Butler-MacGuire conversations could hardly support all this. Moreover New Masses was left-wing with a limited readership; the scoop was stigmatized as "red" propaganda and generally not cited elsewhere."