United States as a Military Dictatorship.

Scenario:

The Great Depression is much worse than in OTL, and the (weak and unpopular) government is unable to succesfully restore the economy. Communist and fascist organizations develop in America during the following years, each followed by hordes of radicalized fanatics. There's fighting in the streets, terror in the rural areas, etc.

In order to "save" the United States in the face of extremism, the military organizes a coup and establishes a military junta. Martial Law is declared and the Constitution is suspended, the plan is to crackdown on this extremist groups and restore order. They promise to eventually restore democracy after order has been restored. It might take years, decades even.

Just how plausible is this? I think it's kinda hard that 150 years of functioning democracy could be toppled so easily, but the strangest things have happened.

And, anyway, how would an hypothethical american military government deal with State Governments and Congress? And how would these react?

And what happens to the rest of the world?
 
See Kaiserreich.

The US Army in the early 1930s was tiny. It could have seized Washington DC, but the idea of it running the country is a real stretch.
 
In OTL Chief of Staff of the Army MacArthur was on the wrong side of vets, respected FDR even though they were on opposing sides politically, and the U.S. military of the time was weak, with brigades divided into organizational units/posts as small as a battalion in some cases, and often understrength.

In the classic "Zangara kills FDR, Garner becomes president" scenario; Garner, who was intent on strengthening the traditional military elements such as cavalry, could be the combination of weak president and source of additional strength (while outmoded for defense against foreign threats, suitable towards internal crackdowns) for the army.

There were some high-ranking retired military officers affiliated with quasi-fascistic groups OTL, so if you have a far back enough POD to get them to continue rising in rank rather than retiring, you could get one of them to the post of Chief of Staff to take advantage of a weak president/national chaos situation.
 
Google the Business Plot.

Perhaps if the plotters had gone to a military man with less integrity than General Butler (MacArthur for one); any outcome will be awful and bad for America.
 

Delta Force

Banned
They should have known Smedley Butler wasn't exactly a friend of corporations from his speech and book "War is a Racket", just look at this snippet:

"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."
 
In OTL Chief of Staff of the Army MacArthur was on the wrong side of vets, respected FDR even though they were on opposing sides politically, and the U.S. military of the time was weak, with brigades divided into organizational units/posts as small as a battalion in some cases, and often understrength.

In the classic "Zangara kills FDR, Garner becomes president" scenario; Garner, who was intent on strengthening the traditional military elements such as cavalry, could be the combination of weak president and source of additional strength (while outmoded for defense against foreign threats, suitable towards internal crackdowns) for the army.

There were some high-ranking retired military officers affiliated with quasi-fascistic groups OTL, so if you have a far back enough POD to get them to continue rising in rank rather than retiring, you could get one of them to the post of Chief of Staff to take advantage of a weak president/national chaos situation.

But would he defeat highly developed american federalism?
 
They should have known Smedley Butler wasn't exactly a friend of corporations from his speech and book "War is a Racket", just look at this snippet:

"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."

With these facts in mind it's hard to believe that this was an actual OTL plot. If someone had proposed a scenario involving a business plot and Smedley Butler they'd have laughed off the forums as an example of Critical Research Failure (see TV tropes).
 
The Great Depression-vintage USA hasn't army enough for this. You need a pre-1900 POD, and a very early one at that. One that means Americans will cough up the money for a large professional army. The same ones that launched a secession war over paying the debt for a world war begun because Governor Dinwiddie's ego needed stroking.
 
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