What if: the Business Plot (White House Putsch) of 1934

What if: the Business Plot (White House Putsch) of 1934

So what if what is in this article happen and that a White House Putsch in 1934 removed President Roosevelt from power and replaces it with a government more fascist.

In the summer of 1933, shortly after Roosevelt's "First 100 Days", a coalition of America’s wealthiest industrial magnates allegedly hatched a scheme to topple the Roosevelt Administration and replace it with a fascist dictatorship as it was clear that Roosevelt intended to conduct a massive redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor, their answer was a military coup that was supposedly dreamed up by prominent tycoons and Wall Street big shots who controlled many of the country’s major corporations like Chase Bank, Maxwell House, General Motors, Goodyear, Standard Oil, Dupont, Heinz, as well as other noted Americans, including Prescott Bush, grandfather of former president George W. Bush.

The conspirators planned to recruit 500,000 military veterans from the Great War through various American Legion branches. They even pledged $3 million to buy weapons for their half-million man army so the troops could capture and hold the American capital. Once the seat of power was theirs, the plotters would install an ultra-nationalist and business-friendly regime modelled after Mussolini’s Italy. (Many conspirators were also admirers of Hitler even before the Nazis came to power, largely because of his ardent anti-communism).

The person who the plotters attempted to lead the coup was General Smedley Butler, they selected him because he was a war hero who was popular with the troops. The plotters felt his good reputation was important to make the troops feel confident that they were doing the right thing by overthrowing a democratically elected president. However, this was a mistake: Butler was popular with the troops because he identified with them. That is, he was a man of the people, not the elite. When the plotters approached General Butler with their proposal to lead the coup, he pretended to go along with the plan at first, secretly deciding to betray it to Congress at the right moment.

What the businessmen proposed was dramatic: they wanted General Butler to deliver an ultimatum to Roosevelt. Roosevelt would pretend to become sick and incapacitated from his polio, and allow a newly created cabinet officer, a "Secretary of General Affairs," to run things in his stead. The secretary, of course, would be carrying out the orders of Wall Street. If Roosevelt refused, then General Butler would force him out with an army of 500,000 war veterans from the American Legion. But Gerald MacGuire, the key recruiter to General Butler 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 no object: Clark told Butler that he would spend half his $60 million fortune to save the other half.


And what type of government would replace Roosevelt's New Deal? MacGuire was perfectly candid to Paul French, a reporter friend of General Butler's:

"We need a fascist government in this country… to save the nation from the communists who want to tear it down and wreck all that we have built in America. The only men who have the patriotism to do it are the soldiers, and Smedley Butler is the ideal leader. He could organize a million men overnight."

Indeed, it turns out that MacGuire travelled to Italy to study Mussolini's fascist state, and came away mightily impressed. He wrote glowing reports back to his boss, Robert Clark, suggesting that they implement the same thing.

If this sounds too fantastic to believe, we should remember that by 1933, the crimes of fascism were still mostly in the future, and its dangers were largely unknown, even to its supporters. But in the early days, many businessmen openly admired Mussolini because he had used a strong hand to deal with labor unions, put out social unrest, and get the economy working again, if only at the point of a gun.

The plot fell apart when Butler went public. The general revealed the details of the coup before the McCormack-Dickstein Committee. The Committee heard the testimony of Butler and French, but kept the names of many of the participants under wraps and no criminal action was ever brought against them.

In 1935 the McCormack-Dickstein Committee released a report which said:

In the last few weeks of the committee’s official life it received evidence showing that certain persons had made an attempt 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 when and if the financial backers deemed it expedient.

This committee received evidence from Maj. Gen Smedley D. Butler (retired), twice decorated by the Congress of the United States. He testified before the committee as to conversations with one Gerald C. MacGuire in which the latter is alleged to have suggested the formation of a fascist army under the leadership of General Butler.

MacGuire denied these allegations under oath, but your committee was able to verify all the pertinent statements made by 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 forms of veterans organizations of Fascist character.
 
It would probably be overthrown a few days by a popular revolt Roosevelt was very popular at the time IIRC and over throwing him would more or less enrage the public also the fact of trampling over a century of democratic tradition and needing to convince the rank and file over the whole overthrow democratic legitimate government thing So probably falls flat on its face
 
It would probably be overthrown a few days by a popular revolt Roosevelt was very popular at the time IIRC and over throwing him would more or less enrage the public also the fact of trampling over a century of democratic tradition and needing to convince the rank and file over the whole overthrow democratic legitimate government thing So probably falls flat on its face
So a counter coup, maybe by the people and army.
 
So what if what is in this article happen and that a White House Putsch in 1934 removed President Roosevelt from power and replaces it with a government more fascist.
They should have picked a better leader for starters (like either Douglas MacArthur or George van Horn Mosely).
 
Given Roosevelt's popularity, I question their ability to attract the 500k people they were asking for. Certainly assembling such a force would also be tremendously difficult to conceal given the peacetime size of the army. They'd basically need to bring J. Edgar Hoover in on the coup to stand a chance. I just wish that part sounded harder.
 
Given Roosevelt's popularity, I question their ability to attract the 500k people they were asking for. Certainly assembling such a force would also be tremendously difficult to conceal given the peacetime size of the army. They'd basically need to bring J. Edgar Hoover in on the coup to stand a chance. I just wish that part sounded harder.
Roosvelt had only been president for a year, and as the coup plotters made clear, they where going to pay for this Army of 500,000 war veterans from the American Legion.
 
Roosvelt had only been president for a year, and as the coup plotters made clear, they where going to pay for this Army of 500,000 war veterans from the American Legion.

Which means he got 57 percent of the vote just a year earlier. And even if it's paid for, equipping and moving such a large force would still attract attention. If they didn't co-opt the FBI along the way I don't see how they'd avoid getting caught.
 
Which means he got 57 percent of the vote just a year earlier. And even if it's paid for, equipping and moving such a large force would still attract attention. If they didn't co-opt the FBI along the way I don't see how they'd avoid getting caught.
To bad we do not know what Hoover toughs where of this plot, ore if he knew about it in the first place.
 
I wonder what would the international reactions to this failed "coup" attempt look like.

How would the British or the Soviets react to this failed coup?
or how about the Germans or the Japanese?
 
I wonder what would the international reactions to this failed "coup" attempt look like.

How would the British or the Soviets react to this failed coup?
or how about the Germans or the Japanese?

Do nothing because they've already got enough problems, I'd say. Brits or Soviets might congratulate Roosevelt for protecting the rule of law or whatever.
 
Do nothing because they've already got enough problems, I'd say. Brits or Soviets might congratulate Roosevelt for protecting the rule of law or whatever.
And makes the United States somewhat more hostile to the fascist cause in Germany and Italy.
 

NoMommsen

Donor
What about my idea that they approach either Douglas MacArthur or George van Horn Moseley?
From what I gather of the wiki articles of the three including Butler, the latter seems to have been the most popular with the veterans. A quality the conspirators need to raise something akin the italian "blackshirts", a (para)militia to "prove" they have the "Backing of (the) masses".

While the two other were quite ... instumental in crushing the Bonus Army quarrels - hard way.
 

nbcman

Donor
Which means he got 57 percent of the vote just a year earlier. And even if it's paid for, equipping and moving such a large force would still attract attention. If they didn't co-opt the FBI along the way I don't see how they'd avoid getting caught.
In 1934, the Bureau of Investigation and Division of Investigation (two predecessor groups which were merged to form the FBI in 1935) was more focused on interstate criminal activities as opposed to internal security. But it would be hard to hide arming 500k war veterans no matter what.
 
It would certainly be hard getting 500000 war vets to overthrow FDR even if they did call the army call the national guard and all the people and then kick them out of the Whitehouse and into Alcatraz
 
It would certainly be hard getting 500000 war vets to overthrow FDR even if they did call the army call the national guard and all the people and then kick them out of the Whitehouse and into Alcatraz
Well maybe not 500,000, but the US army was in 1934 only 120,000 in size.
 
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