An Attempted Overthrow of the U.S. Government
General ButlerIn 1934 General Smedley D. Butler went public after he was
approached by Wall Street and offered up to 300 million dollars to lead an
army of 500,00 veterans equipped with munitions from Remington Arms Company
to Washington D.C., in order to overthrow the U.S. Government by force. The
plot was investigated by the McCormack-Dickstein committee, which found
General Butler to be telling the truth.(*)
During his 35 years of service in the Marine Corps, General Butler received
the Congressional Medal of Honor twice. The Medal of Honor is the highest
award for valor against an enemy force, which can be given to an individual
serving in the Armed Forces of the United States.
Jules Archer's book, The Plot to Seize the White House, was written with the
cooperation of senators, reporters, former Speaker of the House of
Representatives John W. McCormack, former editors of the Philadelphia
Inquirer, and the Philadelphia Record, and the immediate family of General
Smedley Butler who provided military records, scrapbooks, memorabilia,
recordings, etc. In his book Archer states, "School texts... are uniquely
silent about the powerful Americans who plotted to seize the White House
with a private army, hold President Franklin D. Roosevelt prisoner, and get
rid of him if he refused to serve as their puppet in a dictatorship they
planned to impose and control."
The backing of the revolution reportedly came from the American Liberty
League, which was headed by Morgan and DuPont. "Heavy contributors," says
Archer, also included, "the Pitcairn family (Pittsburgh Plate Glass), Andrew
W. Mellon Associates, Rockefeller Associates, E. F. Hutton Associates,
William S. Knudsen (General Motors), and the Pew family (Sun Oil
Associates)." The online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, added, "General Butler
claimed that the American Liberty League was the primary means of funding
the plot. The main backers were the DuPont family, as well as leaders of
U.S. Steel, General Motors, Standard Oil, Chase National Bank, and Goodyear
Tire and Rubber Company."
In his book, Facts and Fascism, investigative reporter, and author George
Seldes wrote, "Most papers suppressed the whole story or threw it down by
ridiculing it. Nor did the press later publish the McCormack-Dickstein
report which stated that every charge Butler made... had been proven true."
Archer commented, "Press coverage of what was obviously a startling story of
utmost importance to the security of the nation was largely one of
distortion, suppression, and omission."
So, as expected, the mainstream press was called upon to discredit General
Butler. "On November 22 the Associated Press struck a low blow at Butler by
getting Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, of New York, to express an opinion of the
conspiracy based on what he had read about it in the press," wrote Archer.
The AP ran this news item under the headline Cocktail Putsch. Explaining the
contents of the article, Archer continued, "Mayor LaGuardia of New York
laughingly described today the charges of General Smedley D. Butler that New
York brokers suggested he lead an army of 500,000 ex-service men on
Washington as 'a cocktail putsch.' The Mayor indicated he believed that some
one at a party had suggested the idea to the ex-marine as a joke."
Commenting on a November 21, 1934, article on the front page of the New York
Times entitled, Gen. Butler Bares Fascist Plot To Seize Government by Force,
Archer wrote, "This was followed by a whole string of denials, or ridicule
of the charges, by prominent people implicated. Extensive space was given to
their attempts to brand Butler a liar or lunatic. Only at the tail of the
story, buried inside the paper, did the Times wind up its account with a few
brief paragraphs mentioning some of his allegations."
Continuing to quote denials from the article, he wrote, "It's a joke - a
publicity stunt." "Thomas W. Lamont, partner in J. P. Morgan and Company,
gave his comment: 'Perfect moonshine! Too unutterably ridiculous to comment
upon!' J. P. Morgan himself, just back from Europe, had nothing to say. 'A
fantasy!' scoffed Colonel Grayson M.-P. Murphy. 'I can't imagine how anyone
could produce it or any sane person believe it. It is absolutely false so
far as it relates to me and my firm.'" Time Magazine also ran a first-page
story on December 3, 1934 that attempted to ridicule Butler under the
headline Plot Without Plotters.
"If the press seemed overeager to emphasize denials of Butler's charges,"
wrote Archer, "the people of grass-roots America were far readier to believe
the man who had exposed the plot. Letters of encouragement poured in from
all over the country." Fortunately not all mainstream publications demonized
General Butler. "Paul Comly French broke the story [on November 20, 1934]
in... the Philadelphia Record and the New York Post," announced Archer.
Archer described French's article entitled, $3,000,000 Bid for Fascist Army
Bared, writing, "Major General Smedley D. Butler revealed today that he has
been asked by a group of wealthy New York brokers to lead a Fascist movement
to set up a dictatorship in the United States. General Butler, ranking major
general of the Marine Corps up to his retirement three years ago, told his
story today at a secret session of the Congressional Committee on
Un-American Activities."
Quoting Dickstein, Archer wrote, "General Butler's charges were too serious
to be dropped without further investigation... He is a man of unquestioned
sincerity and integrity. Furthermore, in my opinion, his statements were not
denied or refuted. I think the matter should be gone into thoroughly and
completely and I intend asking Congress for funds to make such an
investigation. The country should know the full truth about these reputed
overtures to General Butler. If there are individuals or interests who have
ideas and plans such as he testified to, they should be dragged out into the
open."
Unfortunately this was not the case. The committee, like all committees
investigating the financial elite, was a whitewash. Wikipedia states that
even though the committee, "did take the threat seriously and did verify
that a fascist coup was indeed well past the planning stage, the Senate
committee expired." This is similar to the Reece Committee's fate while
investigating the Tax-exempt Foundations.
"Worst of all, no one involved in the plot had been prosecuted," wrote
Archer. "MacGuire had denied essential parts of Butler's testimony, which
the committee itself reported it had proved by documents, bank records, and
letters," he declared. This is blatant perjury. So, he asked, "Did the
department intend to file a criminal prosecution against MacGuire for
perjury or involvement in the plot?" The answer of course is no.
The online encyclopedia noted, "Portions of Butler's story were
corroborated," by "Veterans of Foreign Wars commander James E. Van Zandt,"
who attested that he too, had been approached by representatives of Wall
Street to lead a "Fascist dictatorship" under the guise of a "Veterans
Organization." General Butler's testimony was also supported by Captain
Samuel Glazier - testifying under oath about a plot to install a
dictatorship in the United States.
Of the committee's findings, the encyclopedia, states, "The Congressional
Committee report confirmed Butler's testimony... 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 government in this
country." It added, "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 director of the ACLU, Roger Baldwin, stated, "The Congressional
Committee investigating un-American activities has just reported that the
Fascist plot to seize the government... was proved; yet not a single
participant will be prosecuted under the perfectly plain language of the
federal conspiracy act making this a high crime."
Reportedly, on February 25, 1935 Time Magazine ran an article entitled,
Schnozzle, gimlet eye: Fascist to Fascist which stated that the HUAC found
the plot to be true. Commenting on this, Archer stated, "In a tiny footnote
at the bottom of the page, in five-point type that could barely be read,
Time informed those of its readers with 20-20 vision, '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.'"
In his broadcast over WCAU on February 17, 1935, Butler revealed that some
of the most important portions of his testimony had been suppressed in the
McCormack-Dickstein report to Congress. He said the committee had, "stopped
dead in its tracks when it got near the top." "There is strong evidence to
suggest that the conspirators may have been too important politically,
socially, and economically to be brought to justice after their scheme had
been exposed before the McCormack-Dickstein Committee of the House of
Representatives," wrote Archer. He stated, "Powerful influences had
obviously been brought to bear to cut short the hearings, stop subpoenas
from being issued to all the important figures involved, and end the life of
the committee."
Archer quotes retired Representative John W. McCormack, former Speaker of
the House as saying, "There was no doubt that General Butler was telling the
truth... We believed his testimony one hundred percent. He was a great,
patriotic American in every respect." According McCormack, if General Butler
had not exposed these plotters, Americans today could be living under a
dictatorship.
When McCormack was asked by Archer why the Department of justice under
Attorney General Homer Cummings failed to initiate criminal proceedings
against the plotters. He answered, "The way I figure it... we did our job in
the committee by exposing the plot, and then it was up to the Department of
Justice to do their job - to take it from there."
Not surprisingly, the alleged financial backing of this attempted overthrow
includes a solid link to the CFR. "The founding president of the CFR was
John W. Davis," wrote Perloff, "who was J.P. Morgan's personal attorney and
a millionaire in his own right." In addition, Thomas W. Lamont was a
founding member of the CFR. He also aided in the bloody Bolshevik
Revolution. Perloff added, "Among the other Bolshevik abettors in the CFR's
original membership were... Morgan partner Thomas Lamont who helped persuade
the British government to accept the New Soviet regime..." John J. Raskob, a
director of the Liberty League, was also an early CFR member.
John L. Spivak, a reporter assigned to cover the committee hearings, called
the story "one of the most fantastic plots in American history... What was
behind the plot," said Spivak "was shrouded in a silence which has not been
broken to this day... It would be regrettable if historians neglected this
episode and future generations of Americans never learned of it."
Archer echoed, "It would seem time that school textbooks in America were
revised to acknowledge our debt to the almost forgotten hero who thwarted
the conspiracy to end democratic government in America."
Summary
According to this information, the CFR/Wall Street made an overt attempt to
install a dictatorship by force. This plot was investigated by congress and
found to be authentic. It is strikingly similar to the Communist Revolution
which Wall Street is known to have funded, where an entire country was
communized after a few major cities were seized.
"The Communists came to power by seizing a mere handful of key cities,"
wrote Allen. "In fact, practically the whole Bolshevik Revolution took place
in one city - Petrograd. It was as if the whole United States became
Communist because a communist-led mob seized Washington D.C."
Footnotes
* Photo taken from wikipedia.com.
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