THE BUSINESS COUP OF 1934
- Sep 9, 2017
- 6 min read
"The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes." Benjamin Disraeli
Many people in America have an unwavering belief in the checks and balances system. They truly believe that this system prevents the ascendancy of unseen and unchecked power in the halls of government. They see this as the vanguard against the possibility of a coup de' tat happening in the U.S. This incredibly short-sided view makes no consideration for the centralization of wealth and power in America, nor its' ability to reduce a people to absolute despotism. It is clear that the authors of the Declaration Of Independence conceded to the possibility that such an event could occur.
There is a precedent for such an event in the annuals of 20th Century American history. During the Hoover Administration, World War I veterans, known as the "Bonus Army" came to the nation's capitol to redeem retirement pensions issued to them as Bonus Certificates in lieu of cash. These certificates, issued by the Federal Government, would not be redeemable for 20 years. The Bonus Army wanted the certificates redeemed immediately to grant them relief from the abject poverty of the Great Depression. Shockingly, while these men had put their lives on the line for God and Country, many sectors of the wealthy elite were against the issuance of these certificates, to say nothing of their redemption. Apparently, these men were a mere after-thought; expendable dupes that were no longer needed after the wealthy had obtained insane sums of money generated from their sacrifices. As they erected tents, small cities and encampments along the Capitol, the question arose as to how the government would respond to this peaceful demonstration. President Herbert Hoover requested that the military ensure that the demonstration remained peaceful. However, the strident anti-communist and unsympathetic Army General Douglas MacArthur, countermanded the orders of President Hoover and routed the Bonus Army. By setting fire to their tents and encampments, and using artillery fire and tear gas to evacuate them from Washington, MacArthur stained the Hoover Presidency for everyone except for Archie Bunker.
Two days prior to this atrocity, Retired Maj. Gen Smedley D. Butler had spoken at the demonstration in support of the Bonus Army. He reminded them that their service in WWI was a necessary component in the machinery of American democracy. He spoke with righteous indignation of the hypocritical description of these men as tramps in 1932, while lauding them as noble soldiers in 1917-1918. Butler's address was immensely popular and won the undying admiration of the men. He stayed with them for hours on end counseling them and listening to their tales of misery. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected president in 1932 by an overwhelmingly outraged population that had enough of the laisse faire approach to governing by Herbert Hoover. Roosevelt's New Deal policies while not completely effective, was a welcome change by many in the era of the Great Depression. With programs such as the Banking Act of 1933, The Securities Act of 1933, and the Works Progress Administration, The New Deal did not endear itself to the entrenched oligarchs who seemed to have an insatiable appetite for the fascistic governing policies of men like Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. After Roosevelt removed America off of the Gold Standard in 1933, the wealthy bankers, industrialists and financiers felt that FDR had drawn blood, and now was the time to strike back.
Never ones to let an opportunity to use the desperately vulnerable pass them by, the wealthy elites sought to use the frustration of the veterans for their own sinister agenda. They formed a fascist organization known as the Liberty League hell bent on reversing Roosevelt's New Deal policies. Witnessing the adulation and loyalty the veterans displayed toward Gen. Butler, they hatched a plot to end FDR's presidency.
Enlisting a chubby faced, WWI veteran and Wall Street Bond Salesman named Gerald McGuire, the Liberty League set about to recruit Butler to lead the Bonus Army in a coup to overthrow the democratically elected Roosevelt. At first, Butler declined. But McGuire's sly courting of Butler continued and appeared to have the effect of trying to determine his sympathy toward their cause. Finally, after about 2 months of discussions, McGuire sent another man to Butler's door. The man was Robert Sterling Clark, heir to the Singer Sewing Machine Franchise. Clark propositioned Butler to take command of the Bonus Army and oppose FDR by force. If Butler succeeded, FDR would be deposed and Butler would carry out policy at the behest of the wealthy elite. Faced with a serious decision, Butler decided to penetrate this treasonous conspiracy to learn who were the real backers of the plot. These forces included the Banking House of Morgan, Du'pont Chemical, General Motors, and the "blue dog" elements of the Democratic Party. This same element of the Democratic Party would later conspire to rob FDR's Vice President, Henry A. Wallace, of his re-election to office in the July 1944 primary election. We may never know the private thoughts of Gen. Butler during the early days of his investigation into this plot. Perhaps his profound wit and cynicism stiffled his anger at an evil group of avaricious men, who so readily played on the frustrations of his men while seeking to deny them the relief they earned on the hellish battlefields of World War I. Perhaps his faith in the democratic institutions of America restrained his brilliant deployment of profanity against these callous souls. What is known is that Butler enlisted the services of a Philadelphia Journalist by the name of Paul Comley French to verify the facts of his informal investigation. French spoke with McGuire who was even more open about the coup with him than he was with Butler. As rumors of a plot against the government began to spread, a Congressional Committee subpoened Butler to testify with respect to the attempted plot. Gen. Butler revealed names, dates, and places. The committee would later call McGuire to testify. He admitted speaking with Butler but denied any knowledge of a plot to overthrow FDR. He stated that Butler was crazy. When questioned about his possible collusion in France with fascist forces to further the conspiracy, he denied ever meeting anyone at anytime. Subsequent evidence in the form of handwritten letters revealed that McGuire was lying. Shockingly, he was not charged with perjury. The committee concluded that there was significant evidence of a plot to overthrow the government and stated that the backers had the means to execute this plot if given sufficient time and opportunity. Like today, the Liberty League, through the press, began to make statements attacking Gen. Butler's sanity and deriding him as the 1934 version of the social slur, conspiracy theorist. Also, like today, key figures in the plot somehow escaped interrogation. Men like Former Presidential Candidate Al Smith, Grayson P. Murphy and Robert S. Clark were never called to testify, much less charged. The committee also struck all references to the Liberty League from the record. This is the equivalent of an eye-witness to a murder; giving a statement; describing the perpetrator and making a report. And the police responding by, omitting the name of the suspect from the report and the closing the case. Such actions verify the quote by Jonathan Swift: "laws are like cob-webs which may catch small flies, but lets hornets and wasps break through." After discovering this, as well as, the omission of key portions of his testimony from the official record, Gen Butler vented his frustrations over the airwaves of WCAU in Philadelphia. By the time the committee's findings made it to Congress, the only witness, Gerald McGuire, was dead of natural causes at the ripe old age of 37. Gen. Butler would die 3 years later of pancreatic cancer. These facts and the subsequent intrigue around this plot are not as important as the question of how Americans will resolve the problem of the immense effect of entrenched wealth on American politics? In the aftermath of the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United, it is no longer a question, but a blood red flag waiving in the breeze of a republic increasingly divided by class and race. Will we consummate the marriage between liberty and justice? Or, will we succumb to an orgy of corporate avarice that is boldly stripping us of both liberty and justice? Can a coup happen here? Yes! It already has. The question is what will we do about it?
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