Holy crap — even as well-versed in the 1930s as I am, I had never heard of this.
BBC Radio 4’s investigative series, Document uncovered details about a planned coup in America in 1933. Go to the website, and you can listen via streaming audio.
The coup was aimed at toppling President Franklin D Roosevelt with the help of half-a-million war veterans — so that the US could beat the Great Depression by adopting fascist policies similar to Hitler and Mussolini’s.
The plotters were prominent right-wing businessmen….some of the famous families behind Heinz, Birds Eye, Maxwell House…..and George Bush’s Grandfather, Prescott Bush.
So, apparently, it runs in the family.
Jesus Christ.
I figured as a pulp guy you knew all about this already. The Bush connection was an interesting new twist, I’ll admit.
Gods, thanks gm!
I never knew about that …
So, could we say that the current Bush learned from his grandfather’s mistakes? You know, if you can’t beat them, join them?
John Kerry is married to the Heinz Heiress.
I read about the aborted coup in James Marrs’ “Alien Agenda”. Mr. Marrs is a journalist – of the “Prize Winning” variety. The book was his take on the UFO phenom.
The aborted coup was referenced in the last chapter of the book, wherein he was pointing out that explaining things away as “conspiracy theory” was utter bullshit.
Wow. Very interesting. Wikipedia has a bit more on the Business Plot, including the theory that FDR struck a deal to quietly wrap-up the investigative committee’s work in exchange for support for the New Deal.
I am very surprised that this hasn’t been more widely discussed.
I’m tempted to disgress about fictional depictions such as Phil Roth’s riveting The Plot Against America or the X-Files cigarette smoking men, but truly, the real implications are too stunning.