In 1933 there was a conspiracy in the United States seeking to overturn the government and place a puppet in power. It was called The Business Plot. Several business leaders had gotten together and decided that they could run the place better, as in better for themselves. The man they chose for their puppet was called Smedley Butler. He was a United States Marine Corps Major General, the highest rank at the time, and one of the most decorated war heroes of all time. He still is. Smedley Butler was popular. His men adored him and so did the public. His outspokenness had also won him some enemies, like president Herbert Hoover (famous for the homeless encampments named for him).
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| The Great Depression - Homeless Encampments |
This was during the Great Depression. The president they wanted to overthrow was Franklin D. Roosevelt. They were going to have Smedley run for National Commander of the American Legion, a veterans organization full of WWI veterans at the time. In 1932 many of those former soldiers camped out in front of the White House because they were living hand-to-mouth and they had been promised a bonus which had been deferred for 20 years after WWI. They were there to demand that the bonus be paid out early so that they didn't starve to death before they could get it. They were called "The Bonus Army". Prior to the Spanish-American war veterans had been given a bonus of land grants in return for their service. Then the government ran out of land to give away and switched to cash-only bonuses. President Calvin Coolidge tried to do away with bonuses entirely because according to him, "Patriotism...bought and paid for is not patriotism." The veterans vehemently disagreed.
They were desperate. 25,000 of them marched on Washington D.C. to demand the already delayed bonus they had been promised be paid out early. They were camped out in Hoovervilles around the White House for over a month before the president authorized the army to clear them out. The man who led the military assault on the protesting soldiers was none other than General Douglas MacArthur, along with Major George S. Patton and Major Dwight D. Eisenhower. When the army arrived to put them out, the protesting soldiers thought that they were there in support and set up a cheer. Then they saw the fixed bayonets and the army charging at them. They got tear-gassed. The protesters retreated to their shanty town over the river. That should have been the end of it, but MacArthur followed them over the river and ordered another charge, ignoring the president's order to cease fire. 55 veterans were injured and 135 were arrested. A woman caught in the tear gas miscarried.
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| Bonus Marchers during the attack |
The protest was not successful at that time, but it cost Herbert Hoover the election and Roosevelt was elected in 1933. In May of that year the protesters returned. Roosevelt, instead of turning the army on them to disperse them, gave them a campsite in Virginia. Eleanor went to the camp and listened to their grievances. She told them that they still couldn't get their bonuses, because the country didn't have the funds, but that they could be involved in forming the CCC, or Civilian Conservation Corps, a program of public works to provide work and build needed infrastructure. It was something, at any rate. It wasn't tear gas.
So anyway, that was the backdrop to the Business Plot. Lots and lots of disgruntled soldiers, as the authors of the plot believed. And then there was that new president in his wheelchair with his fancy ideas about social welfare programs and controls on business and the banking industry. They didn't like him one little bit. They were going to organize the disgruntled veterans and use them to put one of the most highly decorated, popular military veterans in Roosevelt's place. They were going to mass an army of 500,000 soldiers and stage a coup, citing Roosevelt's ill health as justification. Smedley Butler was the man they were going to have lead this army. They invited him for drinks and cigars and put the idea to him. They were going to take all of the unemployed and put them in barracks, and put them to work like Hitler was doing over in Germany. They would make America safe for untrammeled business again, because Roosevelt was seriously stepping on their toes.
Butler appeared enthusiastic to the idea. He asked them to tell him more, and he made noises like he was in agreement. He was already involved in the VFW, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and becoming National Commander of the American Legion would gain him the following of nearly all WWI veterans, men with military training and experience and a bone to pick with the government. And all of those soldiers loved Smedley Butler because he had gone to bat for them over the bonus deferment and he had walked through the protest camp and listened to the men there and given them words of encouragement. The conspirators thought that it should be a slam dunk for them.
The problem was that they hadn't actually been paying attention to what Smedley Butler stood for. He might have been a highly decorated career soldier, but he had been brought up a Quaker. He had made an enemy of Hoover because he had spoken out about the bonus, but also because he had voiced his resentment at being what essentially amounted to a mercenary in the hire of business interests. He felt that the US military should not be used to strong-arm other countries into complying with US business interests. He opposed fascism and dictatorship, because the military had been used to install a few and he'd seen it first hand. The conspirators were suggesting to him that he do and become everything he stood against personally. Smedley blew the whistle on them and the government investigated.
When the McCormack-Dickstein Committee reached its conclusion, they were able to verify all but the part about organizing veterans. It also mentioned how MacGuire, the man who led the plot, had been over in Europe studying the operation of fascist veteran's organizations there. Many contemporaries, including Gen. MacArthur, the man who tear-gassed the Bonus Army encampment, called it a hoax and a fabrication. The investigation didn't call any of the people named by Butler except MacGuire, who died of pneumonia two months after the committee ended at the age of 37. Either way, no coup happened. Then came WWII and everything got put on the back burner until gradually business and banking began getting the upper hand again and we come to where we are today.
Smedley Butler went on to give speeches and write books about his knowledge of and opposition to war profiteering and use of the military to further American business interests.
"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."
Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler - 1935
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