NationStates Jolt Archive

I recently heard about an attempted coup against FDR that happened in 1933. In the film "the Corporation", it was said that corporate interests backed a fascist coup attempt that planned to march an army on Washington DC and take power.

I went on the internet to search for it and I found next to nothing. The only place where I found even bare details was Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt#Assassination_and_Coup_d.27Etat_Attempt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Darlington_Butler

I thought that this would be a well-documented historic event. Why is it so covered up?

Never heard about it, and I'm a history major.

I'm assuming it's probably not talked about very much because it was little more than some musings on the part of some rich people and the military. Nothing serious probably.

I found this
http://liberalslikechrist.org/about/FDRcoup.html
Now just judging from the site name I'm not so sure its a very credible source, but it seems pretty thorough and well cited. Now obviously if you're trying to do some hard research this shouldn't be taken too seriously, but if you're just interested it seems good enough.

I wouldn't think that Zangara's assassination attempt really had to do with these coup plotters. After all, his last words seem to go against the people cited as the coup plotters.

"You give me electric chair. I no afraid of that chair! You one of capitalists. You is crook man too. Put me in electric chair. I no care!" - Zangarra's last words

source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Zangara

A lot of people think that Butler made up a lot of the story, i.e. the 500,000 fascists marching on DC to seize control of the government.

I don't know, but its often thought of as half hoax.

A lot of people think that Butler made up a lot of the story, i.e. the 500,000 fascists marching on DC to seize control of the government.

I don't know, but its often thought of as half hoax.

I would think that it certainly is believable. You have to remember that in the early 30s the American nazi party had significant numbers(they staged a massive rally in madison square garden as well) though maybe 500,000 is a number that seems to be too big for this case(the more believable number would be a couple of thousand)

I would think that it certainly is believable. You have to remember that in the early 30s the American nazi party had significant numbers(they staged a massive rally in madison square garden as well) though maybe 500,000 is a number that seems to be too big for this case(the more believable number would be a couple of thousand)

Well I know about this from a disscussion when I was in college with a history Prof. Pretty much he said that there was some kind of movement to overthrow FDR, but it never was really a serious coup in the sense that it could never have suceeded because there simply wasn't enough actual support and when Butler testified he exagerated the extent of its base. Also a lot of the corporate/banking conections were fabricated to give it legtimacy. In other words, there were people who planned this, but the wherewithall to pull it off never existed because it was never really organized.

He could be worng though. Like I said I don't know. That's just what I heard.