Fascists at Home: The Strange Odyssey of General Smedley Butler

General Smedley Darlington Butler had twice been the recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. He spoke to the Bonus Army in 1932 when, in the depths of the Depression, veterans had marched to Washington and demanded to be paid a bonus that was promised to them for their service in World War I, but not scheduled to be paid until 1945.

In 1933, Butler was approached by two American Legion officials and they wanted him to lead a rank and file revolt against FDR's administration. Butler said he was interested, but in reality, he felt that this was treason and was uncertain of where the money came from. American Legion official Gerald Maguire told him not to worry, that nine wealthy businessmen had put up more than $100,000 for the campaign and said that there was a great deal more where that came from. Maguire gave him a copy of a speech he was to deliver before the convention and it called for a return to the gold standard.

Butler was suspicious and soon was visited by Wall Street broker Robert Sterling Clark. After a brief conversation, Butler informed Clark that he should probably find another man. They did and the Legion adopted a plank calling for a return to the gold standard. Later that year Maguire spoke to Butler again and told him he had studied the roles of veterans groups in the formation of the Nazi party in Germany and the Fascist party in Italy. He felt that veterans could do the same here.

Maguire stated that an immediate change of Government was needed to save the United States from communism. He informed Butler that he and the man Maguire represented felt that Butler could lead a march of 500,000 veterans on Washington and then stage a coup d'etat on the Roosevelt government. While Butler felt this was treason, he asked for more details like how it would be financed. "In two or three weeks," Maguire told him, "you'll see it come out in the papers."

Two weeks later, the American Liberty League was formed. It stated its purpose was to oppose radical movements in the U.S. and its members included: Lamont du Pont, Alfred P. Sloan, E.F. Hutton, Goodyear, J.C. Penney and others. Butler knew he needed independent verification and contacted Paul Comly French of the Philadelphia Record.

Posing as a sympathetic party, Maguire met with him at the offices of his boss, Wall Street financial baron Grayson Murphy. There, Maguire basically told French the same story, adding information that all arms and ammunition could be attained on credit from the Remington Arms Company which was owned by the du Ponts.

Butler first took his story to FBI Czar J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover did nothing. In November of 1934, Butler appeared before what would come to be the House on Un-American Activities. There Butler told the same story, however, Maguire was called before the house and claimed that Butler had misunderstood him. No more questions were asked and the plot has slipped out of the official stories of American history but the record is there for those who seek the truth.

Source: J. Edgar Hoover; A Man and His Secrets, Curtis Gentry