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The Business Plot

The Business Plot was an attempted coup orchestrated by business executives in 1933, in response to FDR abandoning the gold standard. The plot involved Smedley Butler, a major general storming the white house with half a million angry veterans and replacing Franklin Roosevelt as president for himself. Business executives were inspired by Mussolini's coup in Italy and wanted to replicate it in America. When the idea was offered to Butler, he refused and reported the incident to the House of Un-American committee. The committee confirmed that there was a conspiracy but, no one was prosecuted for the crime.

House Committee investigating Un-American activities, 1938.

America in the 1930's

Veterans After World War One

In 1927, veterans wanted better payment for their services in WW1, as they were being paid one dollar (1930's USD) for each day overseas. Congress agreed and passed a bill called the Bonus Act. This would grant every veteran five hundred dollars, on the condition that they would receive the money in 1945, on their birthday.

The Great Depression

In 1929, the stock market collapsed causing the wave of events that made the Great Depression happen. The Great Depression affected everyone but, it affected veterans the most. The Bonus Act was passed but, that wouldn't be in effect for another fifteen years. The Bonus Army was established, being made up of veterans who wanted their bonuses.

The Bonus Army Protests

In response to the government not giving the bonuses early, the Bonus army protested in Washington DC in front of the White House. As a result, President Herbert Hoover issued the army to break up protests by force.

The Bonus Army protesting outside of the White House, 1932.

Smedley Butler

Early life

Butler was born on July 30th, 1881, in Pennsylvania. Butler's family were Quakers who had political connections in the United States since the 17th century.

Smedley Butler in Hawaii, 1927.

Military Career

In 1898, Butler faked his age to fight in the Spanish-American war at the age of 16 as a marine. After fighting in Cuba, Butler was sent to the Philippines where he helped put down the independence movement that gained traction after the Spanish left (Philippine–American War). Butler was respected heavily after his time, so much that when the Boxer Rebellion broke out in China, Butler was chosen to help put down the rebellion. While there he fought bravely and saved another man's life. At the age of 19 Butler had fought in three wars and also received the medal of honor. From 1900 - 1915, Butler was stationed across Latin America to secure American/business interests in the region.

Political Career

After looking over a logistic camp in Brittney during WW1, and spending a couple more years garrisoning the Philippines, Butler retired from the Marines in 1931. Butler tried to run for senator of Pennsylvania but, did not win. Butler's support for prohibition is the prime reason why he only got 37.5% of the vote. After this Butler went around America giving speeches dismissing capitalism and saying that his 33 years in the Marines, he was just a muscle man for Wall Street. He declared his support for pacifism as a way to not encourage war profiteering and to also save lives.

The Wall Street Putsch

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Herbert Hoover was president when the Great Depression happened, his inaction helped convince people to vote for the Democrats instead of the Republicans. In 1932, FDR was elected President of the United States of America and part of his new deal meant abolishing the gold standard. The gold standard is the idea that the amount of money in circulation would equal the amount of gold in the U.S. treasury.

Franklin D. Roosevelt waving to Americans from his car, 1944.

The Business's Response

The Democrat party back before the party swap was the more conservative party. Many people saw the New Deal as communist and that FDR betrayed his party. Many of the business interests were scared that abandoning the gold standard would cause rapid inflation and make the Great Depression even worse. FDR had to go but, FDR was just elected into office and nothing that was done was against the Constitution. The business executives looked towards Europe for a solution. In Europe, many countries had fallen to either Fascism, National Socialism, Communism, or just a military/royal dictatorship. Italy, Greece, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Yugoslavia, Spain, Russia, and Germany all overthrew their democratic governments after WW1 for economic and internal stability. This was often caused by turmoil and the need to change, often these coups were done with the help of veterans willing to take up arms against the current government. Luckily for the business executives there happened to be 500,000 angry veterans protesting outside the white house, there just had to be someone on a white horse to lead them.

The Man on a White Horse

While staying in a hotel after a speech, Butler was greeted by a guest. The guest was Gerald P. MacGuire, MacGuire gave Butler $59,000 1930's USD for him to give a speech to the same veterans groups and to put in a few good words about the gold standard. Butler refused the offer but, MacGuire would come over at times to Butler's home to chat. One of these nights, MacGuire admitted to Butler that he was only a representative of many corporations, these corporations thought that FDR was going to doom America and they needed to stop him by force. The idea was very similar to Mussolini’s coup, where Butler was to storm the white house with half a million veterans and make FDR a public figure while Butler ran the country with guidance from the corporations. Butler was also told that would receive three million 1930 USD if he cooperated with the business interests. Butler outright refused and reported the incident to the HUAC.

Smedley Butler riding a white horse during his time in China, 1901.

The Committee Hearing

February 15, 1935, an investigation that had been done by the McCormack–Dickstein Committee was now being sent to the House of Representatives. Butler told his story of events, even though Butler hated capitalism the business interests thought this didn't matter as Butler was popular amongst the general population and veterans. Butler announced that several people were directly involved amongst people were former governor of New York: Al Smith, General MacArthur, and, other high-up people who worked at companies like J.P Morgan. The committee denied all requests for a testimonial hearing from these parties due to lack of evidence. The committee came up with the conclusion that the plot most likely was conspired but, there was a lack of evidence to prosecute anyone.

Cited Sources

Cramer, Clayton. “An American Coup d’etat? (Plot against Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1934).” History Today, vol. 45, no. 11, History Today Ltd, 1995, pp. 42–47.

Corwin, Andrew, and () David Ackroyd. The Plot to Overthrow FDR. A&E Television Networks, 1999.

FBI. “Smedley Butler Part 01 of 02.” File. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://vault.fbi.gov/smedleybutler/Smedley%20Butler%20Part%2001%20of%2002.

Rockhill, Gabriel. (2021, July 8). The fascist plot that presaged the assault on the Capitol. scheerpost.com. https://scheerpost.com/2021/07/07/the-fascist-plot-in-the-u-s-that-presaged-the-assault-on-the-capitol/

Schmidt, Hans. Maverick Marine General Smedley D. Butler and the Contradictions of American Military History / Hans Schmidt. The University Press of Kentucky, 1987.