The Plot to Seize the White House
By Jules Archer

(These excerpts were selected by Dale Wharton form Archer's book, The Plot to Sieze the White House. Click here to read Wharton's review of Archer's book.)

...neither (Italian or German paramilitary organizations) could be made attractive to the American veteran. [...] Riots had erupted in Paris early in February (1934), ending in...a general strike that had paralyzed the country. Civil war had been averted only by...a National Union ministry made up of all parties except Socialists, Communists, and Royalists. A key role in ending the crisis had been played by a rightwing veterans' organization...the Croix de Feu (officers, noncoms) 23

During 1914, four presidents of (Haiti) were overthrown. The Germans were threatening to intervene....63.

When the National Assembly met in Port-au-Prince, Marines stood in the aisles with bayonets drawn until Philippe Dartiguenave, the Haitian selected by the American minister, was "elected" president by the Assembly (aug/sep 1915). He was the first Haitian President to serve out his full seven-year term, only because of the occupation of the Marines. 64 Although still only a major, Butler's rank as head of the Haitian Gendarmerie was major general, and his power that of Minister of the Interior. 68

Mary Roberts Rinehart, who visited Butler in Philadelphia to study his cleanup, wrote about it in her biography: "He did a fine job....But it was an unbeatable game, that of the crooks, gamblers, bootleggers, and dive keepers." 91

(David Shoup told author) I wondered at the time (1927) if our government would put all these Marines in a position of danger, where they might sacrifice their lives in defense of Standard Oil. Later I discovered that of course it would, and did. It was only some years later that I learned that General Butler had been thinking the same way. I thought I had been alone in suspecting it. 101

[Butler was]...awarded an Umbrella of Ten Thousand Blessings--a magnificent canopy of red satin with small silk streamers proclaiming his greatness. No foreigner in Tientsin or Peking had ever rated one...103

"The fellow we had there (Nicaragua) nobody liked, but he was a useful fellow to us, so we had to keep him in. How to keep him in was the problem." Then he described how the election had been rigged, under orders, for that purpose. 107

Outraged neighbors in many communities were setting up roadblocks with guns to bar outside bidders at foreclosure auctions so that the property could be bought for a song and returned to its owners (1932). Alarmed bankers saw this development as a Communist threat. 122

...Americans were hungry for a change, especially for a turn away from foreign affairs to home problems. But he found no indication that Main Street America either wanted revolutionary change or thought it likely, despite alarm over a Red menace in the conservative press. 126 (See Spivak, 298)

"...Jimmy [Van Zandt--VFW leader] and I are going around the country trying to educate the soldiers out of the sucker class." 129

He warned veterans not to believe "the propaganda capital circulates" in the press, which he condemned as largely capitalist-controlled. "The paper that takes the part of the soldier," he charged, "loses advertising." His concern for disabled veterans was not mere rhetoric. He met many of them in the 18 veterans' hospitals he visited during his (12/33) tour of the country (for VFW). 130

(Paul Comly French, quoting MacGuire:) He said that a crash was inevitable and was due to come when bonds reached five percent... 166

"All the principals in the case," George Seldes noted in his book Facts and Fascism, "were American Legion officials and financial backers." 171

Dickstein indicated that about 16 persons mentioned to the committee by Butler would be subpoenaed and that an open hearing might be held within a week. 172

One Nebraska woman wrote him:

"It is heartening to find a man who has the courage to fight that Octopus, Wall St. More power to you. There are millions of honest people in the United States who applaud you and would follow you heart & soul. Read of MacNider's name being linked with the case. Heard him speak before a woman's club in Omaha. Sized him up as being that kind of tripe. Here's hoping you expose these traitors to a showdown. Yours for justice..." 173

(Roger Baldwin, director ACLU:) (CUAA) has just reported that the Fascist plot to seize the government...was proved; yet not a single participant will be prosecuted under the perfectly plain language of the federal conspiracy act making this a high crime. Imagine the action if such a plot were discovered among Communists! 197

...the most bitter animosity big business had ever manifested toward any President....Their hate campaign was echoed in the vast majority of newspapers...which had originally supported the President, then denounced him as a dictator. Roosevelt had been compelled to turn to "fireside chats" over the radio in order to communicate with the American people over the heads of the press lords. 202

(Geo Seldes on fighting fascism in US:) ...the entire Red-baiting wave which culminated in the McCarthy era was successful in inundating the anti-Fascists by making every anti-Fascist, whether liberal, socialist, or Communist, a Red. 208

The McCormack-Dickstein Committee had exposed Ivy Lee, the noted public releations expert ostensibly employed by the German dye trust, but actually on the payroll of the Nazi Government to help them win favorable publicity in the American press. 215

He told a YMCA audience that Mussolini was invading Ethiopia to get oil because the nation was bankrupt:

"The only way out for Mussolini is to declare war on somebody. That's the regular way of dealing with such situations. If this country ever gets busted, you can look for a war in about six months. Before he started it, Mussolini called a conference with England and France...and he thought he had everybody's permission to go ahead. Diplomacy is reeking with rotten politics." 225

"Let Congress say to all foreign investors: `Come on home or let your money stay out of the country--we will not defend it.'" 227

1937: "Lying propaganda is almost certainly necessary to bring nations to the pitch where men kill and women give their men and boys to be killed.....The object of war is to get something for nothing...." 233

In his library during his last years were SAWDUST CAESAR by Geo Seldes, THE ROAD TO WAR by Walter Millis, and JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN by Dalton Trumbo. EUROPE UNDER THE TERROR, by John L. Spivak, was inscribed to him as "one of the best fighters against Fascism in this country, with the respect and admiration of JLS."

1940: Ever since he had been a starry-eyed Marine recruit of 16, American administrations had persistently cried wolf in order to use him and the youths under him to protect and augment foreign investments wrapped in the flag. It was now impossible for him to believe that the shouts of wolf he heard once more were any more genuine than all those he had heard... since 1898. 239

The general who could have had all the wealth and power he wanted as dictator of the United States died (June 21, 1940, of abdominal ailment, apparently cancer) leaving an estate that totaled two thousand dollars. 240