Let's Start a Coup! Ep 1 – A Basket Full of Fascists

Nowadays, most people can agree that fascism is, well, a bad thing. But back in the 1930s, life absolutely sucked for most Americans, and fascism still had a sort of new car smell. Wall Street bankers were convinced they could take their country back from the clutches of ‘class traitors’ like Roosevelt, sink the New Deal and put the United States on a better – meaning more profitable – path. 

They had the money. They had an army. Now all they needed was a leader.

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is an I heeart original. Imagine a smoke filled room,
like just any smoke filled room. No, no, the smoke
filled room. Ah, the smoke filled room, that mythical place
where nefarious plans are laid in, conspiracies are hatched. It's
nineteen thirty three, and the smoke filled room is occupied

(00:33):
by disgruntled masters of the universe. We're talking really rich,
really powerful, really white guys, historical dudes. Yeah, and they
all really disliked the President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They joke
about getting rid of him all the time. I can
almost picture them now. Yeah, yes, I hate that guy.
A traito to his class. Now, at some point the

(00:55):
conversation about getting rid of FDR gets real. He must go,
I concur we must plan to the smoke filled rooms.
Us already here. Ah, so we are looks different. Someone
paint from I Heart Originals and School of Humans. This
is let's start a coup. I'm your host, Ben Buller,

(01:19):
and I'm your other host, Alex French, to bring you
the story. You've done all the research, read the books,
interviewed historians, but still there are some big gaps in
the historical record. And we'll never know exactly what happened.
So in those gaps we've had some fun. No, no,
it else makes it fun. They oh mam episode, what
a basket full of fascists. A proper coup requires three ingredients.

(01:51):
The first thing you need is a leader, but not
just any kind of leader. You need a dictator, one
who's actually a puppet so that we can call the shots,
but nonetheless a strong man who commands respect, the man
on the white horse, if you will. I like where
you're going with that, quite as god, not so loud.

(02:13):
The second ingredient you need muscle, and by muscle we
mean enough to march on the palace and overwhelm the
guards and the Capitol police and then any remaining pitchfork
wielding loyalists. I know some fabulous ruffians from a terrible neighborhood. No, no,
think classia. Columns of jack booted thugs, Oh fabulous, a

(02:35):
black uniform shirts with those wildly exciting arm biound. The
mind reels with the sartorial options. And you need a
loyal commander to lead that pack of lunatics. Yes, that's right, Alex.
That person might be the most important piece of the puzzle.
You better make sure your top general is on your side,
that their loyalty is in the right place. This is

(02:56):
a huge deal. Who do washing genitals? No good? Noted say,
you know, this reminds me of a story, an episode
from American history that nobody really knows or talks about
too much these days. It's a story about a plot
to overthrow a sitting American president and the general who
claimed that he was recruited to lead the coup. Oh,

(03:19):
it's a total banger. It's got everything, the seat, betrayal,
dark comedy. I guess it is kind of dark in here. Well,
then turn on a lamp, dummy, Oh there you are.
Our story takes place during a time in American history
when fascism still had that new car smell smack, in
the middle of what's called the interwar period, those years

(03:42):
between the First and Second World Wars, the time of
social strife and political upheaval, toxicity courses through our political discourse.
It felt back then a little bit like it does today.
And here to tell us more about it is none
other than a man so loathsome so despicable that the
musical Annie has an entire song about what a tool

(04:05):
he is that's a true story. I don't know why
everyone's calling it a great depression. I can't remember when
I last had such a swell time. It's President Herbert Hoover,
who Well, I'm just gonna let him sink his own ship, America.
Cool it. There's only twenty five percent unemployment. That means

(04:25):
seventy five percent of you are lucky enough to have
jobs you hate. And so what if ninety percent of
West Virginia and Kentucky residents suffer from malnutrushan? I say,
who'd want to live there? Anyway, mister Hoover. Point is,
nobody is actually starving. The hoboes are better fad than
they have ever been. My producers giving me a look?

(04:48):
Was that bad? Should I not have thought that? Yeah?
Empathy was never your strong suit, mister Hoover. They know,
but look at the actual suit I'm wearing. It's fierce right.
While homeowners are losing their houses at a rate of
one thousand a day, you refuse to freeze foreclosures, and
I bad I'd have gotten no way with it if
it hadn't been for that meddling electorate. Sorry, herbs, that's
just the way it goes in November nineteen thirty two,

(05:10):
Franklin Delano Roosevelt wins the presidential election in a landslide.
While it's heads funeralll this top Fox after his inauguration, Roosevelt,
Are you saying it right? Or am I? Is it
Roosevelt or is it Roosevelt? I think they're both actually correct.
I mean I pronounce a guad Delano faith used to

(05:31):
be President man Alex go ahead. So after his inauguration,
Roosevelt calls an emergency session of Congress, during which the
legislative branch rubber stamps New Deal legislation aimed at jump
starting the economy, one remaining instrument. It's kind of hard
to understand what Roosevelt is saying, but he's essentially asking

(05:55):
for broad executive power to fight the depression. He says,
quote as great as the power that would be given
to me if we were in fact invaded by a
were in foe. Well, if that's what you want to do,
go for it. I gas. Throughout this entire period, the

(06:15):
idea that democracy has failed is everywhere, and there are
some very powerful voices advocating for dictatorship in the United States.
Some of these people own newspapers and motion picture companies.
They held government office owned banks and huge corporations. Ideas
about the brokenness of democracy were on the front pages
of the paper and in the movies. These powerful people

(06:37):
believed there had to be a better way, a new
path that protected the status quo, while at the same
time giving them even more power. That way was well fascism.
Case in point. In nineteen thirty three, MGM released a

(07:00):
remarkable photo drama that's a Depression era speak for movie.
It's called Gabriel Over the White House. This film was
financed by media magnate William Randolph Hurst, also known as
the inspiration for the classic film Citizen Kane. But like
in a bad way anyway. Hurst media holdings made him

(07:22):
one of the most powerful men in the world, and
he made a movie that has been mostly forgotten, but
it reveals the American elites fascistic fantasy of a strong
man who could just get stuff done. Democracy be damned.
In Gabriel, Walter Houston plays Judd Hammond, an American politician

(07:42):
who has just been inaugurated as President of the United States.
The film is set in nineteen thirties America. The country's
in peril, poverty, hunger, distrust of institutions. Here's audio of
a disgruntled reporter describing the climate at a press conference
early in the film. My paper's indictment against the government
is a staggering one. Millions of dollars are portant to

(08:03):
new Battleship farm as brent corn and wheat is thrown
away into the sea while men and women are begging
for bread. What does the new administration to say to this? Now?
From the get go, it's abundantly obvious that Hammond is
not cut out for the job. He's just one. He's
part of this corrupt political machine that has led the

(08:24):
American people into a horrific depression. Early in the film,
Hammond takes a presidential limo on a high speed joy
ride for some reason, and he gets into a catastrophic
cratch cut two the Presidential ICEU, where Hammond is comatose.

(08:45):
The prognosis is grim. Doctor, what is your opinion, I'm
afraid he's beyond any human health. But then we see
a tight shot of the hospital room's window curtain fluttering
in the breeze, and there is flooded with light. It's
a sign that the archangel Gabriel has entered the chamber
to take possession of the President's body. When President Hammond

(09:05):
comes to he is a changed man. He sits silently
in his hospital bed, reading and thinking. He's no longer
so slick. His hair is all messed up. It's a
little bit like Bernie Sanders. Honestly, do not bring me
into this, my bad Bernie. It's a nice impression. Do
you think the point is Suddenly? The fictional President Hammond

(09:27):
is a man of principle, careful thought, and deliberate action.
He makes promises that sound a lot like some of
FDR's New Deal initiatives. I propose, therefore, to create an
army to be known as the Army of Construction. You'll
be enlisted subjectuminentary disc Later that night, at his State
of the Union address, President Hammond fires his entire cabinet,

(09:48):
and then he forces Congress to adjourn. He declares, and
of what I plan to do in the name of
the people makes me a dictator. Then it is a
dictatorship based on Jefferson's definition of democracy, a government for
the greatest good of the greatest number. He broadcast his plans.
He's going to stop foreclosures he's going to protect people's

(10:10):
money in banks. I propose immediately to give direct aid
to the fifty five million American people who depend entirely
upon agriculture, without whose prosperity there can be no real
prosperity in the United States. And all of these things
that President Hammond decrees, he makes them happen to hell

(10:30):
with checks and balances. He's here to cut past the
red tape. He's getting stuff done. He's become an FDR
flavored dictator, but a dictator who does some good things
is still a dictator. He's consolidated power. But in the
movie you don't see the nasty business that goes along
with taking complete control of the nation. It's Hollywood selling

(10:53):
softcore fascism. Boom love it. But what does that mean exactly? Fascism?
I mean, more importantly, what did fascism mean during the
interwar period. It's a cottage industry to answer this question.
Whole books have been written and vibrantly disagreed with by
other scholars of fascism just to get to the question
of a definition. That's Richard Stiegman Gaul. He's a writer

(11:16):
and associate history professor at Kent State He's written a
bunch and spectacularly on this topic. Stigman Gaul defines fascism
as a hypernationalist, violent movement committed to the restoration of
national greatness and the belief that extra legal means are
required to restore that national greatness. Let's break that down

(11:41):
a bit. Stegman Goals as fascists are hypernationalists. They believe
their nation is superior, and they must stop at nothing
to advance and protect their version of it. They welcome violence.
They're also importantly anti communist, and the last thing fascism
insists that the legal state has been seized by people

(12:03):
who don't belong there. In fact, Stigman Goals says, there's
a good argument to be made that fascism is an
American creation, that it first took shape right after the
Civil War, when a bunch of Confederate soldiers established a
little something called the ku Klux Klan. The KKK believe

(12:24):
that the triumph of the Union over the Confederacy and
the triumph of electoral equality for newly freed African Americans
is a destruction of the real America right, and so
they're willing to go to extra legal lengths murder, terror
to regain their own supremacy. In other words, the government

(12:47):
isn't serving my interests, so I'm going to force it
to by any means necessary, you know, drain the swamp.
The interwar period was a time when thousands of Americans,
dozens of extremist groups, media personalities, and politicians. They all
believe that democracy had failed. They felt like things had

(13:09):
gotten so bad that the time had come to try
something different. They wanted a dictator. After the break, we
join a robing mob of disgruntled soldiers as they occupied
the nation's capital, and we meet the General Leasi, a
hard eyed, awesome named Jarhead who's traveled the world and
is exactly no tolerance for tom foolery, a legend in

(13:32):
his time, a bigots biggot Major General Smedley Darlington Butler. Okay,
so I know we said we'd introduce you to Smedley,

(13:56):
but not quite yet. First we have to set this stage.
We'll go back one year to nineteen thirty two, before
FDR gets elected. A lot of in the US are
flirting with fascism. One group in particular, veterans of the
First World War. They're broke, they're angry, and they hold

(14:17):
Uncle Sam responsible. Three hundred veterans of the Great War
from Portland, Oregon mobilized to march on Washington and lobby
for immediate payment of their war bonuses, the money the
US government promised for their service during World War One.
There's greedy vats. It's always more and more and more
with them. Oh wowur smoke filled room dwelling plutocrats are back.

(14:41):
Do you guys have any advice for the veterans. Yeah,
here's one, be born rich, good advice. These veterans piled
onto eastbound free trains, vacant cattle cars, still stinking of manure,
packing everything they needed in those little broomstick hung hobo's suitcase.
You know what I'm talking about. They're they're called bindles

(15:01):
in case you know you ever need to impress a hobo. Oh,
I promise you I won't. Yes. Along with ante and taxes,
that's a word we do not need to know. High five.
They call themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force the BEEF, a
callback to the American Expeditionary Force that landed in France.

(15:21):
As word of the BF spreads veterans from every corner
of the country, pack up their families and head for
the capital. Two hundred from San Francisco, three hundred from Cleveland,
five hundred from Chicago, and exactly none from my compound
and East Egg because me and the b Accoontms have
got better things will do. Look, honestly, these veterans got

(15:43):
a raw deal. They're converging on the nation's capital because
their military service paid them virtually nothing, leaving them badly
in the hole when they got home. During this time
of poverty and misery, these veterans are amongst the most
vulnerable people in the entire country. After the war, the
government promised money in the form of bonus certificates that

(16:05):
weren't payable until nineteen forty five. Now that may not
seem like a big deal, but ask yourself, how much
value would you place on your paycheck if you couldn't
redeem it until twenty thirty six. The vets called these
certificates the two Stone Bonus because most everybody would be
dead before they could collect them. The first wave of

(16:27):
BF soldiers arrives in DC in late May. Hundreds take
shelter in the ruins of demolished buildings along Pennsylvania. In
Constitution Avenue, not too far from the White House. Thousands
of others built a camp on the Anacostia Flats. Mobile
food carts provided by the War College find them and
stew and coffee. They also got their hands on lumber,

(16:48):
nails and tin, empty bedsacks, and tons of hay for filling.
A vast encampment of tents and shanties take shape, stretching
across the skyline, and the Salvation Army sets up a
library near the entrance of the camp. Sounds dusty. Newspapermen
remarked that the occupying crowd is governed by the military's

(17:09):
code of discipline. Walter Waters, the leader of the Beef,
gave his men three rules. No panhandling, no liquor, and
no radical talk. Waters also led the Khaki Shirts, which
was often described as a closely knit semi military organization.

(17:32):
The Khaki Shirts called themselves one hundred percent American, and
they would pounce on any suspected Commies. They would haul
the accused before a kangaroo court and sentenced them to
belt lashings and expulsion from the camps. So what you're saying, Ben,
is that if Walter Waters wasn't an actual fascist, he
was like fascist adjacent. Yeah, you know, alex I maybe

(17:56):
relatively new at this coup planning business, but I sniffed
some real potential in this massive gathering of disenchanted veterans. Well,
that might be the stew The vets had really gone
through it. They were deeply disillusioned by the grinding misery
of trench warfare in Europe, and then they come home
to a country sinking into crisis, and they're being disrespected

(18:18):
by political leaders who refused to pay their war bonuses.
Who was overwhelming and traumatic, and that lasted for decades,
even in the thirties. It's still the long tale of
World War One, and not just the United States, but
in Europe particularly for example, Italian veterans of the war
came home with the same disillusionment, but instead of being disrespected,

(18:40):
Italian vets were lifted up by their political leaders. Historian
Katie Holt told us about it. What Americans sur in
Italy and the rise of fascism was kind of against
all arts, the fascists having a very different response to
the wartime experience, wearing the veteran status those who were
veterans on their sleeves, retaining the values of patriotism and

(19:04):
apparently retaining values of service. That whole experience in Italy
that American observerst sorce seemed like a perfect counter to
the disillusionment the Americans had fell amongst themselves after the
First Tweld War. In just a few years, the FASCISTI
as they were known, formed an ascendant political movement, the

(19:25):
National Fascist Party. Benito Mussolini, the organization's head hauncho, called
for a strong man to revive Italy. All over the country,
armed vigilante squads known as black Shirts organized to keep
the streets clear of socialist, labor, radicals and anarchist Mussolini

(19:46):
used the black Shirts to knock off potential rivals, and
they became known for extreme violets. The FASCISTI sound fashitty,
well language, alex We're a family show. In October nineteen
twenty two, flanked by some thirty thousand black Shirts, Mussolini
marched on Rome, all but seizing control of the government.

(20:08):
At least according to the propaganda and two Americans. For
fifteen years or so, fascism doesn't seem like such a
bad thing. The new National Fascist Party was really getting
stuff done, and so what you start to see that
many people look to fascist Italy and say, look what

(20:30):
Missleini's doing. In fascist Italy. He's creating philips, he's doing
public works, he's producing a welfare state that enables great
maternal aid, infants care for working mothers, and he's appearing
to create a very functional social safety net and a
welfare state. Americans, on the other hand, still felt hoodwinked

(20:54):
into joining the war. Then the stock market crashed and
the Great Depression set in. In present Hoover did basically
nothing to help Americans weather the storm. Against that batchup,
you have many Americans who almost provocatively say, what we
mean right now is the dictator. And it's really their
way of saying that democracy isn't serving us. Democracy hasn't

(21:18):
been doing anything. People haven't been really going to the
polls or haven't been going to the post for the
right reason for the best part of the decade, and
so we might as well have a dictator in the
United States. I'll Duche's Squadristi, the Black Shirts, and later
Hitler's Brown Shirts all became a model for American prutal

(21:38):
fascist organizations. The White Shirt Crusaders, the Khaki Shirts, the
Gray Shirts, the Silver Legion. At this point, they're going
to run out of colors. Bat yeah. The Defenders of
the Christian Faith, the American Nationalist Confederation, the National Gentile League.
They popped up everywhere. They were nativist, populist. Some held

(22:01):
aspirations greater than garden variety terror and violence, like holding
public office and transforming their world views into actual legislation.
They wanted to force Jewish people into ghettos. They wanted
to limit citizenship and find ways to exclude large numbers
of what they called undesirables from voting. For example, the

(22:25):
Black Legion, a night riding terror organization, emerged from the Midwest,
spinning out of a KKK security force. They attracted members
who didn't believe the clan's methods were extreme enough. What yeah,
I know, right. And these weren't just civilians. This group
was rumored to include veterans, police chiefs, a city councilman,

(22:48):
even officials from the Department of Justice. In short, the
people who were supposed to keep the peace conspired to
sow chaos. The Black Legion murdered and kidnapped with impunity.
They even had a dedicated arson squad. And then there
was the American Legion. By American Legion, Alex, do you

(23:10):
mean the old guys with the wood paneled clubhouses who
sometimes sponsor Little League? Yeah, yeah, very different organization back then.
No discussion of American fascism in the Inner War period
is complete without a discussion of the American Legion. Most
of the historians we spoke with about fascism pointed to
the American Legion as being a close cousin of Italy's
Black Shirts. Here's historian Richard Steigmanoligan. The idea is, you know,

(23:35):
so many men have sacrificed for the nation, we should
found an organization that is designed to represent their interests.
And the American Legions various flirtations with fascism already are
a huge instance in which soldiers, or perhaps more accurately,
ex soldiers, find themselves drawn to fascism. I mean, you've
got very explicit and open proclamations by the American Legion

(23:58):
itself that quote unquote, we are the American SQUADRISKI, named,
of course after Mussolini's black shirted vigilantes. The American Legion
were such fans of Mussolini that they invited him to
speak at their convention in nineteen twenty three. He declined, Now,
these American Legion guys weren't all talk either. The Legion

(24:18):
practiced in aggressive anti communist vigilantism. In nineteen nineteen and Centralia, Washington,
there was this notorious street battle between the American Legion
and members of a far left labor activism group called
the Industrial Workers of the World, also known as the Wobblis.
A major fracas broke out at an Armistice Day parade.

(24:40):
It culminated in the death of several legionnaires and the
kidnapping of a Wobbling named Wesley Everest from the local jail.
They lynched it and hanged his body from a bridge.
This was gruesome, gruesome stuff. So remember that massive disenchanted
vets converging on the nation's capitol in mid June nineteen
thirty two. There's no doubt that some portion of the

(25:03):
crowd carries a membership for the American Legion, the Black Legion,
or the Silver Legion. Pick your proto fascist mob. It's
starting to make the hairs on the back of my neck.
Stand up picture in a blazing hot day, humid with
the scorching sun. The Bonus army is gathered in Washington, DC.

(25:24):
All of these guys packed together in close quarters on
that blistering concrete. There's palpable tension in the air. They're
waiting for news from Capitol Hill because Congress has finally
begun voting on the war Bonus Bill. They've been waiting
years to be paid for their service, and if Congress
passes the bill, tens of thousands of vets could finally

(25:47):
be on a path out of hunger and poverty. The
New York Times reports a really visible sag in the
mood the veterans. No defeat is all but certain, and
if by some miracle, the Senate decides it's a good
idea to write war veterans a two point four billion
dollar check. President Hoover is absolutely gonna Vito. The discussion

(26:08):
on the floor of the Senate Chamber lasts all day. Inside,
the senators can hear the crowd surrounding the building. At
nine thirty pm, Walter Waters, the leader of the gathered veterans,
comes onto the steps of the Capitol and announces that
the bill has been defeated, sixty two to eighteen. These

(26:32):
are hopeless men with hopeless families, They've traveled hundreds of
miles to lobby for a life changing sum of cash
that they believe they rightly deserve, and their futures are
being decided by a bunch of rich senators. So what
do you think happens next? Oh? I know these homeless

(26:52):
fellows are going to burn down the Capitol. Wait no,
it looks like they're gonna sing America the beautiful Furber
Waves orperble mounds. Man. You know, as singers, they sure

(27:13):
do make wonderful hobos. A month passes, sixteen thousand plus
veterans remain in DC. By mid July, the bonus Marcher's
desperation grows acute. On the last day Congress is in session,
thousands of angry veterans returned to the hill surrounding the Capitol,

(27:34):
forcing terrified legislators to escape through underground tunnels. So is
this the pot where they stormed the Capitol? Not quite. Instead,
President Hoover, true to his name, is going to evict
the beef from Washington, DC begone. Dms by, Now you're
wondering why has Ben Bolin dragged me into this fitted Hooverville.

(27:59):
I thought this was supposed to be a podcast about
a plot hatched by a cabal of megawealthy industrialists to
overthrow an American president. Right, Okay, perfect timing, Alex. Here
it comes the reason we're here. He's about to trudge
through the ankle deep muck of Anacostia Flats and straight
into our story. A two time Medal of Honor recipient

(28:22):
and the holder of the Marine corps highest honor, the
Brevett Medal, the most decorated marine and the history of
the service at the time, he is a legit celeb
Major General Smedley Darlington Butler, and yes, that is his
full and very fancy name. He climbs onto a stage

(28:43):
in front of a growing crowd of bonus army vets hi.
He's a wiry five foot eight with ramrod plusture, and
his nickname is Old Gimlet Eye because in those days,
gimlet eye was an expression to signify a piercing stare.

(29:04):
He sports a massive tattoo of the Marine Corps Loban
anchor on his chest and goes from my throat to
my gun. Yeah, filthy animal. What Smedley Butler is truly
famous for, however, is the care he takes of other Marines.
Here I clipped out the latest dick placing for you.
It's a real nail binder. Enjoy but he was passed
up for the role of Marine Corps Commandants, the top

(29:27):
job shortly after he retired from the Corps. Now at
fifty years old, Smedley Butler finds himself in the midst
of an existential reckoning. Who am I when I'm not
doing nice things for vets like clipping comic strips. He
stays out on the road for months at a time,

(29:47):
giving speeches to veteran groups for two hundred and fifty
bucks a pop. He gives a big cut of every
paycheck to the veteran's unemployment fund. You see to him,
the men in this bonus army crowd, these are his men,
and they feel the same way about him. There's a
loyalty here, one that cannot be bought. There are four

(30:09):
and a half million veterans in the United States. Smedley
thinks they could be a powerful voting block if only
they banded together. When Smedley Butler has introduced, the crowd
greets him with a quote enthusiastic roar of a claim
that echoes through Washington like thunder. Take it from me.
This is the greatest demonstration of the excuse me, actor

(30:34):
who's playing Smedley Butler? Why do you want? We have
an actual recording of Smedley's voice to play here go
all right, then I'm gonna go take five. Okay, So
here's the clip. Take it from me. This is the
greatest demonstration of Americanism we've ever had, pure Americans willing
to take this beating as you've taken it. Stand right, steady,

(30:57):
You keep every law, and why the hell shouldn't the
hell yeah, I've done all the bleeding for this country
and for this law and this constitution. It's over. The
beef soldiers won't be getting their money, but the Bonus
Army hangs in DC for another week and a half.
On the morning of July twenty eighth, the cops begin

(31:20):
to yank men from the ruined buildings on Pennsylvania Avenue,
the greatest concentration of fighting troops in Washington since eighteen
sixty five, to rout the Bonus Army from government property,
which they have been occupying without permission. Walter Waters, their leader,
urges the men to cooperate and go peacefully, but some
veterans start throwing rocks at the police. Soon two veterans

(31:44):
are shot dead near the White House. General Douglas MacArthur
shows up in an olive green field coat and ten
knickers and wears his hat jauntily askewed. That's right, that
General MacArthur, one of the country's most recognized military leaders today,
though he's her to crack some American skulls. He's got
six hundred armed soldiers and six tanks, and Macarthurs say so.

(32:09):
The cavalry moves on the ruined buildings along Pennsylvania Avenue,
unleashing a barrage of tear gas on beef occupied buildings.
And so they're being forced out of their shack by
smoke bomb and tear gas hurled by the troops who
have been called out by the President of the United States.
The infantry follows with rifle mounted bayonets. Beef soldiers put

(32:30):
up a fight, but not much of one. In the evening,
having won the first battle, MacArthur directs his troops to
torch every tent in the beef camp. It's a spectacle
unparalleled in the history of the country. A day of
bloodshed and riot reminiscent of actual conditions in France in seventeen.
President Hoover watches all of this. He sees the fires

(32:55):
burn from a white house window, and then he goes
to bed. The light from those tuns is soy bright,
you guys, But not to worry. I got my eyemasky
kittens night. The violence leaves at least two veterans dead
and at least two more veterans severely injured with gunshotings.

(33:16):
Dozens more are hospitalized with concussions, burns, and gashes. People
are wounded by bricks and hatchets. The wife of a
veteran from Dallas is run over by a cavalry horse.
A fourteen year old boy is treated for serious saber wounds.
He's not the only one. Gradually, the Bonus Army realizes
that they'd better be good, and a general retreat begins.

(33:37):
Thousands of vets hobble away from the nation's capital to Johnstown,
Pennsylvania to regroup. I don't found the nine thousand Bonus
a good. Immediately threw out tents and shacks on themselves
and finally beaten down. But unwilling to accept defeat, the
beef once again ask Major General Smedley Butler to take command,

(33:57):
at least according to the newspapers, while the scenes of
MacArthur's soldiers gassing and burning Great War veterans in Smedley,
he just tells the paper the b ef men should
return to their homes. Major General Smedley Butler is, however,

(34:18):
far less reticent about attacking President Herbert Hoover. God, Smedley Butler,
leave me alone. I don't come to your encampment and
tell your veterans what to do. So you can imagine
Smedley's delight when the press flays Hoover for his treatment
of the vets. Even the Washington Daily News, sort of
the Newsmax of its day writes, what a pitiful spectacle

(34:42):
if the army must be called out to make war
on unarmed citizens, this is no longer America. Smedley Butler
goes on the road stumps frift Yard during the thirty
two presidential campaign, declares himself a Hoover for ex president
Republican and you can quote me on that. Look. Smedley

(35:03):
is a demagogue. There's no real other way to put it.
He has a hard line populist message, speaking directly to veterans,
From time to time he does lectures on the same
bill as legendary rabble rouser Huey Long All. In all,
Smedley gives about forty anti Hoover speeches. In the lead

(35:24):
up to the nineteen thirty two election, mosebf Boys were
cashed in the battlefield of France in nineteen eighteen and
again in the streets of Washington and thirty two, And
when Americans went to the polls in November of nineteen
thirty two, Roosevelt's election was more of a tsunami than
a landslide. Smedley Butler spent the election at his home

(35:45):
in Newton Square, Pennsylvania, New fdr Victory party for ull Smedley,
though he's not the gloating type n by day, just
saving the country like I do. Yet, despite all the
miles Smedley logged for Roosevelt, after the election, the President
elect doesn't want anything to do with him. It feels
a little bit like there are no more battles to

(36:06):
fight for Smedley. He's out to pasture. He writes a
book about his Marine Corps adventures called Old Gimlet Eye.
He reads the newspaper in his easy chair. He delivers
speeches to any group that will have him. The Women's
Club of East Orange, New Jersey, the Bristol Father's Association,
Beautiful m I right, the New England Iron and Hardware Association,

(36:31):
Nice Hammers, everybody. Roosevelt wins the election in November, but
he is not inaugurated until March. The intervening months are
the hardest of the depression, and Hoover is still doing nothing.
Oh my god, I am like so sick of this job.

(36:51):
People were desperate for the government to just help them
get by. Tell me about it. I'm seeing hardship at
every damn stop of my speaking tours, and so Smedley.
Butler's speeches take on strong undertones of class conflict. While
decorating veterans with purple hearts, he tells a Memorial Day
crowd in Passaic, New Jersey, this isn't just a two

(37:15):
centimental Even JP Morgan can't buy one man. Finally help comes.
After taking office, Roosevelt enacts emergency financial reforms. Yeah that's great,
But what's all this financial balderdash have to do with me?
I got nothing to do with us fat cat bankers. Well,
that may seem like the case major General. But one

(37:38):
day in July nineteen thirty three, you're sitting in your
favorite easy chair. I am just reading the early edition
of the paper, Okay and Butler Residence, Major General Smellie
Darlington Butler speaking. When you answer, it's a man who
says he's from the American Legion. He says someone's on

(37:59):
their way up from a nearby Legion hall. They'll be
there soon, and they're requesting an audience. And then how
is it there's a knock on the door. Yeah, I heard,
and for you, Major General Smedley Butler. Nothing will ever
be the scene? Why is it? Something bad? Sorry? Smedley,

(38:21):
no spoilers, It'll have to wait till the next episode.
A dry up. Next time on Let's Start a Coup?
Who is Smedley Butler? Really? You're so smart? You tell me.
Tune in as we explore the seamy underside of Smedley's career.
Wartz and dol To ask why did so many evil

(38:41):
people genuinely think of him as their kind of hero?
Join us to find out. Let's Start a Coup as
a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts. Our
hosts are Alex French and Ben Bolin. The show is
written by Alex French, with additional writing by Joken Osian.

(39:02):
Original music and scoring by Joken Ocean. Character voices by
Joken Ocean. Sounds like someone didn't get enough attention and
they're a childhood Elis Buttas is our producer. Emilia Brouck
is our senior producer. Sound design, additional scoring, mixing and
mastering by Alexander Overington. Our story editor is Lacy Roberts.

(39:22):
Fact checking by Austin Thompson. Sean Riggins is our recording engineer.
Recorded at Tune Welders in Atlanta, Georgia. Executive producers are
Jason English, Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr, and Elsie Crowley. Special
thanks to Ethan Trucks and Adam Overett. Sound licensed from
Critical Past and the Museum and University of South Carolina

(39:44):
Moving Image Research Collection. Additional clips courtesy of the National
Archives and Records Administration. If you're enjoying the show, help
us get the word out by leaving a rating in
your favorite podcast app, and if you're not buzz off,
tune in again next time for Let's Start a Coup

(40:08):
School of Humans