131: The Plot Against Democracy

In July 1933, two mysterious men approached one of the most decorated soldiers in American history with what initially appeared to be a simple proposal. He didn’t know it at the time, but Major General Smedley Butler, whose prominent career mirrored the rise of the American Empire, was being recruited into a sordid plan to overthrow President Franklin Roosevelt, and bring fascism to the United States. In this episode, take a deep look at the rise and expansion of Imperial America, and the time we came within a hair’s breadth of losing democracy.

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Sources and Further Reading

Books

The Plot to Seize the White House, by Jules Archer: Link

Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America’s Empire, by Jonathan Katz: Link

Maverick Marine: General Smedley D. Butler and the Contradictions of American Military History: Link

Websites

McKinley and the Spanish-American War: Link

The Signaling at Cuzco Well: Link

Marine Lieutenant Colonel Robert W. Huntington to Marine Colonel Charles Heywood, 6/17/1898: Link

Battle of Manila Bay, 1 May 1898: Link

Theodore Roosevelt, “The Strenuous Life” (10 April 1899): Link

Theodore Roosevelt: Confident Imperialist: Link

Review: Not so Benevolent Assimilation: The Philippine-American War: Link

McKinley's Benevolent Assimilation Proclamation: Link

The Insular Cases: A Comparative Historical Study of Puerto Rico, Hawai‘i, and the Philippines: Link