The events of Jan. 6, 2021 did not show the first attempt to overthrow a president of the United States, but the second.
The first was in 1933, led by Wall Street executives. It was foiled, however, by Smedley D. Butler of Bucks County, a retired Marine Corps major general.
The story was documented in a book by Jules Archer, titled “The Plot to Seize the White House,” published in 1973. It explained in detail the efforts by Republican executives to block Franklin Roosevelt from performing his duties as president.
A similar but fictional story of an attempted government takeover was told in the novel, “It Can’t Happen Here,” by Sinclair Lewis.
Butler was a native of Bucks County, and he returned there between assignments in many parts of the world. He achieved the rank of major general, and rose to become commandant of the Marine Corps.
However, his outspoken honesty often led to disputes with civilian political leaders. But his high position as a government advisor led other potential leaders, some of them in league with business executives, to try to induce him to change government policy so it would benefit the wealthy.
Butler himself was member of a wealthy family. His father was an elected Republican member of the House of Representatives for some 30 years. Butler’s sympathies, however, lay with ordinary folk, a product of his upbringing in a Quaker region of Pennsylvania. He grew up in his family home near West Chester, and he retired to Newtown Square, outside Philadelphia.
Butler’s long career in the military and as a high-level government advisor made him a target for those who wanted favorable official action to benefit their business agenda. However, he resisted them all.
Nevertheless, he routinely listened to all the appeals, and when it came to an attempt to recruit him to help oust Franklin D. Roosevelt as president, he let the plotters talk on, and he quietly passed the information on to other government officials.
Eventually, when others were found to corroborate his testimony, Rep. John McCormack (D-Mass) and Rep. Samuel Dickstein (D-NY), co-chairmen of the committee investigating the issue, heard Butler’s comments in detail. The story was soon broken by journalists Paul French and Phil Record.
However, it was General Butler’s tip and his testimony to the congressional committee that revealed the plot and resulted in its failure. At the time, the story did not get big play in newspapers, largely because most major publications were owned by wealthy conservative Republicans intent on spoiling FDR’s reputation. It was only with the advent of television that news media became more neutral and independent. Government licensing of broadcast operations required them to provide all sides of any news story.
The advent of television, with its ability to show in real time events as they happen, without being filtered or slanted to the right or left of the political spectrum by print media, has made a clear change in journalistic coverage.
Now, print media are more neutral than they were in those years, while television journalism programs range from neutral to conservative and liberal. Cable television operations are more likely to focus on more radical viewpoints, both liberal and conservative.
Even so, there are still attempts to control government regardless of voter desires.
Just as American voters preferred FDR in the election of 1932, they also preferred Joe Biden in the election of 2020. However, in each case, some wealthy business leaders tried to overturn the public’s choice.
The first challenge was blocked largely by the efforts of Maj. Gen. Smedley Darlington Butler of Bucks County, and the second by mass exposure on national television of the attempt.
John T. Harding lives in Doylestown.
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