Thursday, September 20, 2007

Coup on American Soil? By Big Business? Read On...

While first watching the documentary, The Corporation (see: TheCorporation.com), a few years ago, I learned something I never knew before. See, the film sets out to compare the psychology of corporations to the psychology of psychopaths. I'm not kidding, they even used the World Health Organization's checklist. One of the examples the film used for sociopathic behavior was a coup that was planned by several big businessmen back in the 1930s. This is no joke, folks. There are records to prove it.

The thing is, as good as The Corporation was, it only spent a few minutes out of its 3 hour run-time to talk about this planned coup. I've always been meaning to read up on it, but hadn't had the time. The other day I wrote a post that touched on this, but all I could find on the 'net to back my story up was the Wikipedia.org article (here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler). Well, it seems like Alan Bellows over at DamnInteresting.com read my mind because just yesterday he posted a full-on story about the planned coup--did all sorts of research for it and everything! You can check it out for yourself here: http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=883

Here's a taste to get you started:
In the early 1930s, a secret collection of prosperous men are said to have assembled in New York City to discuss the dissolution of America's democracy. As a consequence of the Great Depression, the countryside was littered with unemployed, and the world's wealthy were watching as their fortunes deflated and their investments evaporated. As men of action, the well-financed New York group sought to eliminate what they reasoned to be the crux of the catastrophe: the United States government.

To assist them in their diabolical scheme, the resourceful plotters recruited the assistance of Major General Smedley Darlington Butler, a venerated, highly decorated, and considerably jaded former Marine. It was the conspirators' earnest hope that their army of 500,000 Great War veterans, under the leadership of General Butler, could overpower the US' feeble peacetime military and reconstitute the government as a more economical fascist dictatorship.


Here's just a bit more:
On the 1st of July 1933, Smedley Butler was visited by a pair of gentlemen who had come to urge him to run for the office of National Commander of the American Legion, an influential organization of veterans. Though Butler declined the invitation, one of the men– Gerald MacGuire– made several subsequent visits during which he disclosed additional details. He claimed to represent The Committee for a Sound Dollar, whose primary purpose was to pressure the president to reinstate the gold standard. He implied that his organization had the support of several political leaders, and the financial backing of some of the country's most affluent individuals and successful corporations.

The credibility of MacGuire's claims was reinforced when he produced evidence of considerable cash resources and made some eerily accurate predictions regarding personnel changes in the White House. He also accurately described the still-secret but soon-to-be-announced American Liberty League, a high-profile group whose stated purpose was to "defend and uphold the Constitution." The League's principal players were comprised of wealthy Americans, including the leaders of DuPont, JP Morgan, US Steel, General Motors, Standard Oil, Colgate, Heinz Foods, Chase National Bank, and Goodyear Tire. There are some who claim that Prescott Bush– father to the 41st US President and grandfather to the 43rd– was also entangled in the scheme.


Weeeee!!

It's always fun when the Bush clan shows up in these quietly told chapters of US history. Turns out, Butler actually said that he "helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-12."

Brown Brothers would be joined by Harriman to become the bank that laundered money for Fritz Thyssen. Thyssen's banker? Prescott Bush. Read more about that here: http://urltea.com/1j9x and here: http://urltea.com/1j9y Suffice it to say that there were government records to prove that, as well.

How did the coup work out? In the end, Butler was too much of a hard-ass patriotic American to do these businessmen's bidding. He held a press conference and spilled the beans to the media. There were hearings on the Hill and everything--but, like the 911 Commission, despite the admitted evidence of serious wrong doing no one was ever charged or indicted or thrown in jail or anything. Essentially, the USG decided that there was something going on, but didn't bother to take it any further.

Like I said, just like the 911 Commission. Lots of changes are necessary, but no, no one's getting fired because the USG let 911 happen.

So, there ya go! Businessmen conspired to overthrow the USG. Why aren't we taught about it in history class? My guess is that we're not supposed to know our corporate overlords pals once planned to knock over our government.

There's a LOT more to that article, you should really head over and check it out. Here's that link again: http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=883

Orignal From: Coup on American Soil? By Big Business? Read On...

No comments: