The Plot to Seize the White House: Smedley Butler and the 1934 Wall Street Coup

War is a Racket by Brigadier General Smedley D. Butler should be required reading in every high School social studies in the United States.

The implications of a financier class able to distort constitutional principles, goals and laws could then be understood as a first principle of primary forces influencing government policies, which could then frame every policy discussion and Sunday morning talk show…at least for the people watching.

So when people say, “Government is bad,” one can ask, “bad for whom?”

We have a lot of work to do. 

Introduction: The Whistleblower

In the depths of the Great Depression, with the nation gripped by economic despair, a cadre of powerful Wall Street financiers and industrialists conspired to overthrow the government of the United States. 

This was no fringe movement; it was an audacious plot to stage a fascist coup, seize power from President Franklin D. Roosevelt and dismantle his New Deal. The conspiracy was not unearthed by spies or journalists but exposed by the very man they sought to lead it: Major General Smedley Butler, a twice-awarded Medal of Honor recipient and the most decorated Marine in American history. 

What follows is the astonishing story of the Wall Street Plot—a narrative of corporate power, political intrigue, and the unshakeable integrity of an unlikely whistleblower who brought a shadow government into the light.

1. The Man They Needed: Who Was Smedley Butler?

The conspirators saw in Smedley Butler the perfect instrument for their coup, a man whose unique profile could galvanize a private army. 

His legendary 33-year career in the Marines had made him a national icon, celebrated for his peerless courage and immense popularity with the rank-and-file. The plotters knew that Butler, who commanded the fierce loyalty of veterans, could rally the "half-million veterans" they needed to create an intimidating force. Ironically, they chose him not in spite of his fiery public criticism of big business, but because of it. 

Butler had famously declared his career had made him a "high-class muscle man for big business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for Capitalism." The plotters sought to weaponize Butler's populist credibility against the very system he decried, believing his anti-establishment rhetoric was the perfect cover to win the trust of the men they intended to use.

Butler's profound populist appeal was rooted in his actions:

• His support for the "Bonus Marchers": He stood as the "primary upper-ranked supporter" for the thousands of World War I veterans who marched on Washington in 1932 to demand their promised bonus payments, cementing his status as a champion of the common soldier.

• His reputation for "fair play": Butler was widely known and respected for treating soldiers with fairness regardless of rank, earning him a level of trust that few military leaders could claim.

This rare combination of unimpeachable military credentials, populist appeal and a reputation for integrity made General Butler the indispensable figurehead for the planned coup, and the target of a high-stakes test of his character.

2. The Plot Unfolds: A Coup in the Making

With their leader identified, the conspirators initiated a careful and calculated recruitment, approaching General Butler with a proposal that would test his allegiance to the nation itself.

2.1 The Conspirators and Their Motivations

According to Butler's testimony, the plot was backed by a powerful coalition of financial interests centered on Wall Street, including figures connected to J.P. Morgan & Co. and several founders of the American Liberty League. 

Their driving motivation was a visceral hatred for President Roosevelt's New Deal and fight against “Economic Royalists.” They drew inspiration from the model of "Italian Fascist 'Corporatism'," which they admired for its efficiency in crushing labor demands and protecting elite business interests from democratic oversight.

2.2 The Recruitment of a General

The first overture came from Gerald C. MacGuire, a bond salesman for Grayson M.P. Murphy & Co., acting on behalf of his wealthy principal, Robert Sterling Clark. MacGuire attempted to stoke Butler's anger toward the Roosevelt administration with a fabricated story, which Butler immediately recognized as a ploy, as Butler later testified in Congressional hearings.

Then MacGuire said that he was the chairman of the distinguished-guest committee of the American Legion, on Louis Johnson’s staff; that Louis Johnson had, at MacGuire’s suggestion, put my name down to be incited as a distinguished guest of the Chicago convention; that Johnson had then taken this list, presented by MacGuire of distinguished guests, to the White House for approval; that Louis Howe, one of the secretaries to the President, had crossed my name off and said that I was not to be invited—that the President would not have it. 

I thought I smelled a rat, right away—that they were trying to get me mad—to get my goat.

A subsequent meeting with Robert Sterling Clark laid the plot bare. Clark confirmed the group's intentions and revealed the powerful forces at play:

• Their "group" had selected Butler to be the head of a new, powerful organization of veterans.

• The influential "Morgan interests" were against him, preferring General Douglas MacArthur because they considered Butler "too radical."

• The plotters viewed Butler as essential, believing he was the "only fellow in America who can get the soldiers together," even as they worried he might "go the wrong way" once in command.

2.3 The Plan: A March on Washington

Through a series of conversations, the full scope of the plan was revealed to Butler and to Paul Comly French, a reporter Butler brought in to corroborate the story. It was a clear four-step strategy to seize the functions of the U.S. government.

1. Form an Army: Enlist 500,000 veterans into a new paramilitary organization under General Butler's command.

2. March on the Capital: March this private army on Washington, D.C., to create a show of overwhelming force.

3. Seize Power: Intimidate President Roosevelt into becoming a powerless figurehead, while a newly installed "assistant President" ran the country on behalf of the plot's financial backers.

4. Arm the Force: MacGuire claimed weapons could be obtained from the Remington Arms Co. on credit, a transaction facilitated by the DuPonts, who held a controlling interest in Remington and were key figures in the American Liberty League.

Faced with a direct threat to the constitutional order he had sworn to defend, General Butler understood that silence was not an option and resolved to expose the conspiracy.

3. Blowing the Whistle: Testimony and Ridicule

Butler's decision to take his story public triggered a political firestorm. Yet, the initial reaction from much of the nation's press was not alarm, but a concerted effort of ridicule and disbelief.

3.1 Testimony Before Congress

General Butler brought the details of the conspiracy to the McCormack-Dickstein Congressional Committee, a special House committee investigating Un-American Activities. He testified under oath that he had been solicited by a powerful Wall Street group to lead a fascist army of half a million veterans in a coup d'état against the United States government.

3.2 The Media Backlash

Major media outlets, some with direct financial ties to the figures Butler implicated, moved swiftly to discredit his testimony and paint the entire affair as a fantasy. They framed the decorated general as a sensationalist and the serious congressional inquiry as a farce.

Media Outlet	Headline & Tone	Analysis (from Source)
Time Magazine	"PLOT WITHOUT PLOTTERS" (Dec 3, 1934). Called it a "nightmarish page."	Controlled by J.P. Morgan & Co. at the time. George Seldes later deemed the report "distortion and propaganda."
The New York Times	"Gen. Butler Bares 'Fascist Plot' To Seize Government by Force" (Nov 21, 1934)	Used hostile quotation marks around "Fascist Plot" to cast doubt and vastly underplayed the seriousness of the inquiry.

As the media dismissed the plot as "perfect moonshine," the official government investigation was quietly reaching a far more chilling conclusion.

4. The Verdict: Confirmation and Cover-Up

After hearing all the testimony, the McCormack-Dickstein Committee issued a final report that fully substantiated the core of Butler's allegations, even as it deliberately concealed the identities of the powerful men behind the plot. The committee's official verdict was unambiguous:

"In the last few weeks of the committee’s official life it received evidence showing that certain persons had made an attempt to establish a fascist organization in this country... There is no question that these attempts were discussed, were planned, and might have been placed in execution when and if the financial backers deemed it expedient."

The report explicitly stated that the committee "was able to verify all the pertinent statements made by General Butler." Yet, in a definitive cover-up, the committee intentionally suppressed the names of the powerful Wall Street figures implicated in the testimony. It "failed to detail the names of prominent corporate entities, whose mention would have embarrassed the politicians they supported." These names would only be brought to public light decades later by the journalist George Seldes in his 1000 Americans.

5. Conclusion: A Forgotten Chapter in American History

The 1934 Wall Street Plot stands as one of the most audacious and unsettling conspiracies in the American political tradition. 

A powerful cabal of financiers, driven by opposition to the New Deal, laid out a concrete plan to subvert democracy with a private army and install a corporate-controlled government. 

The plot collapsed, not under the weight of an official investigation, but against the unshakeable integrity of a single man who refused to betray his constitutional oath. 

Major General Smedley Butler, the decorated soldier who spent his life in service to his country, proved his ultimate loyalty was to its founding principles. The episode remains an "astonishing reminder" of the historic and persistent tension between concentrated financial power and the fragile principles of American democracy.

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