SOMETIMES NOTHING CHANGES

Five days ago Mike Thomson of BBC Radio 4 broke an important news story, but there was nothing in our American news about it. I imagine that the reason was because of who was involved in it.

In 1933, George W. Bush’s grandfather Prescott Bush, J.P. Morgan and a bunch of businessmen from some of the best known American families, like Heinz, Birds Eye, Maxwell House, Colgate, Ford and General Motors planned what would have been the biggest ever peacetime threat to American democracy. They were planning a coup to overthrow Franklin Delano Roosevelt and implement a fascist dictatorship. They believed that America should adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression.

They formed a group called American Liberty League and approached Marine Corps Major-General Smedley Butler who was the most revered American 33-year military hero and the only man to have twice been awarded the Marine’s prestigious Medal of Honor and asked him to command a strong army of 500,000 veterans that would help stage a coup to either force Franklin Delano Roosevelt to resign or assassinate him.

Butler played along with the league hoping to determine who was involved. He later blew the whistle and identified the ringleaders in testimony given to the House Committee of un-American Activities. The Committee, however, refused to even question any of the individuals named by Butler and his testimony was omitted from the record. After that, both the government and the press attacked him and he more or less lost his highly respected reputation which is probably why you never hear of him now.

New documents, many of which were declassified just last year, show that even after America had entered the war and when there was already significant information about the Nazis' plans and policies, Prescott Bush worked for and profited from companies closely involved with the very German businesses that financed Hitler's rise to power. It has also been said that this money helped to establish the Bush family fortune and set up its political dynasty. His business dealings, continued until his company's assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act

In his documentary film Martial Law, Alex Jones interviews John Buchanan, who was instrumental in uncovering the documents tying Prescott Bush to the financing of the Third Reich. The subject is also covered in Alex's upcoming film, End Game.

Prescott Bush did not succeed but many would argue that two generations down the line the mission has all but been accomplished.

The California Curmudgeon