The Plot to Overthrow FDR, Ep. 3

President Franklin Roosevelt referred to the powerful business oligarchs of his time as "unscrupulous money-changers," "economic royalists," and "the privileged princes of these new economic dynasties."

As the #NoKings protests erupted again across America this weekend, we heard those sentiments echoed again from the 99% against the 1% who control the nation's wealth.

In 2025, the richest men in the world have bought the president, a majority in Congress, easily influence public policy in their favor, and have an army to back them up. President #Trump, as Commander in Chief, is deploying troops anywhere he wants, for any reason he wants, to protect the interests of his powerful donors.

Had the "businessmen's plot" of 1934 succeeded, that's exactly what the oligarchs intended for #Roosevelt to be -- their puppet president, steering America towards a corporate fascist state; a military dictatorship like #Mussolini's Italy, Franco's Spain, or #Hitler's Germany.

The plot was to take the power of the presidency away from #FDR without firing a shot (although the conspirators planned to have a private army of 500,000 men at the ready if needed). They didn't plan to assassinate Roosevelt, but rather to simply buy him off.

Trump, like Roosevelt, got elected by promising to "drain the swamp," and help the struggling working classes; to fight the good fight for the forgotten man. But unlike Trump, FDR kept his campaign promises to the American people. His White House was not for sale.

This is a historical true story about the fascist conspiracy to control FDR and overthrow the American government (by force of arms if necessary).

Over the coming weeks we will be reading and discussing Jules Archer’s 1973 classic, “The Plot to Seize the White House: The Shocking True Story of the Conspiracy to Overthrow FDR" in my history book club.

I hope you'll join us every Sunday in October, 6:30 PM Eastern for the live reading and chat!

Listen to every episode of "The Plot to Overthrow FDR" below.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXBcSYiYQxlekM9W6oYvQ22nT6wsOArwL&si=W7_xXMjfFrFnT1nr

* NOTE: The music featured at the beginning and ending of each episode is excerpted from Duke Ellington’s “Chant for FDR,” (aka “American Lullaby”) composed as a tribute to the president for a nationwide radio broadcast that aired on April 14, 1945, just two days after Roosevelt’s death. This recording was part of Ellington’s Treasury Broadcast series, a weekly program that helped sell war bonds and stamps. The regularly scheduled broadcast was replaced with a memorial program.