-
The Plot To
Seize The White House
- by Jules Archer
Paperback Now Available
Hardcover Now
Available
PDF Now Available *
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*
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* The PDF / PDA reproductions of this book do not include the original photographs
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am deeply indebted first and foremost to the immediate family of
the late Major General Smedley D. Butler – daughter Mrs. Ethel Peters Wehle and
sons Smedley Butler, Jr. and Thomas Richard Butler – for their generous
cooperation; for use of the general’s private and military papers, scrapbooks,
memorabilia, recordings, and photos; and for vivid personal recollections of
their father.
Sincere gratitude is also
expressed to the following persons and institutions for their contributions to
my research:
Former Speaker of the House of
Representatives John W. McCormack, who headed the McCormack-Dickstein Committee
and who answered all my questions about the hearings he held during which
General Butler testified about the conspiracy.
General David M. Shoup, retired commandant
of the United States Marine Corps, who served under General Butler in China and
who shared some of his reminiscences with me.
George Seldes, whose
newsletter In Fact and books 1000 Americans and Facts and Fascism gave me my
first inklings of the conspiracy many years ago and who generously helped me
with my research efforts.
John L. Spivak, former foreign
correspondent for International News Service, who rendered invaluable
cooperation by answering all my questions and generously permitting me to quote
from his own fascinating reminiscences, A Man in His Time, in which he relates
how he was able to thwart efforts to suppress important names involved in the
conspiracy.
Senator Job Javits and
Representative Hamilton Fish, Jr., who assisted me in obtaining copies of the
testimony at the conspiracy hearings of the McCormack-Dickstein Committee.
E. Z. Dimitman, former
executive editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer and close friend of General
Butler’s, who shared his reminiscences of the general.
Jerry Doyle, Philadelphia
Daily News staff artist, who helped me locate old friends of the general’s.
Jesse Laventhol, Philadelphia
newsman, confidant, and press secretary for the general’s Senate campaign, now
retired, who explained some of the behind-the-scenes political factors.
Tom O’Neil, former city editor
of the Philadelphia Record at the time of the conspiracy, who helped put some of
the pieces of the puzzle together.
William J. Stewart, Acting
Director, National Archives and Records Service, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library,
who guided me through the Roosevelt papers in locating material pertaining to
General Butler and helped me identify sources.
Mary Schutz and Charlotte
Wright, of the Mid-Hudson Library System, Poughkeepsie, New York, who obtained
for me rare and hard-to-get research on the conspiracy from universities and
public libraries all over the East Coast; James Brock, Ethel Tornapore, and Jane
McGarvey, of Adriance Library in Poughkeepsie; the Starr Institute Library,
Rhinebeck, New York; Neda M. Westlake, Curator, Rare Book Collection, Charles
Patterson Van Pelt Library, University of Pennsylvania; and Mary Lou Alm, of the
Pine Plains, New York, Library.
Colonel F. C. Caldwell, U.S.
Marine Corps (retired), director of Marine Corps History, Historical Division,
who gave me valuable research leads and provided me with helpful articles and
public records from Marine Corps sources.
Warrant Officer D. R. Aggers,
U.S. Marine Corps, Head, Administrative Section, Director of Information, for
providing certain Marine Corps photos of General Butler.
Catholic University of
America, Washington, D.C., which permitted me to study a 1962 master’s thesis in
library science by Eunice M. Lyon, The Unpublished Papers of Major General
Smedley Darlington Butler, United States Marine Corps: a Calendar, based on
files turned over by the Butler family to the Marine Corps.
Robert B. Pitkin, editor,
American Legion Magazine, who gave me statistical information about past Legion
commanders.
Donald R. McCoy, historian,
University of Kansas, for granting permission to quote from his book, Coming of
Age: The United States During the 1920’s and 1930’s.
Assistant Professor Dane
Archer, of the University of California, Santa Cruz, who originally researched
the conspiracy for me eight years ago in old newspaper files at Yale
University’s Sterling Library.
My wife, Eleanor E. Archer,
who aided me in interviews with Speaker McCormack, General Shoup, and General
Butler’s family as well as serving as adviser, critic, indexer, and proofreader.
Time magazine, for permission
to quote from its article, “Plot Without Plotters,” December 3, 1934.
Susan Berkowitz and Joan Nagy,
whose brilliant editorial help aided me in sifting and organizing the elements
in this book to let what remained stand out like gold dust in a prospecting pan.
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