# Coup d'etat in U.S. in 1933?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coup-detat-in-u-s-in-1933/277470>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 1, 2004, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coup-detat-in-u-s-in-1933/277470 "2004-12-01T08:24:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coup-detat-in-u-s-in-1933/277470/1 "2004-12-01T08:24:35Z")

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Was there a foiled coup d’etat attempt in the U.S. in 1933 against F. D. R.?

If so, who was responsible and how were they punished?

Or is it an exaggeration of the hatred some Americans had against Roosevelt?

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**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coup-detat-in-u-s-in-1933/277470/2 "2004-12-01T08:38:01Z")

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A retired Marine General, Smedley Butler, claimed he was approached to lead or be a major player in such an action in 1933.

If so, it didn’t make much of a stir or have much of an effect and fizzled quickley without much public notice.

The first 3 months of FDR’s tenure were marked by the passage of numerous bills by Congress that authorized the framework of the New Deal (NRA, WPA, CCC, various financial moves like the bank holiday) and the rest of the year was taken up in organizing the administration of those measures.

Any news of a coup seems to have sunk without much of a trace at the time.

There is one website that I found and it mainly just reported what Butler said.

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**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coup-detat-in-u-s-in-1933/277470/3 "2004-12-01T09:04:58Z")

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[http://home.iprimus.com.au/korob/fdtcards/Butler.html](http://home.iprimus.com.au/korob/fdtcards/Butler.html)

This site seems to have a decent overview of the whole thing.

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coup-detat-in-u-s-in-1933/277470/4 "2004-12-01T16:50:03Z")

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Don’t forget there was an assasination attempt against Roosevelt, and the bullet wound up hitting Chicago’s mayor Cermak.

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**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coup-detat-in-u-s-in-1933/277470/5 "2004-12-01T21:17:54Z")

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kunilou:

> [@](#):
>
> Don’t forget there was an assasination attempt against Roosevelt, and the bullet wound up hitting Chicago’s mayor Cermak.

Eliot Ness wrote in his memoirs that he had always suspected that the assassin, an Italian, was actually aiming for Cermak, who had come down hard on the Mafia.

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**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coup-detat-in-u-s-in-1933/277470/6 "2004-12-02T00:56:43Z")

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We appear to have “Doped” the linked site into oblivion, **Sublight** …