a power so organized, so pervasive, that they dare not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it
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What the hell’s Wilson talking about in this quote below?
“Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men’s views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the U.S., in the field of commerce and manufacturing, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.”
Woodrow Wilson - In his book entitled The New Freedom (1913):
Do you have any additional text that would support you theory?
“Big Business” seems to be included in the phrase " biggest men in the U.S., in the field of commerce and manufacturing," as being among those who are afraid.
Sure, but if you read it, you’ll see that’s exactly what it’s about. The idea that the law needs to protect the weak from the strong – and that monopolies are destructive, that corporatism abstracts business to the point where individual conscience is bred out of policy, etc.
A Big Man in Widgets has reason to fear the Whatsit Corporation, if he’s trying to break into the Whatsit business. Things are liable to go hard for him, even in the Widget end of things.
There are dark rumors that Colonel Edward House was Wilson’s Illuminati handler. I have no idea who this Colonel House really was or what he was doing hanging around the White House. Since probably no one knows the answer to that, it allows the anti-Illuminati conspiracy theorists free rein to speculate.
Larry Mudd’s quote answered the OP quite definitively, it would seem. Wilson was criticizing corporations. But what unnamed fear was Richard Nixon admitting in 1969 when he said he wanted to pull out of Vietnam but there were forces that wouldn’t allow him to, that he was afraid if he went against them that what happened to Kennedy would happen to him? Was some éminence grise giving orders to Nixon behind the scenes?
Vested interests. Those who make pots of cash from the status quo.
Eisenhower called them the ‘military-industrial complex’.
Of course, that was in the bad old days before they invented lobbyists. Nowadays the Scary People in Expensive Suits have no need to assassinate or intimidate, since they can just buy their politicians off-the-peg. Or more realistically, they have politicans panhandling in their waiting rooms 24/7…
House was a political operative/handler. He had been prominent as a behind the scenes man in Texas Democratic politics. When Wilson ran for president, House became his campaign manager, and when he was elected, House was his right hand man.
So, you can probably consider House to be Wilson’s Karl Rove or James Carville.
At this period in American History, there was an organized crime group called The Black Hand. It specialized in blackmail. It is important to note that there was an anti-immigrant movement very prominent in our country, Wilson was sympathetic to this movement, and the Black Hand was allegedly a primarily Italian-American organization. This could well explain Wilson’s hyperboly.
Other possibilities include the Anarchist & Communist movements, as there was a Red Scare going on at the time.