The Wall Street Coup, Part One

This week’s tale is part one of a two parter. Part Two can be found Here. Smedley Butler was, in his own time, the most decorated soldier in American History. A participant in 120 battles and armed conflicts spanning eleven wars, he served his nation with distinction, but increasingly felt his role was that of “A high class muscle-man for Big Business… a racketeer, a gangster for Capitalism”

What would happen when, July 1st 1933, Big Business would come knocking at his door with an offer to serve them one final time?    

Sources this week - Full list coming (will fill in on Labour day later this month). My main texts however were 

The Plot to Seize the White House. The Shocking TRUE Story of The Conspiracy to Overthrow F.D.R by Jules Archer. 

War is a Racket by Smedley Butler

In a rare case of Amazon letting me down, I couldn’t get a Kindle or Audible copy of Jonathan Katz’s Gangsters of Capitalism in my region (NZ/Australia) but his influence is all over a load of secondary sources, and well worth checking out. 

The blog post of the episode is here.

Support the show on Patreon for just $2 US a month and get access to exclusive content. I’m currently revamping, and will be dropping re-recorded bonus content weekly for the next two months. This week we’ll discuss the mystery of Otzi the Iceman.    

Please leave a like and review wherever you listen. The best way you can help support the show is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays.

Tales of History and Imagination is on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. The show has a YouTube Channel, largely for Audiogram advertisements. 

Music, writing, narration, mixing all yours truly.

For more information on Simone click here.