Everything about American Liberty League totally explained
The American Liberty League was a
U.S. organization formed in 1934 by conservative
Democrats such as
Al Smith (the 1928 Democratic presidential nominee),
Jouett Shouse (former high party official and U.S. Representative),
John W. Davis (the 1924 Democratic presidential nominee), and
John Jacob Raskob (former Democratic National Chairman and the foremost opponent of
prohibition),
Dean Acheson (future Secretary of State under Harry Truman), along with many industrialists, notably
Prescott Bush and members of the
Du Pont family.
The League stated that it would work to "defend and uphold the Constitution" and to "foster the right to work, earn, save and acquire property." The League spent between $500,000 and $1.5 million in promotional campaigns; its funding came mostly from the Du Pont family, as well as leaders of
U.S. Steel,
General Motors,
General Foods,
Standard Oil,
Birdseye,
Colgate,
Heinz Foods,
Chase National Bank, and
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. It reached over 125,000 members and supported the Republicans in 1936.
In the year of its founding, 1934, the League was allegedly involved in the
Business Plot to overthrow President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The plot is detailed in congressional testimony by Marine Corp Major General
Smedley Butler. According to Butler's testimony, the League was founded intentionally as a para-military coup vehicle, an 'American version' of the 1930s French
Croix de Feu. Butler said that he was approached to lead a group of 500,000 veterans to take over the functions of government. The final
McCormack-Dickstein Committee report agreed with Butler's allegations on the existence of the plot, but no prosecutions or further investigations followed.(Spivak, Seldes, Archer)
The League labeled Roosevelt's
Agricultural Adjustment Administration "a trend toward Fascist control of agriculture."
Social Security was said to "mark the end of democracy." Lawyers for the American Liberty League challenged the validity of the
Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act), but in 1937, the
United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the statute. The League faded away and disbanded in 1940.
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