The Plot to Seize the Whitehouse

The Shocking True Story of the Conspiracy to Overthrow FDR

By: Jules Archer

Narrated by: Ken Maxon

Most people will be shocked to learn that in 1933 a cabal of wealthy industrialists - in league with groups like the K.K.K. and the American Liberty League - planned to overthrow the U.S. government in a fascist coup. Their plan was to turn discontented veterans into American "brown shirts," depose F.D.R., and stop the New Deal. They clandestinely asked Medal of Honor recipient and Marine Major General Smedley Darlington Butler to become the first American Caesar. He, though, was a true patriot and revealed the plot to journalists and to Congress. In a time when a sitting President has invoked national security to circumvent constitutional checks and balances, this episode puts the spotlight on attacks upon our democracy and the individual courage needed to repel them.

©2007 Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. Originally published by Hawthorne Books, Inc., New York in 1973. (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

A Great Work of Non Fiction, Largely A Biography, Than About "The Plot"

This is a very well read audiobook. The book is largely about the life of Smedley Butler, a Marne Corps General. He was approached and asked to lead an unofficial army of veterans to Washington and install alternate individuals into government in an effort to limit the authority of FDR. That part of the story is fascinating and well researched. However it does not represent the bulk of this book.

I did thoroughly enjoy this audiobook and found it very illuminating. I learned a great deal. It is also thought provoking and has relevance today. Just understand that one is purchasing a biography of a great man as mush as a story of political intrigue and upheaval. Thank You...

Stranger than Fiction

I have read and listened to many books on the leaders and events of years that this event took place and never heard about this.Just like some leaders say Jan 6 protest was just "Tourists ". I can see how people involved tried to downplay this conspiracy.

Interesting theme but disappointing book

This would’ve been better as a long- form article. As a book, there is far too much repetition (at one point, he cites extensive Congressional testimony that is redundant and should’ve been greatly summarized) and too much detail (such as the extensive bio on Smedley Butler).

Strange book about a pretty important subject

Bait and switch…

The author at the end says that their wasn’t much attention paid to this subject in its aftermath and I guess it shows considering this book is more of a Smedley Butler biography than one about a proposed coup of FDR. Kinda disappointing. Also the narration is decent but lots of mispronouncing going on. I’d have hoped that there would’ve been a more detailed and focused look at this subject than what this book gives out.

Mostly biography, not much about the plot

The book is mis-titled. It should be The Career Biography of Smedley Butler.

I was disappointed in the content. I have known about the plot to overthrow the FDR and the US Government and about Smedley Butler's role in exposing it for years. I was hoping to find out more about who was behind it, why they are not household names in the same way Aaron Burr, the Rosenbergs, or Donald Trump are in regards to treason. I wanted to know about the investigation and the coverup.

I wanted to know whether the plot was a "Cocktail Insurrection" misinterpreted by a hallucinating Smedley Butler as it is referred to by deniers of the plot discussed in the book.

But there is no apparent research to fill out the narrative of the book, other that what is readable in the New York Times of the era, never a source of information that would be uncomfortable to the plutocrats in the Hamptons.

I did learn more about Smedley Butler from the discussion of his career stretching back to the early 1900's, That information is worth spending time with and is covered well in this book.

My disappointment is that I hoped this book would be more enlightening about this barely known and poorly covered historical whitewash. It isn't.