The
Silver Legion of America, commonly known as the
Silver Shirts, was an American
fascistFascism, , comprises a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology and a corporatist economic ideology developed in Italy. Fascists believe that nations and/or races are in perpetual conflict whereby only the strong can survive by being healthy, vital, and by asserting themselves in...
organization founded by
William Dudley PelleyWilliam Dudley Pelley was an American extremist and spiritualist who founded the Silver Legion in 1933, and ran for President in 1936 for the Christian party.-Family:...
on January 30, 1933.
The Silver Legion’s emblem was a
scarletScarlet is a bright red color with a hue that is somewhat toward the orange. It is a pure chroma on the color wheel. It is redder than vermilion. Traditionally, scarlet is the color of flame. It may also refer to the color of the blood of a living person.The first recorded use of scarlet as a...
'L'. It stood for Loyalty to the American Republic, Liberation from materialism and, of course, the Silver Legion itself.
The uniform of the Silver Legion members consisted of a cap identical to those worn by
GermanNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
StormtrooperThe Stormtroopers were specialist military troops which were formed in the last years of World War I as the German army developed new methods of attacking enemy trenches, called "infiltration tactics"...
s, blue corduroy trousers, leggings, tie, and silver shirt with a red "L" over the heart.
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The
Silver Legion of America, commonly known as the
Silver Shirts, was an American
fascistFascism, , comprises a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology and a corporatist economic ideology developed in Italy. Fascists believe that nations and/or races are in perpetual conflict whereby only the strong can survive by being healthy, vital, and by asserting themselves in...
organization founded by
William Dudley PelleyWilliam Dudley Pelley was an American extremist and spiritualist who founded the Silver Legion in 1933, and ran for President in 1936 for the Christian party.-Family:...
on January 30, 1933.
American Silver Shirts
The Silver Legion’s emblem was a
scarletScarlet is a bright red color with a hue that is somewhat toward the orange. It is a pure chroma on the color wheel. It is redder than vermilion. Traditionally, scarlet is the color of flame. It may also refer to the color of the blood of a living person.The first recorded use of scarlet as a...
'L'. It stood for Loyalty to the American Republic, Liberation from materialism and, of course, the Silver Legion itself.
The uniform of the Silver Legion members consisted of a cap identical to those worn by
GermanNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
StormtrooperThe Stormtroopers were specialist military troops which were formed in the last years of World War I as the German army developed new methods of attacking enemy trenches, called "infiltration tactics"...
s, blue corduroy trousers, leggings, tie, and silver shirt with a red "L" over the heart. The Silver Legion "Silver Shirts" were like the
Italian FascistsThe term Italian Fascism denotes the authoritarian nationalist Fascismo political movement that ruled Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943 under leader Benito Mussolini...
and the
British Union of FascistsThe British Union of Fascists was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by a former Labour government minister and former MP of the Conservative Party, Sir Oswald Mosley.-Background:...
BlackshirtsThe Blackshirts were Fascist paramilitary groups in Italy during the period immediately following World War I and until the end of World War II...
and the
German NazisNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
Brownshirts.
By 1934, the Silver Shirts had about 15,000 members. Most members were of the lower classes. The movement's strength dwindled after 1934. Four years later, the Silver Legion's membership was down to about 5,000. In 1941, the
JapaneseThe Empire of Japan was a Japanese political entity that existed during the period from the...
attack on
Pearl HarborPearl Harbor is a harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
and the subsequent declaration of war on the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by
Nazi GermanyNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
and the
Kingdom of ItalyThe Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia which is its legal predecessor State, and with the decisive help of France and Great Britain...
led to the immediate collapse of the Silver Legion.
In fiction
- In the Kurt Vonnegut Jr. novel Slaughterhouse-Five
Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance With Death is an anti-war science fiction novel by Kurt Vonnegut about World War II experiences and journeys through time of a soldier called Billy Pilgrim.- Plot summary :...
a character based upon Pelley appears:
- The above scene is depicted in the 1972 George Roy Hill
George Roy Hill was an American film director. He is most noted for directing such films as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting, which both starred the acting duo Paul Newman and Robert Redford...
filmSlaughterhouse-Five is an award-winning 1972 film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's novel of the same name. The screenplay is by Stephen Geller and the film was directed by George Roy Hill. It stars Michael Sacks, Ron Leibman, and Valerie Perrine, and features Eugene Roche, Sharon Gans, Holly Near, and...
based on the novel.
- A fictionalised depiction of the Silver Shirts forms a large part of the plot in the thriller The Night Letter
The Night Letter is a 1978 book by Paul Spike, with a double-layered structure: an anti-Nazi spy thriller on the background of the early part of the Second World War, and an exposure of cynical and machiavellian manoeuvrings in the American corridors of power.The book belongs to the sub-genre of...
by Paul SpikePaul Robert Spike is an American author, editor and journalist. He is best-known as the author of the 1973 memoir Photographs of My Father.-Education and background:...
.
- The Silver Shirts are also a British
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
political movement in Harry Turtledove'sHarry Norman Turtledove is an American novelist, who has produced works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.- Life :...
American EmpireThe American Empire series is a trilogy of alternate history novels by Harry Turtledove. It follows How Few Remain and the Great War trilogy, and is part of the Timeline-191 series...
and Settling AccountsThe Settling Accounts tetralogy is an alternate history setting of World War II by Harry Turtledove in North America, presupposing that the Confederate States of America won the U.S. Civil War. It is part of the Timeline-191 series, following How Few Remain and trilogies Great War and American...
series of alternate history novels. They are likely an analog of the British Union of FascistsThe British Union of Fascists was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by a former Labour government minister and former MP of the Conservative Party, Sir Oswald Mosley.-Background:...
, as Oswald Mosely is a prominent leader.
See also
- German American Bund
- Neo-Nazi groups of the United States
- Ulrich Fleischhauer
thumb|Ulrich Fleischhauer Ulrich Fleischhauer was a leading antisemitic publisher of books and news articles reporting on an alleged Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory and supposed "nefarious plots" by clandestine Jewish interests to dominate the world.His career was at first grounded in the Imperial...
- Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party...
- Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini,
KSMOM GCTE was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism. He became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 and began using the title Il Duce by...
External links