The New Deal and corporatism
Encyclopedia
When Franklin D. Roosevelt
became President of the United States in March 1933, he expressly adopted a variety of measures to see which would work, including several which their proponents felt would be inconsistent with each other. One of these programs was the National Recovery Administration
(NRA), which, with its codes and industry organizations, was said by some critics to have a certain resemblance, as an economic institution, to Mussolini's corporatism
. This comparison was made at the time, and it was not always a critical one; even Winston Churchill
had praised Benito Mussolini
. Churchill controversially claimed that the fascism
of Mussolini had "rendered a service to the whole world," showing, as it had, "a way to combat subversive forces" — that is, he considered the regime to be a bulwark against the perceived threat of communist revolution. At one point, Churchill went as far as to call Mussolini the "Roman genius ... the greatest lawgiver among men." FDR's personal letters reveal that he was impressed by what Mussolini was doing and said that he kept in close touch with that "admirable gentleman." Mussolini himself praised the New Deal
as following his own corporate state, as quoted in a July 1933 article in the New York Times, "Your plan for coordination of industry follows precisely our lines of cooperation."
"Fascism" in the 21st century has very strong connotations of mass murder and death camps, making it a highly loaded term. However, in the 1930s for some it meant the planned economy
and corporativism exemplified by the economic plans of Benito Mussolini in Italy. Some communists as well as pro-capitalist journalists, essayists, and politicians, including Herbert Hoover
, used the term "fascism" that way. At the time of the New Deal, criticism came from both the left and right. Some "socialists and communists suggested the New Deal's industrial recovery program was really the basis for establishing a fascist state" that failed to protect against the "evils of capitalism."
Concerning the NRA laws Herbert Hoover wrote in reply to a 1935 press inquiry:
In a 2002 book historian Benjamin Alpers writes on page 35:
American Lawrence Dennis
, in his 1936 book, The coming American fascism: The crisis of capitalism, wrote that "history and present day experience are full of demonstrations that the more there is of what is commonly called laissez-faire, economic freedom, democracy or parliamentary government, the more economic maladjustments there will be, and the more difficult of readjustment they will prove."
Journalist John T. Flynn
, a former socialist, in his 1944 book As We Go Marching, surveyed the interwar policies of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, and pointed to what he called uncomfortably similar American policies. Flynn saw links between 'generic' fascism and a large number of policies of the United States. He said that "the New Dealers ... began to flirt with the alluring pastime of reconstructing the capitalist system ... and in the process of this new career they began to fashion doctrines that turned out to be the principles of fascism." See a further discussion of these claims linking the New Deal to statism
, corporatism
, and fascism
at Fascism and ideology
.
Several portions of the New Deal were struck down as unconstitutional
by the US Supreme Court
, and some saw these rulings as saving the U.S. from having a long-term fascist corporate state. In response to the Court's striking down the NRA as unconstitutional, Huey Long
said "I raise my hand in reverence to the Supreme Court that saved this nation from fascism." In 1936 the Court in striking down the first version of the Agricultural Adjustment Act
stated that "a statutory plan to regulate and control agricultural production, [is] a matter beyond the powers delegated to the federal government...."
The Supreme Court failed to strike down similar laws after 1937. Also, these and other laws were later passed by the Supreme Court. Some claim that it was due to Roosevelt's threat to pack the court
, and the apparent sudden shift by Justice Owen J. Roberts from the conservative wing to the liberal wing of the Supreme Court ("the switch in time that saved nine"
). Also, Roosevelt appointed 9 Supreme Court justices during his over 12 years as President.
When the National Recovery Administration was found unconstitutional in 1935, many supporters of the New Deal
, including Adolf Berle and Harold Ickes
, did not regret its passing.
In his 1951 memoirs former Republican President Herbert Hoover argued that some (but not all) New Deal programs were "fascist," carrying a combination of rule by big business corporations and presidential dictatorship. [Memoirs v3, p420]
In 1934, Roosevelt warned in his "fireside chat" against what he considered linguistic confusion. Some people, he said:
In September 1934 Roosevelt defended a more powerful national government as he believed was necessary to control the economy, by quoting conservative Republican Elihu Root
:
In the 1960s historians generally maintained that the NRA was a composite based on input from strictly American ideas—it was modeled after the 1917 War Industries Board
of Woodrow Wilson
; Ellis Hawley found no similarities with European fascist models whatsoever. Hugh Johnson
, from the War Industries Board, had helped draft the NRA and was its first head, but he vehemently denied any Italian inspiration.
Historians such as Ellis Hawley (1966) have examined the origins of the NRA in detail, showing the main inspiration came from Senators Hugo Black
and Robert F. Wagner
and from American business leaders such as the Chamber of Commerce. The main model was Woodrow Wilson's War Industries Board
, in which Johnson had been involved.
In a 1973 article in The Libertarian Forum Joseph R. Stromberg
wrote:
Ronald Reagan
, a strong supporter of the New Deal at the time reversed positions and in the May 17, 1976 issue of Time magazine is quoted saying:
There was also a 1981 New York Times article titled "Reagan says many New Dealers wanted fascism."
William P. Hoar, of the John Birch Society
, in his 1985 book Architects of Conspiracy (page 127), wrote: "The economics of Fascist Italy were soon being imported into this country by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose C.C.C., W.P.A., PWA. and other Depression-era schemes proved so damaging."
Some Austrian School
economists, such as David Gordon and Thomas DiLorenzo
, have also compared aspects of the New Deal
to Mussolini's corporatism.
In 1993 author Sheldon Richman
wrote:
However, other historians who have analyzed the origins of the Agricultural Adjustment Act in depth have discovered no inspiration from Europe. For example; Theodore Saloutos
in his 1982 book "The American Farmer and the New Deal."
Other scholars believe linking the New Deal to Fascism to be overly simplistic. Historian Stanley Payne
, in his 1995 book, "A History of Fascism, 1914-1945" wrote:
Johnson strenuously denied any association with Mussolini, saying the NRA "is being organized almost as you would organize a business. I want to avoid any Mussolini appearance -- the President calls this Act industrial self-government." Donald Richberg
eventually replaced General Hugh Johnson as head of NRA and speaking before a Senate committee said "A nationally planned economy
is the only salvation of our present situation and the only hope for the future."
American historian Srđa Trifković
, (originally from Serbia), in a 2000 article, wrote:
In his September 13, 2002 article, "What is American Corporatism?", Robert Locke
writes
He states that the Federal Reserve System
and the New Deal
were the major beginnings of American corporatism. He details 13 other examples. He states that the Federal Reserve Bank is a government-approved cartel of private banks.
Few people in the United States
ever identified themselves as "fascists" or openly supported fascism. Official fascist groups tended to be small and existed mostly during the 1930s. For example, the Silver Legion of William Dudley Pelley
and the German-American Bund
of Fritz Kuhn
openly supported Nazi Germany
in the 1930s. At the same time, Catholic radio host Father Charles Coughlin
began to show sympathy towards Nazism
and strong anti-semitism
. The American Nazi Party
of George Rockwell was a small fringe group for the following decades, supporting white power and opposing the growing civil rights
movement.
However, there have been numerous claims that certain people, organizations or institutions in the United States
exhibited similarities to fascism, particularly in the 1930s while fascism was on the rise in Europe. For instance, Huey Long
was accused of setting up a strong-arm state in Louisiana
. In 1933, there was an alleged attempt to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt
by military coup. This was known as the Business Plot
, because it had been supported by the industrial and financial elite whose interests were threatened by the New Deal
. The Business Plot became popularly known when retired General Smedley Butler
testified to the McCormack-Dickstein Committee that he had been approached by a group of wealthy business interests, led by the Du Pont and J. P. Morgan
industrial empires, to orchestrate a fascist coup against Roosevelt. The Fascist sympathies and support for Germany and Italy of many of the richest families in America and payments to William Randolph Hearst
for favorable articles in the American press were mentioned in the letters of William Dodd
, the American ambassador to Germany. The idea of fascism developing in the United States was presented in the 1935 satirical novel It Can't Happen Here
by Sinclair Lewis
and more recently in the 2004 Phillip Roth novel The Plot Against America
.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
became President of the United States in March 1933, he expressly adopted a variety of measures to see which would work, including several which their proponents felt would be inconsistent with each other. One of these programs was the National Recovery Administration
National Recovery Administration
The National Recovery Administration was the primary New Deal agency established by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. The goal was to eliminate "cut-throat competition" by bringing industry, labor and government together to create codes of "fair practices" and set prices...
(NRA), which, with its codes and industry organizations, was said by some critics to have a certain resemblance, as an economic institution, to Mussolini's corporatism
Corporatism
Corporatism, also known as corporativism, is a system of economic, political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labor, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common...
. This comparison was made at the time, and it was not always a critical one; even Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
had praised Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini 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....
. Churchill controversially claimed that the fascism
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
of Mussolini had "rendered a service to the whole world," showing, as it had, "a way to combat subversive forces" — that is, he considered the regime to be a bulwark against the perceived threat of communist revolution. At one point, Churchill went as far as to call Mussolini the "Roman genius ... the greatest lawgiver among men." FDR's personal letters reveal that he was impressed by what Mussolini was doing and said that he kept in close touch with that "admirable gentleman." Mussolini himself praised the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
as following his own corporate state, as quoted in a July 1933 article in the New York Times, "Your plan for coordination of industry follows precisely our lines of cooperation."
"Fascism" in the 21st century has very strong connotations of mass murder and death camps, making it a highly loaded term. However, in the 1930s for some it meant the planned economy
Planned economy
A planned economy is an economic system in which decisions regarding production and investment are embodied in a plan formulated by a central authority, usually by a government agency...
and corporativism exemplified by the economic plans of Benito Mussolini in Italy. Some communists as well as pro-capitalist journalists, essayists, and politicians, including Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
, used the term "fascism" that way. At the time of the New Deal, criticism came from both the left and right. Some "socialists and communists suggested the New Deal's industrial recovery program was really the basis for establishing a fascist state" that failed to protect against the "evils of capitalism."
Concerning the NRA laws Herbert Hoover wrote in reply to a 1935 press inquiry:
- "There are already sufficient agencies of government for enforcement of the laws of the land. Where necessary those laws should be strengthened, but not replaced with personal government. The prevention of waste in mineral resources should be carried out by the States operating under Federally encouraged interstate compacts. That is an American method of eradicating economic abuses and wastes, as distinguished from Fascist regimentation. The multitude of code administrators, agents or committees has spread into every hamlet, and, whether authorized or not, they have engaged in the coercion and intimidation of presumably free citizens. People have been sent to jail, but far more have been threatened with jail."
In a 2002 book historian Benjamin Alpers writes on page 35:
- "A second major source of the decline of dictatorial rhetoric following the spring of 1933 was the disenchantment of American business with the Italian economic model. Much conservative business support for a dictator or a 'semi-dictator' had been related to the idea of establishing a corporative state in the United States.... The last gasp of support for Mussolini's solution to the problems of labor and management may have been the publication of Fortune magazine's special issue on the fascist state in July 1934. Business approval of government intervention in capital-labor relations had begun to wear off as the business community began to actually experience it under the NRA; it discovered that such an arrangement, at least in its American incarnation, meant state involvement in business, not self-government by wealth...."
American Lawrence Dennis
Lawrence Dennis
Lawrence Dennis was an mixed raced American diplomat, consultant and author. He advocated Socialist fascism in America after the Great Depression, arguing that capitalism was doomed.-Life:...
, in his 1936 book, The coming American fascism: The crisis of capitalism, wrote that "history and present day experience are full of demonstrations that the more there is of what is commonly called laissez-faire, economic freedom, democracy or parliamentary government, the more economic maladjustments there will be, and the more difficult of readjustment they will prove."
Journalist John T. Flynn
John T. Flynn
John Thomas Flynn was an American journalist best known for his opposition to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and to American entry into World War II.-Career:...
, a former socialist, in his 1944 book As We Go Marching, surveyed the interwar policies of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, and pointed to what he called uncomfortably similar American policies. Flynn saw links between 'generic' fascism and a large number of policies of the United States. He said that "the New Dealers ... began to flirt with the alluring pastime of reconstructing the capitalist system ... and in the process of this new career they began to fashion doctrines that turned out to be the principles of fascism." See a further discussion of these claims linking the New Deal to statism
Statism
Statism is a term usually describing a political philosophy, whether of the right or the left, that emphasises the role of the state in politics or supports the use of the state to achieve economic, military or social goals...
, corporatism
Corporatism
Corporatism, also known as corporativism, is a system of economic, political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labor, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common...
, and fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
at Fascism and ideology
Fascism and ideology
Fascism and ideology is the subject of numerous debates. The position of fascism on the political spectrum is a point of contention.-Ideological origins:...
.
Several portions of the New Deal were struck down as unconstitutional
Constitutionality
Constitutionality is the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution. Acts that are not in accordance with the rules laid down in the constitution are deemed to be ultra vires.-See also:*ultra vires*Company law*Constitutional law...
by the US Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
, and some saw these rulings as saving the U.S. from having a long-term fascist corporate state. In response to the Court's striking down the NRA as unconstitutional, Huey Long
Huey Long
Huey Pierce Long, Jr. , nicknamed The Kingfish, served as the 40th Governor of Louisiana from 1928–1932 and as a U.S. Senator from 1932 to 1935. A Democrat, he was noted for his radical populist policies. Though a backer of Franklin D...
said "I raise my hand in reverence to the Supreme Court that saved this nation from fascism." In 1936 the Court in striking down the first version of the Agricultural Adjustment Act
Agricultural Adjustment Act
The Agricultural Adjustment Act was a United States federal law of the New Deal era which restricted agricultural production by paying farmers subsidies not to plant part of their land and to kill off excess livestock...
stated that "a statutory plan to regulate and control agricultural production, [is] a matter beyond the powers delegated to the federal government...."
The Supreme Court failed to strike down similar laws after 1937. Also, these and other laws were later passed by the Supreme Court. Some claim that it was due to Roosevelt's threat to pack the court
Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937
The Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, frequently called the court-packing plan, was a legislative initiative proposed by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt to add more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. Roosevelt's purpose was to obtain favorable rulings regarding New Deal legislation that...
, and the apparent sudden shift by Justice Owen J. Roberts from the conservative wing to the liberal wing of the Supreme Court ("the switch in time that saved nine"
The switch in time that saved nine
“The switch in time that saved nine” is the name given to what was perceived as the sudden jurisprudential shift by Associate Justice Owen J. Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court in West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish...
). Also, Roosevelt appointed 9 Supreme Court justices during his over 12 years as President.
When the National Recovery Administration was found unconstitutional in 1935, many supporters of the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
, including Adolf Berle and Harold Ickes
Harold L. Ickes
Harold LeClair Ickes was a United States administrator and politician. He served as United States Secretary of the Interior for 13 years, from 1933 to 1946, the longest tenure of anyone to hold the office, and the second longest serving Cabinet member in U.S. history next to James Wilson. Ickes...
, did not regret its passing.
In his 1951 memoirs former Republican President Herbert Hoover argued that some (but not all) New Deal programs were "fascist," carrying a combination of rule by big business corporations and presidential dictatorship. [Memoirs v3, p420]
"Among the early Roosevelt fascist measures was the National Industry Recovery Act (NRA) of June 16, 1933.... These ideas were first suggested by Gerald Swope (of the General Electric Company)... [and] the United States Chamber of Commerce. During the campaign of 1932, Henry I. HarrimanHenry I. HarrimanHenry I. Harriman was an American public utility executive and President of the United States Chamber of Commerce from 1932 to 1935.-Early life and career:...
, president of that body, urged that I agree to support these proposals, informing me that Mr. Roosevelt had agreed to do so. I tried to show him that this stuff was pure fascism; that it was a remaking of Mussolini's 'corporate state' and refused to agree to any of it. He informed me that in view of my attitude, the business world would support Roosevelt with money and influence. That for the most part proved true."
In 1934, Roosevelt warned in his "fireside chat" against what he considered linguistic confusion. Some people, he said:
will try to give you new and strange names for what we are doing. Sometimes they will call it 'Fascism,' sometimes 'Communism,' sometimes 'Regimentation,' sometimes 'Socialism.' But, in so doing, they are trying to make very complex and theoretical something that is really very simple and very practical.... Plausible self-seekers and theoretical die-hards will tell you of the loss of individual liberty. Answer this question out of the facts of your own life. Have you lost any of your rights or liberty or constitutional freedom of action and choice?
In September 1934 Roosevelt defended a more powerful national government as he believed was necessary to control the economy, by quoting conservative Republican Elihu Root
Elihu Root
Elihu Root was an American lawyer and statesman and the 1912 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the prototype of the 20th century "wise man", who shuttled between high-level government positions in Washington, D.C...
:
The tremendous power of organization [Root had said] has combined great aggregations of capital in enormous industrial establishments... so great in the mass that each individual concerned in them is quite helpless by himself.... The old reliance upon the free action of individual wills appears quite inadequate.... The intervention of that organized control we call government seems necessary.... Men may differ as to the particular form of governmental activity with respect to industry or business, but nearly all are agreed that private enterprise in times such as these cannot be left without assistance and without reasonable safeguards lest it destroy not only itself but also our process of civilization.
In the 1960s historians generally maintained that the NRA was a composite based on input from strictly American ideas—it was modeled after the 1917 War Industries Board
War Industries Board
The War Industries Board was a United States government agency established on July 28, 1917, during World War I, to coordinate the purchase of war supplies. The organization encouraged companies to use mass-production techniques to increase efficiency and urged them to eliminate waste by...
of Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
; Ellis Hawley found no similarities with European fascist models whatsoever. Hugh Johnson
Hugh Samuel Johnson
Hugh Samuel "Iron Pants" Johnson American Army officer, businessman, speech writer, government official and newspaper columnist. He is best known as a member of the Brain Trust of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932-34. He wrote numerous speeches for FDR and helped plan the New Deal...
, from the War Industries Board, had helped draft the NRA and was its first head, but he vehemently denied any Italian inspiration.
Historians such as Ellis Hawley (1966) have examined the origins of the NRA in detail, showing the main inspiration came from Senators Hugo Black
Hugo Black
Hugo Lafayette Black was an American politician and jurist. A member of the Democratic Party, Black represented Alabama in the United States Senate from 1927 to 1937, and served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1937 to 1971. Black was nominated to the Supreme...
and Robert F. Wagner
Robert F. Wagner
Robert Ferdinand Wagner I was an American politician. He was a Democratic U.S. Senator from New York from 1927 to 1949.-Origin and early life:...
and from American business leaders such as the Chamber of Commerce. The main model was Woodrow Wilson's War Industries Board
War Industries Board
The War Industries Board was a United States government agency established on July 28, 1917, during World War I, to coordinate the purchase of war supplies. The organization encouraged companies to use mass-production techniques to increase efficiency and urged them to eliminate waste by...
, in which Johnson had been involved.
In a 1973 article in The Libertarian Forum Joseph R. Stromberg
Joseph R. Stromberg
Joseph R. Stromberg is an independent historian and former columnist for antiwar.com and LewRockwell.com. His research interests include U.S. foreign policy, the War on Terrorism, the Antifederalists , and an on-going critique of the Unitary Executive theory of the U.S. Presidency...
wrote:
- "Herbert Hoover was a major architect of peacetime corporatism. As Commerce Secretary he encouraged the cartelistic integration of trade associations with labor unions. As President, he pioneered most of the New Deal measures, which had the unexpected effect of prolonging a depression itself caused by governmental monetary policy. In the election of 1932, important Business liberals shifted their support to FDR when Hoover refused to go over to a fully fascist form of corporatism. By contrast, the Roosevelt Administration pushed through the National Recovery Act, which openly sanctioned the cartelizing activities of trade associations, and the Agricultural Adjustment Act, cartelizing the farm sector. The Wagner Act of 1935 integrated labor into the nascent system."
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, a strong supporter of the New Deal at the time reversed positions and in the May 17, 1976 issue of Time magazine is quoted saying:
- Fascism was really the basis for the New Deal. It was Mussolini's success in Italy, with his government-directed economy, that led the early New Dealers to say 'But Mussolini keeps the trains running on time.'
There was also a 1981 New York Times article titled "Reagan says many New Dealers wanted fascism."
William P. Hoar, of the John Birch Society
John Birch Society
The John Birch Society is an American political advocacy group that supports anti-communism, limited government, a Constitutional Republic and personal freedom. It has been described as radical right-wing....
, in his 1985 book Architects of Conspiracy (page 127), wrote: "The economics of Fascist Italy were soon being imported into this country by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose C.C.C., W.P.A., PWA. and other Depression-era schemes proved so damaging."
Some Austrian School
Austrian School
The Austrian School of economics is a heterodox school of economic thought. It advocates methodological individualism in interpreting economic developments , the theory that money is non-neutral, the theory that the capital structure of economies consists of heterogeneous goods that have...
economists, such as David Gordon and Thomas DiLorenzo
Thomas DiLorenzo
Thomas James DiLorenzo is an American economics professor at Loyola University Maryland. He is an adherent of the Austrian School of Economics. He is a senior faculty member of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and an associated scholar of the Abbeville Institute...
, have also compared aspects of the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
to Mussolini's corporatism.
In 1993 author Sheldon Richman
Sheldon Richman
Sheldon Richman is an American political writer and academic, best known for his advocacy of libertarianism.He is the editor of The Freeman, a magazine published by The Foundation for Economic Education, a Senior Fellow at the Future of Freedom Foundation, a Research Fellow at The Independent...
wrote:
- Roosevelt's National Recovery Act (NRA) attempted to cartelize the American economy just as Mussolini had cartelized Italy's. Under the NRA Roosevelt established industry-wide boards with the power to set and enforce prices, wages, and other terms of employment, production, and distribution for all companies in an industry. Through the Agricultural Adjustment ActAgricultural Adjustment ActThe Agricultural Adjustment Act was a United States federal law of the New Deal era which restricted agricultural production by paying farmers subsidies not to plant part of their land and to kill off excess livestock...
the government exercised similar control over farmers. Interestingly, Mussolini viewed Roosevelt's New Deal as "boldly... interventionist in the field of economics."
However, other historians who have analyzed the origins of the Agricultural Adjustment Act in depth have discovered no inspiration from Europe. For example; Theodore Saloutos
Theodore Saloutos
Theodore Saloutos was an American academic historian whose main areas of research included:* agrarian politics and reform movements* immigration studies* Greek immigration into the United States- Education :...
in his 1982 book "The American Farmer and the New Deal."
Other scholars believe linking the New Deal to Fascism to be overly simplistic. Historian Stanley Payne
Stanley G. Payne
Stanley George Payne is a historian of modern Spain and European Fascism at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He retired from full time teaching in 2004 and is currently Professor Emeritus at its Department of History. Payne is one of the most famous modern theorists of fascism...
, in his 1995 book, "A History of Fascism, 1914-1945" wrote:
- "What Fascist corporatism and the New Deal had in common was a certain amount of state intervention in the economy. Beyond that, the only figure who seemed to look on Fascist corporatism as a kind of model was Hugh JohnsonHugh Samuel JohnsonHugh Samuel "Iron Pants" Johnson American Army officer, businessman, speech writer, government official and newspaper columnist. He is best known as a member of the Brain Trust of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932-34. He wrote numerous speeches for FDR and helped plan the New Deal...
, head of the National Recovery Administration."
Johnson strenuously denied any association with Mussolini, saying the NRA "is being organized almost as you would organize a business. I want to avoid any Mussolini appearance -- the President calls this Act industrial self-government." Donald Richberg
Donald Richberg
Donald Randall Richberg was an American attorney, civil servant, and author who was one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's key aides and who played a critical role in the New Deal. He co-wrote the National Industrial Recovery Act, was general counsel and executive director of the National...
eventually replaced General Hugh Johnson as head of NRA and speaking before a Senate committee said "A nationally planned economy
Planned economy
A planned economy is an economic system in which decisions regarding production and investment are embodied in a plan formulated by a central authority, usually by a government agency...
is the only salvation of our present situation and the only hope for the future."
American historian Srđa Trifković
Srđa Trifković
Srđa Trifković is a Serbian writer on international affairs and foreign affairs editor for the paleoconservative magazine Chronicles. He was director of the Center for International Affairs at the Rockford Institute until his...
, (originally from Serbia), in a 2000 article, wrote:
- "Roosevelt and his 'Brain Trust,' the architects of the New Deal, were fascinated by Italy’s fascism - a term which was not pejorative at the time. In America, it was seen as a form of economic nationalism built around consensus planning by the established elites in government, business, and labor."
In his September 13, 2002 article, "What is American Corporatism?", Robert Locke
Robert Locke
Robert Locke is a former editor for FrontPage Magazine. A conservative American nationalist, he is critical of liberals, libertarians, and some "compassionate conservatives", including George W. Bush. He is an admirer of conservative scholar Leo Strauss , architect Robert A.M...
writes
- "In classical capitalism, what has been called the 'night-watchmanNight watchman stateA night watchman state, or a minimal state, has been variously defined by sources. In the strictest sense, it is a form of government in political philosophy where the state's only legitimate function is the protection of individuals from aggression, theft, breach of contract, and fraud, and the...
' state, government's role in the economy is simply to prevent force or fraud from disrupting the autonomous operation of the free marketFree marketA free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
. The market is trusted to provide. Under corporatism, it is not, instead being systematically manipulated to deliver goods to political constituencies."
He states that the Federal Reserve System
Federal Reserve System
The Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913 with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, largely in response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in 1907...
and the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
were the major beginnings of American corporatism. He details 13 other examples. He states that the Federal Reserve Bank is a government-approved cartel of private banks.
Few people in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
ever identified themselves as "fascists" or openly supported fascism. Official fascist groups tended to be small and existed mostly during the 1930s. For example, the Silver Legion of William Dudley Pelley
William Dudley Pelley
William 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:...
and the German-American Bund
German-American Bund
The German American Bund or German American Federation was an American Nazi organization established in the 1930s...
of Fritz Kuhn
Fritz Kuhn
Fritz Kuhn is a German politician. He was co-chairman of Alliance '90/The Greens, the German Green party, from June 2000 to December 2002.- Early years :...
openly supported Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in the 1930s. At the same time, Catholic radio host Father Charles Coughlin
Charles Coughlin
Father Charles Edward Coughlin was a controversial Roman Catholic priest at Royal Oak, Michigan's National Shrine of the Little Flower church. He was one of the first political leaders to use radio to reach a mass audience, as more than thirty million tuned to his weekly broadcasts during the...
began to show sympathy towards Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
and strong anti-semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
. The American Nazi Party
American Nazi Party
The American Nazi Party was an American political party founded by discharged U.S. Navy Commander George Lincoln Rockwell. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, Rockwell initially called it the World Union of Free Enterprise National Socialists , but later renamed it the American Nazi Party in...
of George Rockwell was a small fringe group for the following decades, supporting white power and opposing the growing civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
movement.
However, there have been numerous claims that certain people, organizations or institutions in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
exhibited similarities to fascism, particularly in the 1930s while fascism was on the rise in Europe. For instance, Huey Long
Huey Long
Huey Pierce Long, Jr. , nicknamed The Kingfish, served as the 40th Governor of Louisiana from 1928–1932 and as a U.S. Senator from 1932 to 1935. A Democrat, he was noted for his radical populist policies. Though a backer of Franklin D...
was accused of setting up a strong-arm state in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. In 1933, there was an alleged attempt to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
by military coup. This was known as the Business Plot
Business Plot
The Business Plot was an alleged political conspiracy in 1933. Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler claimed that wealthy businessmen were plotting to create a fascist veterans' organization and use it in a coup d’état to overthrow United States President Franklin D...
, because it had been supported by the industrial and financial elite whose interests were threatened by the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
. The Business Plot became popularly known when retired General Smedley Butler
Smedley Butler
Smedley Darlington Butler was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps, an outspoken critic of U.S. military adventurism, and at the time of his death the most decorated Marine in U.S...
testified to the McCormack-Dickstein Committee that he had been approached by a group of wealthy business interests, led by the Du Pont and J. P. Morgan
J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric...
industrial empires, to orchestrate a fascist coup against Roosevelt. The Fascist sympathies and support for Germany and Italy of many of the richest families in America and payments to William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
for favorable articles in the American press were mentioned in the letters of William Dodd
William Dodd (ambassador)
William Edward Dodd was an American historian who served as the United States Ambassador to Germany from 1933 to 1937, during the Nazi era.-Early years and academic career:...
, the American ambassador to Germany. The idea of fascism developing in the United States was presented in the 1935 satirical novel It Can't Happen Here
It Can't Happen Here
It Can't Happen Here is a semi-satirical American political novel by Sinclair Lewis published in 1935 by Doubleday, Doran. It describes the rise of a populist politician who calls his movement "patriotic" and creates his own militia and takes unconstitutional power after winning election —...
by Sinclair Lewis
Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of...
and more recently in the 2004 Phillip Roth novel The Plot Against America
The Plot Against America
The Plot Against America is a novel by Philip Roth published in 2004. It is an alternate history in which Franklin Delano Roosevelt is defeated in the presidential election of 1940 by Charles Lindbergh.-Plot introduction:...
.
See also
- CorporatismCorporatismCorporatism, also known as corporativism, is a system of economic, political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labor, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common...
- New DealNew DealThe New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
- Fascism as an international phenomenonFascism as an international phenomenonThis article discusses regimes and movements that are alleged to have been either fascist or sympathetic to fascism. It is often a matter of dispute whether a certain government is to be characterized as fascist, authoritarian, totalitarian, or a police state. The term "fascism" itself is...
. See United States section. - FascismFascismFascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
- Fascism and IdeologyFascism and ideologyFascism and ideology is the subject of numerous debates. The position of fascism on the political spectrum is a point of contention.-Ideological origins:...
- Economics of fascismEconomics of fascismThe economics of fascism refers to the economic policies implemented by fascist governments.Nevertheless, some scholars and analysts argue that there is an identifiable economic system in fascism that is distinct from those advocated by other ideologies, comprising essential characteristics that...
- War Corporatism
Further reading
- The New Deal. Faculty Research. School of Public Policy. Pepperdine UniversityPepperdine UniversityPepperdine University is an independent, private, medium-sized university affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The university's campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean in unincorporated Los Angeles County, California, United States, near Malibu, is the location for Seaver College, the School of...
. 1930s Party Platforms. Herbert Hoover Speeches. Hoover - Roosevelt Exchanges. Franklin D. Roosevelt Speeches. Fireside Chats. New Deal Legislation. New Deal Supreme Court Cases.