Chapter 4
Summary by James R. Martin, Ph.D., CMA
Professor Emeritus, University of South Florida
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Chapter 4: The American Fascists by Linda Gordon
The American Civil Liberties Union estimated that there were at least one hundred American fascist groups formed between 1933 and 1941. These groups intensified the Ku Klux Klan's bigotry, but they discarded anti-Catholicism and focused on anti-Semitism and anti-Communism claiming Communism was a Jewish plot to destroy America. These groups were also similar to the Southern Klan in that they committed murders, arson, and bombings, harassed and beat Jews on the streets, and beat and killed trade union organizers. Like Klan members, they claimed patriotism, but their support for European rulers made this claim incoherent. They argued that only a strongman could create and lead a great nation and that they sought to strengthen America against the democracy that was draining its strength. There were four fascist groups that were newsworthy. This included the Black Legion founded by William Shepard, the Silver Legion founded by William Dudley Pelley, the German American Bund, and the Christian Front created by Charles Coughlin.
The Black Legion was linked to the old Ku Klux Klan and retained Klan anti-Catholicism when it was created. Black shirts symbolized fascism internationally and grew into shirts of many colors, e.g., gray in Cape Town, blue in China, green in Cuba, and gold in Mexico City. They all viewed themselves as part of a global movement. The Black Guards were an elite unit within this group focused on preparing for battle. Members swore to support lynch law, procure guns, perjure themselves for the sake of the organization, and the extermination of the Jewish people. Virgil Effinger eventually took over the Black Legion and set up death squads and plans to take over government agencies.
The Silver Legion's leader (William Pelley) was devoted to bizarre religious-spiritualist fads and claimed that he had been chosen by God to lead the fight against Jewish Communism. He designed uniforms imitating those of European fascists with a silver shirt showing a scarlet "L", riding breeches and riding boots. With the help of Luther Ivan Powell, the Silver Legion had developed chapters in twelve states by 1933. The Silver Legion incorporated social welfare proposals, and Jews and bankers would be required to register as resident aliens. Another idea they considered was to move Jews onto Indian reservations, or allow them to live in only one state. Negroes would become wards of the state. Roy Zachary who was appointed as a Field Marshal aspired to become an "American white king" and the "American Hitler." The group planned an armed uprising against the Roosevelt administration in 1934. The plan failed but their new goal was to take over the National Guard in all forty-eight states and to seize the City Hall of San Diego, California.
Ford and General motors used the Black and Silver Legions as hired vigilantes to suppress union organizers and labor activists. The Legions blamed Jews and Communists for auto workers grievances, and committed multiple murders, frequent bombings, beatings, arsons, lynchings and floggings in their fight against the unions. Several aborted plots were notable including a Black Legion plan to release cyanide gas in local synagogues, and to inject typhoid germs into a dairy that served Jewish neighborhoods.
The police ignored the fascist groups' violence in most places as it had done with the KKK. In Detroit many police officers and members of the National Guard joined the Legions, and FBI head J. Edgar Hoover refused to investigate the Legions even though President Roosevelt ordered him to do so.
The German American Bund was the largest fascist group, the most closely tied to the Nazi regime, and the least violent. However it was the most successful in creating a patriotic American fascist organization. The Bundists believed they were patriots of both Germany and the USA. The Bund was created as a ethnic fraternal order and consisted mainly of German Americans who had grievances against the USA and western European governments for Germany's defeat in World War I and the Treaty of Versailles that forced reparation payments on Germany. The Bund's direct subordination to Berlin made it less violent than other fascist groups because the Nazis hoped to keep the USA from joining the war. However it created an ultra-militarist subgroup. They held outdoor rallies in Jewish neighborhoods, chanted slurs about Jews and distributed anti-Semitic literature in Black neighborhoods. Their goal was to liberate Americans from the Jews. They also purchased campgrounds to host events to recruit new members, and were affiliated with the National Rifle Association. The theme of their rallies was to stop Jewish domination of Christian America.
The Christian Front created by Charles Coughlin in 1938 developed an alliance with the Klan based on anti-Semitism and its emphasis on Christianity. Coughlin blamed the Jews for everything evil. According to Coughlin, the Jews were all Communists and international plutocrats that caused the Depression. The Front built a militia and was one of the two most violent fascist groups. In Detroit members of The Front joined the Black and Silver Legions in attacks on unions, and they were the most violent in Boston and New York. They stabbed Jews on the streets and in parks and committed daily beatings, and planned to assassinate New York's members of Congress. The police did very little to protect the Front's targets.
The author (Linda Gordon) tells us that there is no universal definition of bigotry or fascism, and no description that fits all cases. She prefers the term fascistic as a cluster term that is a group of ideas that are similar but do not have a central core. This allows us to recognize the fascistic elements displayed by an organization without labeling it fascist. For example, both the KKK and the fascists wanted the state to become the embodiment of the nation that included a singular, homogeneous people.
The KKK and fascist groups were effective in building anti-Semitism in America. But their most damaging effect on American society is the normalization of bigotry. In 1938 at least 50 percent of Americans had a low opinion of the Jews, and 45 percent thought they were less honest than Christians. American polls in 1938 also showed strong resistance to taking in refugees, even children. The defeat of fascism in World War II did not end the fascist ideas.
Gordon ends this chapter with a 1935 warning from journalist Dorothy Thompson. "No people ever recognize their dictator in advance. He never stands for election on the platform of dictatorship. He always represents himself as the instrument of the Incorporated National Will ... When our dictator turns up you can depend on it that he will be one of the boys, and he will stand for everything traditionally American."
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