Episode 17: The Business Plot

Of all the ills to spring up in the aftermath of the first world war, perhaps none were as ruinous as the ideology known as fascism. As political extremism spread throughout Europe like a plague, fascist parties, often with the cooperation of traditional conservative and business interests, threatened numerous governments and in some cases successfully gained power for themselves. Yet across the Atlantic America remained relatively safe from fascism, her democratic ideals safeguarded by centuries of constitutional democracy. Or so the story goes - but how true is that story? In this episode of "No One is Competent" we'll look at one of the strangest events in American political history, the "Business Plot" of 1933, and examine both the historical context of this supposed scheme and the evidence for and against its significance.