committee hinted yesterday that disclosures made at the hearing may result in a public session early next week. Previously no open taking of testimony had been contemplated until next month.
Butler said MacGuire proposed that the General and his 500,000 men gather in Washington within the next year and force the Vice President and the Secretary of State to resign, without bloodshed, if possible.
Then, according to the details of the purported plot, Roosevelt—who would continue as President provided he accepted the new status of affairs—would allow the Fascist army to recommend a Secretary of State from among its sponsors. If the President proved recalcitrant, according to Butler’s account of the conspiracy, he, too, would be forced to resign, and the Secretary of State, in line with Constitutional provisions, would succeed him.
Among those whom Butler implicated as supposed backers of and sympathizers with this plan are Robert Sterling Clark, broker and one of the heirs to the huge Singer Sewing Machine fortune, now reported to be abroad; Grayson M.-P. Murphy, head of the brokerage firm which employs MacGuire, and John Mills, reputedly also a Wall Street man.
The former Marine ranking officer said he was told that if he turned down the offer of leadership, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, chief of staff of the United States Army, whose term expires in a few days, and Hanford MacNider, former national commander of the American Legion, were to be approached in that order.
Murphy and Clark, whom Butler named as alleged financial backers of the project, are both graduates of West Point and have seen Army service. Murphy laughed when questioned by reporters regarding his supposed part in the matter, of which he denied all knowledge. He said, however, that he could not speak for MacGuire, his employe.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
