Sumo Merriment

Thank God No One In America Can Remember Anything About Anything Ever

Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday:

"But some seem not to have learned history's lessons...once again we face similar challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of fascism."

George Bush yesterday:

The war we fight today is more than a military conflict; it is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century...As veterans, you have seen this kind of enemy before. They're successors to Fascists, to Nazis, to Communists, and other totalitarians of the 20th century. And history shows what the outcome will be.

Where were both of these speeches given? At the national convention of the American Legion.

And what was the American Legion up to in the 1920s and 30s? Let's ask one of the greatest reporters of the 20th century, George Seldes:

In a interview in January 1923, Commander-in-Chief Alvin Owsley of the American Legion not only endorsed Mussolini and Fascism, but announced his readiness to do what the Duce did, that is, upset the democratic form of government, establish a reign of terror, maintain a dictatorship where the masses of people are deprived of all civil rights.

"If ever needed," he said, "the American Legion stands ready to protect our country's institutions and ideals as the Fascisti dealt with the destructionists who menaced Italy."

Asked whether that meant taking over the government, he replied:

"Exactly that...Do not forget that the Fascisti are to Italy what the American Legion is to the United States."

And who were those loathsome appeasers whom Donald Rumsfeld hates so much?

Prior to April, 1941, his journal now discloses, [Charles] Lindbergh was exceedingly active behind the scenes in generating antiwar sentiment. The flier worked intimately with Robert R. McCormick, the publisher of the Chicago Tribune; Robert Wood, board Chairman of Sears, Roebuck; former president Herbert Hoover, Henry Ford, Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia, Hanford MacNider [co-founder of the American Legion], Senator Burton K. wheeler of Montana and John T. Flynn, the economist.

Now, it should be said that even at the time there were contrary currents within the American Legion. Moreover, organizations don't have an immutable character, and they do some worthwhile things today. Nevertheless, the leadership remains genuinely reactionary—and given their history, speeches to them about standing up to fascism are strongly contraindicated.

Jonathan Schwarz

cross-posted @Blanton's & Ashton's