Prescott Bush, And The Golden Age Of War Profiteering

November 26, 2011
Randy Reynolds
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/11/26/prescott-bush-and-the-golden-age-of-war-profiteering/

When the Remingtons, duPonts, Rockefellers, Mellons, J.P. Morgan, George Herbert Walker, Samuel Bush and Prescott Bush, as well as other representatives of America’s corporate elite decided to overthrow the government of the United States in 1934, they recruited retired Marine General Smedley Butler to lead it.

Butler was a two-time winner of the Medal of Honor, a man with a first-rate mind. He intended from the outset to infiltrate the group and turn them in. He did so and Congress held hearings, (the McCormack-Dickstein Hearings) headed by future Speaker John McCormack.

The group had planned to replace President Franklin Roosevelt with someone who would at first be called an “Assistant to the President” to take over the day-to-day operations of government. Remington would supply the arms, Smedley would get the “bonus army”–a half million World War I veterans–to march on Washington and Roosevelt would be shunted aside as Chancellor Hitler (much admired by America’s industrialists) had done to President Hindenburg in Germany.

The group intended to establish a Fascist regime that would send undesirables, including the unemployed, the Jews and political opponents to concentration and/or extermination camps.

Portions of the coup were carried out. The group paid to “own” the editorial policy of 25 major newspapers and sent fellow-plotters to help edit those papers.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce (co-founded by Samuel Bush) publicly proposed a plan to control “subversion” that would resemble the Patriot Act of Bush’s great-grandson’s Presidency in 2001.

After General Butler collected names and details, he went public. The story was a sensation for a couple of days, but was quickly pushed off the front pages by a “red scare”–stories of Communist infiltration of the IWW Union.

In the McCormack-Dickstein hearings, none of the powerful citizens involved in the plot was called to testify. They were above that sort of thing.

Although Prescott Bush was a lowly tire salesman when he married Dorothy Walker, his fortunes had quickly improved. His father-in-law George Herbert Walker elevated him to the vice-presidency of Brown Brothers Harriman, which financed exports of gold, steel, weapons and people to Nazi Germany.

Bush ran Hamburg-American passenger line on which American Nazi sympathizers emigrated to Germany under the tutelage of a Nazi “political director.” Bush also helped organize and run UBC, a bank holding company that oversaw many of Hitler’s worldwide investments.

From tire salesman to Hitler’s chief banker and exporter in America, Prescott Bush had come a long way by the time Hamburg-American and UBC were confiscated by the U.S. government. Instead of being tried for treason, his name was kept out of the spotlight and he was given 1.5 million dollars for his one share of stock in UBC.

Five years after World War II, a Connecticut senator died. Prescott Bush who maintained residences in four different states ran for the vacant seat and lost. Two years later another Connecticut senator died, and this time, Bush won.

He personally recruited Dwight D. Eisenhower to run for president. He and his fellow war profiteers would be bitterly disappointed by Eisenhower’s warnings against the military-industrial complex... but that was in the future.

Bush also pushed for Richard Nixon as Vice-President, and was a major donor to Nixon until well into the 1960's.

So there was a point in the 50's, when Prescott Bush must have felt like the king of the world:

* He had survived being implicated in a coup against a President of the United States.

* He had thrived even after the defeat of his major client, Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime.

* He had avoided being tried for treason, though the Justice Department had considered it.

* Both the President and Vice-President of the United States were personally indebted to
him.

* His lawyer Allen Dulles was head of the CIA (and gave his boy George H.W. Bush a job.)

* His business partner John Foster Dulles was Secretary of State.

* His business partner Averell Harriman was Governor of New York, later Ambassador to
the Soviet Union.

* Best of all, wars were breaking out all over the globe.

It was the dawn of a golden age of war profiteering.

“War is a racket. It always has been… A racket is something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small ‘inside’ group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.” –General Smedley Butler

“There is no historic parallel that can be drawn, nothing compares with the accomplishments of the Bush family. No dictator or tyrant can equal the suffering and destruction they have wrought on humanity, as they are not mere tyrants themselves, but the makers and breakers of tyrants, the organizers and profiteers of war and death. They are not alone and solely responsible for creating the present day military industrial complex, however since 1915 the Bush family has been directly involved in World War One and Two, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, numerous CIA secret wars, the Gulf War, and now a “Never Ending War”. The past four generations of this one family have had a hand in promoting and profiting from most of the major wars that America has waged since the beginning of the industrialized age.” –Schuyler Ebbets, Globalresearch

“The Walker-Bush cabal’s Nazi partners also helped finance–then profited from–the Auschwitz camp.” –Chris Floyd

“Every great family has its scandal. The Bush family’s scandal is that they funded Hitler and profited from the Holocaust.” –John Loftus

“…newly-uncovered government documents in The National Archives and Library of Congress reveal that Prescott Bush, the grandfather of President George W. Bush, served as a business partner of and U.S. banking operative for the financial architect of the Nazi war machine from 1926 until 1942, when Congress took aggressive action against Bush and his ‘enemy national’ partners.” –John Buchanan

“…in 1942, the U.S. government seized the Walker-Bush Nazi assets under the Trading With the Enemy Act. But the well-connected clan managed to bury the news in the back pages: brief mentions of the companies involved, but no names of the Establishment grandees behind them. They also pulled strings to keep their American assets from being seized as well, even though the profits from these enterprises were inextricably mixed with their Nazi loot. Prescott later cashed in these tainted assets for millions, a nest egg that helped launch him into the Senate and his son and grandson into the White House.” –Chris Floyd

“For six decades these historical facts have gone unreported by the mainstream U.S. media (except for the July 31, 1942 editions of the New York Herald and Washington Post.) The essential facts have appeared on the Internet and in relatively obscure books, but were dismissed by the media and Bush family as undocumented diatribes.” –John Buchanan

Sources:
http://digital-falcon.com/pipermail/toxickemail_digital-falcon.com/2005-September/000497.html
http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/53/committee.html
http://www.carpenoctem.tv/cons/whitehouse.html
http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/54/bush.html
http://www.tarpley.net/bush2.htm
http://www.counterpunch.org/floyd06102003.html
http://www.heatherwokusch.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=86
http://www.countercurrents.org/pringle110407.htm
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=EBB20061022&articleId=3558

Yale & Geronimo's Skull

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/17/geronimos-great-grandson-asks-yale-fraternity-return-ancestors-skull/

Geronimo's Great Grandson Asks Yale Secret Society to Return Ancestor's Skull
The great grandson of Geronimo says he wants to know whether Skull and Bones secret society at Yale University has the remains of the famous Apache chief and shaman.
By Stephen Clark
FOXNews.com
Tuesday, February 17, 2009

It's the stuff of legends: an elite secret society that includes what would become some of the most powerful men of the 20th century allegedly invading the grave of an Apache chief to steal his skull for fraternal rituals. It's also the stuff of a new lawsuit filed Tuesday by descendents of that Apache chief.

On the 100th anniversary of the death of Geronimo, 20 of his blood relatives have asked the courts to force Yale University and the school's secret organization, Skull and Bones, to release his remains for return to his native land and a proper burial.

The lawsuit also names President Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Army Secretary Pete Geren as defendants because they are responsible for maintaining Geronimo's remains on a U.S. Army base in Oklahoma, the group said.

"I believe it's a good cause because indigenous people over the century have been annihilated, removed from their homeland," said Geronimo's great grandson, Harlyn Geronimo, at a press conference in Washington, D.C.

Skull and Bones has never said whether any of Geronimo's remains are in its possession. The descendants say they are investigating long-held claims that in 1918, members of Skull and Bones, including Prescott Bush, the father of George H.W Bush and grandfather of George W. Bush, invaded Geronimo's grave at Ft. Sill and stole his skull, some bones and other items buried with him.

"In this lawsuit, we're going to find out if the bones are there or not," said the group's lawyer, said the group's lawyer, Ramsey Clark, who was attorney general in President Lyndon Johnson's administration.

Gila Reinstein, a spokeswoman for Yale University, said she is unaware of the lawsuit, but Yale can add nothing to the mystery of the Indian chief's whereabouts.

"To the best of my knowledge, Yale University has no relics or bones belonging to Geronimo," she said, adding that she couldn't speak on behalf of Skull and Bones because it is independent of the university.

Geronimo fought for decades against Mexican and American expansion into tribal lands. He and his small band of Apaches surrendered to U.S. troops in 1886 and were sent to Florida as prisoners of war before being transferred to Alabama.

Five years later, he was sent to Ft. Sill, where he lived the rest of his life as a free-range prisoner. Geronimo became a celebrity in the twilight of his life, appearing at fairs and selling souvenirs and photographs of himself. He died of pneumonia in 1909 at Ft. Sill and was buried at the Apache Indian Prisoner of War Cemetery on the military base.

Three members of the Skull and Bones, including Prescott Bush, served as Army volunteers at Fort Sill during World War I. They are accused of stealing the items which supposedly are used in initiation ceremonies. One alleged ritual includes kissing Geronimo's skull.

Geronimo said he's bringing the lawsuit now after contemplating it over the past decade because he has the time to do it after retiring from a tribal council in 2000. Clark added that at the 100th anniversary of the shaman's death, "We really thought it would be a good time to say enough is enough."

Geronimo said he has appealed to former President Bush for help in returning the remains.

"According to our traditions the remains of this sort, especially in this state when the grave was desecrated, need to be reburied with the proper rituals to return the dignity and let his spirits rest in peace."

Asked why he didn't appeal to Obama first, Geronimo said he thought Obama may be too busy to heed his request.

Bush Fulfills His Grandfather's Dream

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/9012

Bush Fulfills His Grandfather's Dream
By David Swanson
Created Jul 28 2007

It's remarkably common for a grandson to take up his grandfather's major project. This occurred to me when I read recently of Thor Heyerdahl's grandson taking up his mission to cross the Pacific on a raft. But what really struck me was the BBC story aired on July 23rd documenting President George W. Bush's grandfather's involvement [1] in a 1933 plot to overthrow the U.S. government and install a fascist dictatorship. I knew the story, but had not considered the possibility that the grandson was trying to accomplish what his grandfather had failed to achieve.

Prescott Sheldon Bush (1895 to 1972) attended Yale University and joined the secret society known as Skull and Bones. Prescott is widely reported to have stolen the skull of Native American leader Geronimo. As far as I know, this has not actually been confirmed. In fact, Prescott seems to have had a habit of making things up. He sent letters home from World War I claiming he'd received medals for heroism. After the letters were printed in newspapers, he had to retract his claims.

If this does not yet sound like the life of a George W. Bush ancestor, try this on for size: Prescott Bush's early business efforts tended to fail. He married the daughter of a very rich man named George Herbert Walker (the guy with the compound at Kennebunkport, Maine, that now belongs to the Bush family, and the origin of Dubya's middle initial). Walker installed Prescott Bush as an executive in Thyssen and Flick. From then on, Prescott's business dealings went better, and he entered politics.

Now, the name Thyssen comes from a German named Fritz Thyssen, major financial backer of the rise of Adolph Hitler. Thyssen was referred to in the New York Herald-Tribune as "Hitler's Angel." During the 1930s and early 1940s, and even as late as 1951, Prescott Bush was involved in business dealings with Thyssen, and was inevitably aware of both Thyssen's political activities and the fact that the companies involved were financially benefiting the nation of Germany. In addition, the companies Prescott Bush profited from included one engaged in mining operations in Poland using slave labor from Auschwitz. Two former slave laborers have sued the U.S. government and the heirs of Prescott Bush for $40 billion.

Until the United States entered World War II it was legal for Americans to do business with Germany, but in late 1942 Prescott Bush's businesses interests were seized under the Trading with the Enemy Act. Among those businesses involved was the Hamburg America Lines, for which Prescott Bush served as a manager. A Congressional committee, in a report called the McCormack-Dickstein Report, found that Hamburg America Lines had offered free passage to Germany for journalists willing to write favorably about the Nazis, and had brought Nazi sympathizers to America. (Is this starting to remind anyone of our current president's relationship to the freedom of the press?)

The McCormack-Dickstein Committee was established to investigate a homegrown American fascist plot hatched in 1933. Here's how the BBC promoted its recent story:

"Document uncovers details of a planned coup in the USA in 1933 by right-wing American businessmen. The coup was aimed at toppling President Franklin D Roosevelt with the help of half-a-million war veterans. The plotters, who were alleged to involve some of the most famous families in America, (owners of Heinz, Birds Eye, Goodtea, Maxwell Hse & George Bush’s Grandfather, Prescott) believed that their country should adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression. Mike Thomson investigates why so little is known about this biggest ever peacetime threat to American democracy."

Actually, if you listen to the 30-minute BBC story, there is not one word of so much as speculation as to why this story is so little known. I think a clue to the answer can be found by looking into why this BBC report has not led to any U.S. media outlets picking up the story this week.

The BBC report provides a good account of the basic story. Some of the wealthiest men in America approached Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler, beloved of many World War I veterans, many of them embittered by the government's treatment of them. Prescott Bush's group asked Butler to lead 500,000 veterans in a take-over of Washington and the White House. Butler refused and recounted the affair to the congressional committee. His account was corroborated in part by a number of witnesses, and the committee concluded that the plot was real. But the names of wealthy backers of the plot were blacked out in the committee's records, and nobody was prosecuted. According to the BBC, President Roosevelt cut a deal. He refrained from prosecuting some of the wealthiest men in America for treason. They agreed to end Wall Street's opposition to the New Deal.

Clearly the lack of accountability in Washington, D.C., did not begin with Nancy Pelosi taking Dubya's impeachment off the table, or with Congress' decision to avoid impeachment for President Ronald Reagan (a decision that arguably played a large role in installing Prescott Bush's son George H.W. Bush as president), or with the failure to investigate the apparent deal that George H.W. Bush and others made with Iran to not release American hostages until Reagan was made president, or with the failure to prosecute Richard Nixon after he resigned. Lack of accountability is a proud tradition in our nation's capital. Or maybe I should say our former nation's capital. I don't recognize the place anymore, and I credit that to George W. Bush's efforts to fulfill his grandfather's dream using far subtler and more effective means than a military coup.

Bush the grandson took office through a highly fraudulent election that he nonetheless lost. The Supreme Court blocked a recount of the vote and installed Dubya.

Prescott's grandson proceeded to weaken or eliminate most of the Bill of Rights in the name of protection from a dark foreign enemy. He even tossed out habeas corpus. The grandson of Prescott, that dreamer of the 1930s, established with very little resistance that the U.S. government can kidnap, detain indefinitely on no charge, torture, and murder. The United States under Prescott Bush's grandson adopted policies that heretofore had been considered only Nazi policies, most strikingly the willingness to openly plan and engage in aggressive wars on other nations.

At the same time, Dubya has accomplished a huge transfer of wealth within the United States from the rest of us to the extremely wealthy. He's also effected a major privatization of public operations, including the military. And he's kept tight control over the media.

Dubya has given himself the power to rewrite all laws with signing statements. He's established that intentionally misleading the Congress about the need for a war is not a crime that carries any penalty. He's given himself the right (just as Hitler did) to open anyone's mail. He's created illegal spying programs and then proposed to legalize them. Prescott would be so proud!

The current President Bush has accomplished much more smoothly than his grandfather could have imagined a feat that was one of the goals of Prescott's gang, namely the elimination of Congress.
_______
http://www.davidswanson.org/ [2]

About author David Swanson is a co-founder of After Downing Street, a writer and activist, and the Washington Director of Democrats.com.

http://www.davidswanson.org/ [3]

Links:
[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/document/document_20070723.shtml
[2] http://www.davidswanson.org/
[3] http://www.davidswanson.org/
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