America Has Never Been Immune to Fascism
By: Jennifer Lee
Tags: White Supremacy, Authoritarianism, History, Racism, Fascism

America Has Never Been Immune to Fascism

“It’s odd to me, as a survivor of American internment camps, how people somehow believe this country is immune from the allure and the danger of fascism.” — George Takei Jennifer Lee Follow Jul 1 · 12 min read

Twenty thousand attended a rally held by the German-American Bund at Madison Square Garden in February 1939. (Larry Froeber/NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images)

A romanticized view of history tells us that fascism was defeated at the end of the Second World War when Allied forces surrounded Berlin, and Hitler, hiding in his bunker, shot himself. For a long time, I believed that — until I took a closer look at American history.

“The dividing line will not be Masons and Dixons, but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.” — Ulysses S. Grant

Source: Decolonial Atlas

Fascism has had a variety of incarnations — white supremacy, white nationalism, the Confederacy (which inspired Hitler and his officers), Nazism, Jim Crow, McCarthyism, etc. There have always been far-right groups who wish to destroy democracy in favor of a system of authoritarian nationalism in which anyone who’s not blindly devoted to the toxic myth of American exceptionalism is accused of being unpatriotic, or worse. Propaganda and disinformation are spread in order to create anarchy and chaos — ripe conditions for the installation of authoritarian rule.

Nazis in America

On February 20, 1939, over twenty thousand people gathered in New York’s Madison Square Garden for a pro-Nazi rally. American legacies of slavery, the Klan, Jim Crow laws, and nativism made many susceptible to the Nazi ideology of racial purity. Before long, however, support of that ideology became unacceptable in public. After US troops and interests were threatened, American Nazis burrowed underground.

A massive wave of national pride followed the great sacrifices made to achieve victory over Nazi Germany and the other Axis powers. But it wasn’t long before fascism reared its ugly head again.

In the aftermath of WWII, with the decline of the British Empire came the emergence of two leading superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. Competition for dominance and global influence, aka the Cold War, soon began. President Truman signed an executive order in 1947 for loyalty-security reviews of federal employees that led to dismissal on "reasonable grounds ... for belief that the person involved is disloyal to the Government of the United States." This included anyone suspected of being, or involved with groups that were determined to be, totalitarian, fascist, communist, or subversive. The Truman administration’s goal of containing the spread of un-American activities morphed into a witch hunt for "reds" that went beyond the federal and even state and local governments.

McCarthyism

The figurehead of this "red-baiting" was Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. It occurred during the Second Red Scare, lasting from the late forties into the fifties. Two major events heightened fears of communism: in 1949, the Soviet Union tested an atomic bomb, sooner than expected; and in 1950, the Korean War began. McCarthy flamed and took advantage of these fears and used the fascist technique of scapegoating by targeting anyone and everyone who didn’t worship unregulated capitalism, particularly those in government and labor unions but also people with careers in academia and the entertainment industry.

Senator McCarthy (Source: wpr.org)

Once suspicions were raised, they were nearly impossible to counter, even if they were exaggerated or based on questionable evidence. Hundreds were imprisoned, and thousands lost their careers and livelihoods. Some were driven to suicide. Many people were placed on blacklists and faced hearings conducted by committees such as the House Un-American Activities Committee.

McCarthyites bullied, opposed, and often used anti-communist propaganda against any proponents of an idea — including internationalism, the United Nations, and democratic-socialism ideas such as equality and social-welfare programs that dated back to FDR’s New Deal — that didn’t fit their narrow worldview. America became as anti-communist as Nazi Germany was. (Remember the Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville blaming "commies"?) Many books were banned and burned. Paranoid conspiracy theories abounded, making people believe communist bogeymen were everywhere.

The December 7, 1953, issue of the weekly newspaper The Militant said this:

"When tens of millions of people throughout the world turn from war, fascism, depression, disease, and poverty and seek to establish socialism, this too is called a 'red menace’... The socialist struggle against capitalism is not a menace to humanity, although it is a menace to the 60 billionaire families who rule America. The lie about the 'communist menace' is exposed every time the capitalists feel endangered by socialism and turn to make deals with the Stalinists to save their hides. Then they praise the Kremlin… McCarthy’s movement is made up of frustrated, insecure, and frenzied elements of the middle class who are prey to the demagogic offering of a scapegoat for all their difficulties and worries... He is crude. He lies and twists and distorts. He blackmails and smears. He destroys people with one blast of a headline."

McCarthy had immense financial support from, among others, a group of multi-millionaire Texas oil barons headed by H.L. Hunt, who was the biggest donor to "Americans for America," a branch of America First, an openly fascist organization led by Gen. Robert E. Wood, the head of Sears and Roebuck.

Gen. Robert E. Wood (Source: Time.com)

Before long, McCarthyites demonized everything that, in their eyes, went against the grain. Taking a page out of the playbook of Hitler’s Nazis, who rounded up homosexuals and sent them to extermination camps, they also targeted those suspected of homosexuality, which was classified as a mental illness in the fifties. (Read about the "lavender scare".) Like communism, homosexuality was likened to a dangerous, contagious virus that made people "subversive" and threatened national security. Widespread FBI surveillance was used to identify homosexual government employees, and over 5,000 federal workers were fired. Thousands more were harassed and denied employment.

As with any fascist movement, racism was also a component of McCarthyism. Like in Nazi Germany, minorities were oppressed and punished. McCarthyites aimed to destroy the labor movement, which minorities helped to build and which was their path to economic, social, and political equality. Also targeted were any people who associated with minorities. The above-mentioned issue of The Militant also had this to say:

"The witch hunt formula holds that any interracial group is automatically 'subversive’, any person who attends 'mixed meetings' is dubbed a 'subversive’. The McCarthyite mob is shot through with Klansmen and race baiters waiting for the opportune moment to unleash race hate in America on a scale never before seen."

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, a McCarthy supporter who allowed the senator to get his hands on confidential files (and under whose watch the FBI came to resemble the Nazi Gestapo), ranted about "infiltration of an alien way of life". Eventually, even former President Truman was smeared, and Truman Democrats were labeled "communists".

J. Edgar Hoover (Source: britannica.com)

McCarthy’s movement declined before the 1956 election (in which the senator had planned to run for president), partly due to decisions made by the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren. A series of other events were also unfortunate for McCarthy and his supporters.

In 1953, former President Truman had this criticism of the Eisenhower administration:

"It is now evident that the present Administration has fully embraced, for political advantage, McCarthyism. I am not referring to the Senator from Wisconsin. He is only important in that his name has taken on the dictionary meaning of the word. It is the corruption of truth, the abandonment of the due process law. It is the use of the big lie and the unfounded accusation against any citizen in the name of Americanism or security. It is the rise to power of the demagogue who lives on untruth; it is the spreading of fear and the destruction of faith in every level of society."

On March 9, 1954, an episode of CBS newscaster Edward R. Murrow’s show See It Now, titled "A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy," exposed the senator as dishonest and abusive toward American citizens.

Edward R. Murrow (Source: edwardmurrow.com)

In April 1954, the Army–McCarthy hearings were televised live on the new American Broadcasting Company network; for the first time, the public viewed McCarthy’s controversial interrogation tactics. On December 2, 1954, the U.S. Senate voted 65 to 22 to condemn McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."

Although McCarthy was censured, McCarthyism has persisted; the word has taken on a broader meaning that encompasses, among other things, demagoguery, questioning people’s patriotism, making accusations with little or no evidence, using fear of being branded as disloyal to keep people on one’s side, discrediting political opponents with claims of disloyalty, and subverting civil rights in the interest of "national security".

The red scare persisted.

Continued opposition to various public-health services, such as vaccines, mental health care, and fluoridation, is based, at least in part, on the belief of some that these were "pinko" plots to poison or brainwash Americans. Propaganda from the era by groups like the Keep America Committee made such claims as the following:

Fluoridated water was the only water available in US Army camps, thus making all personnel vulnerable to being wiped out.

The polio vaccine killed and maimed children and was part of a push to enact nationwide socialized medicine.

Jews wanted to fill insane asylums with anti-Semitic lunatics.

As a grade-school kid in the eighties, my classmates and I did not understand the Cold War, communism, or the "red scare". We didn’t understand what President Reagan meant when he spoke of "godless communism." Instead, we made comments at lunchtime like, "In the Soviet Union, the pizza eats you," and then giggled hysterically. Our immature minds had somehow gotten the impression that everything in communist countries was simply backward or opposite. We would have believed it if someone had told us that dogs walked people in those places, or that rain fell up instead of down. We knew that the tearing down of the Berlin Wall was significant but didn’t fully understand why.

The Berlin Wall coming down on Nov. 9, 1989. (Source: NY Times)

Of course, as I got older, I did understand the importance of that event, but in more recent years, I’ve come to understand that it didn’t accomplish what it should have. Neither did the Allied victory in WWII. Or the Emancipation Proclamation. Both the Cold and Civil wars never really ended. That’s one of the hallmarks of fascism — perpetual war. A continual us-versus-them mentality. Ultra-nationalism with hateful ideologies wrapped in patriotic symbols, slogans, mottos, etc. Fear-mongering and disinformation campaigns. Suppression of facts and the media. Rallies to fulfill demagogues' constant craving for adoration. Racism, bigotry, and scapegoating. Voter suppression. Hostility toward intellectuals and higher education. Cronyism and corruption. Loyalty purges. Excessive police power and brutality. Secret police. (Read The 14 Defining Characteristics of Fascism by Dr. Lawrence Britt.) It’s been said many times that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Hypocrisy, propaganda, and miseducation

Ironically, many who say they respect and support our troops also support or condone what our troops have fought, sacrificed, and died to eradicate. They are ignorant of the fact that "Antifa" means anti-fascist. Anti-fascism is what drove those who stormed the beaches of Normandy, raised the flag at Iwo Jima, liberated concentration camps, and celebrated V-E Day. When WWII veterans are honored at sporting events and the crowd cheers and shouts, "You’re a hero!", how many of those fans support and vote for people much like those that these brave vets fought against?

American forces liberate Dachau concentration camp on April 29, 1945. (Source: Time Magazine)

What has been their response to the incident in Portland last summer in which a Navy vet asked federal officers to remember their oaths and those federal officers responded by breaking his hand? How many people who honored Congressman John Lewis after his passing have been undermining his accomplishments, what he stood for, and what he was beaten and bled for? Do they understand their hypocrisy? Or do they just not care?

Greed, corruption, and inequality persist. Wealthy people who lust for even more money and are desperate to hold on to their power keep selling the fear of socialism and counting on the undereducated to keep believing that it’s just another word for communism. They continue to divide the American people, fan the flames of our fears and insecurities, and offer us scapegoats to distract us while they pick our pockets and strip away our rights.

"I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it. If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." - President Lyndon Johnson

These words spoken by President Truman in 1952 still ring true:

"Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years. Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called social security. Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people."

The wealthy at the top like democracy until it starts to work for everyone. To the overly entitled, equality feels like oppression.

Robert Reich, Berkeley professor and former Secretary of Labor, continually warns of the dangers of unfettered capitalism. He has said multiple times, "We have socialism for the rich and harsh capitalism for the rest." The rich have been benefiting from the redistribution of wealth in the form of tax breaks. Supposedly anti-socialist big-business executives were first in line to snatch relief funds meant for small businesses.

"We need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice. Not in love with publicity but in love with humanity." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Meanwhile, the GOP wants to cut unemployment benefits and take health insurance away from millions. They want the working class to go back to thankless jobs and starvation wages after a deadly, out-of-control (thanks to them) pandemic. Last year, an Illinois resident protested COVID lockdowns with the three words that are at the entrance of Auschwitz: Arbeit Macht Frei. Meaning "work sets you free", that phrase was a Nazi euphemism for slave labor.

The entrance to Auschwitz (Source: ushmm.org)

The wealthy GOP politicians and donors aren’t hiding their fascism anymore. Since the Trump era, they have assumed permission to let it resurface. They don’t care if we live or die; all they care about is staying in power and profiting from our labors.

"If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power." - President Eisenhower

Many of our "leaders" do not have our best interests at heart. They want to throw out democracy in favor of an authoritarian dictatorship that benefits their self-serving desires. The Former Guy said the quiet part out loud when he said that if a lot more people could more easily vote, Republicans would lose. In other words, they don’t want the majority of us to have the leaders, legislation, and policies we want. This is why they cheat by suppressing votes, spreading disinformation, and inviting foreign interference in our elections.

“When foreign states direct hackers, trolls, money launderers, and misinformation to subvert or cast doubt on our elections, they threaten America’s sovereignty, democratic institutions, and national security. They attack our very way of life.” - President Joe Biden

GOP politicians and pundits who, despite everything, remain loyal Trump sycophants are a clear and present danger. They start culture wars and use the tactics of phony outrage and manufactured grievances. They spread dangerous propaganda and disinformation. They continue to push the Big Lie that led to the violent insurrection and new voter-suppression legislation in various states. They have only ambition, no beliefs or principles — other than the principles of authoritarianism. Smugly superior, their priorities are to distract from their incompetence and failures, and to keep their base angry and the ignorance and hate flowing.