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Eighteen Thousand Dollars in a Hotel Room
Description
Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler had already turned down a bond salesman's strange proposals more than once by the time the man showed up at his hotel room with cash in hand. On September 24, 1933, Gerald MacGuire visited Butler in Newark, New Jersey, during a National Guard reunion, and threw $18,000 in thousand dollar bills onto the bed, the latest in a series of approaches that would eventually grow into an alleged plan backed by wealthy industrialists to install Butler as a figurehead leader over a private veterans' army. Butler testified about the plot before Congress the following year, naming financial backers connected to J.P. Morgan and the du Pont family, though no one was ever charged. The episode traces the meeting, the plan behind it, and the quiet way the story faded from public attention.
From bsnsHistory, the daily podcast about the moments when business quietly reshaped the world.
Written and hosted by Ron Trucks. Research and editing by Rodney Russ. Sound design by Angela Cahoy. Music by Cody Martin and Soundstripe.
For more daily business stories, visit www.bsnsDAILYpodcasts.com