WHITE AND BLUE FASCISM?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000400260092-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 5, 2004
• Sequence Number: 92
• Publication Date: May 4, 1970
• Content Type: MISC

THIS HAND BILL WAS DISTRIBUTED AT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY ON Mar l+ 1970
P.-cc.c4
Sinclair Lewis once wrote a book called It Can't Happen
Here, the title of which was an ironic comment on the com-
ing of fascism to America Written in the Hitler-Mussolini
era Lewis's novel was criticized on artistic grounds by many
reviewers, but everyone agreed that the title was great, sum-
ming up perfectly the complacent attitude of Americans on
the possibility of fascism in this country. Indeed, it still does;
we doubt if one out of a hundred Americans would take such
a possibility seriously.
Part of the problem is the word "fascism" itself, obvious-
ly foreign, un-American. The term conjures up visions of
Hitler with his funny little mustache and of Mussolini, with
his comical, vainglorious poses. No sensible American would
follow the likes of them, it is argued, and we think correctly.
If fascism comes to America. it will not be the imported mo-
del; is will be hoitiehlawn, made in the U.S.A. Its S.S.
would be the local police (remember Chicago?); it would ap-
peal not to Hitler's Meistervolk but to the plain folks beloved
by the American politician.
How would fascism come to the United States? Its lead-
ers would not strut and posture a la Hitler and Mussolini, nor
wear the military uniforms they affected (although he might
indulge in a veterans' cap on patriotic occasions). No, the
American fascist leader would come to us dressed in nothing
more radical than modified Ivy League, talking not about the
need for more living space for American expansion but about
neighborhood standards and property values, not about infer-
ior nations and races but about America's sacred duty to the
world. He would not espouse ?a radical program but would
appeal, as Mr. Nixon did in discussing student radicalism, to
the sacred national past, to "old standards," "old valuep,"
"old precepts," to use the President's words.
The American fascist leader would not come to us on a
white horse but in a Caddy with a decal of the American flag
on a window. He would arrive, knot arguing for a foreign
ideology but draped in the Stars and'Stripes, and his public
appearances would open properly with a chaplain's prayer.
He would call not for new conquests but for the preservation
of the American way of life-against the Communists, the
pacifists, the hippies ("too lazy to wash," people say), rad-
ical students, black extremists, the S.D.S., the Fathers Ber-
rigan, the Catholic Worker, and the Milwaukee 14.
America's aiwthority figure would be, in short, not a
European but a m~tive American fascist, and the danger
would not be that he would seize power but that he
would win an overw~:;Imi;4g victory at the polls by doing
little more th+.n deizouucivg long hair on boys and short
skirts on girls. No sane person in this country wants a
Hitler, true enough, but the day may come when many
want the law and order of an American fascist, flanked
on one side by the representatives of the "patriotic" or-
ganizations and on the other by exponents of the three
faiths ("the American way").
How likely is this to happen? At this point we would
say that the odds are against it, but we would not say
flatly that it could never happen here-and although Mr.
Nixon is no fascist, we must confess that we were not
,r;made more comfortable by reading his campus eulogy
of the good old days and good old ways, his spirited de-
fense of the militar y establishment ("It is open season
on the armed forces") and his endorsement of the U.S.
mission as world policeman.
That is one straw in the wind. We were sobered even
more by the recent warning from 45 members of Con-
gress that we must cut the power of the military or face
the possibility of becoming what they call "a national,
security state." In their 61-page report the nine..Senators
and 36 House members said, "The most urgent challenge
confronting Congress today is to reassert control over the
military bureaucracy and the policy decisions it has pre-
empted." "Bloated" defense spending, they say, i? lead-
ing to the militarization of American society, the diver-
sion of national resources from American needs, and the
alienation of the young.
Who is to blame? Not so much the military as the
civilian leadership of the nation, for having promoted
service unification and intimate cooperation between the
military and giant industry, says the report. "As a result,
power once checked by rivalries and inefficiency is now
wielded as a single force, defying effective democratic
control." (What term is proper for a society in which
the military-industrial system defies effective control?)
What is at issue, in sum, say the report's signers, is the
transformation of the United States into "a different kind
of civilization."
A different kind of civilization-there is a disquieting
thought. And one must bear in mind who the signers of
this report are-not radical activists of the left or irre-
sponsible carpers but 36 well-known members of the
House and 9 distinguished Senators, including such men
as Fulbright of Arkansas, Hughes of Iowa, McGovern of
South Dakota, Harrison of New Jersey They are not
hysterical; they are not saying that fase'sm is upon us.
At the same time, if we read them right, they are not
saying it can't happen here either. We can't read the fu-
ture, but given a choice between the serious analysis pre-
sented by these men and Mr. Nixon's recent appeals to
popular :know-nothingism and nationalism, we have no
doubt as to what the choice should be. It can't happen
here unless Americans let it.
Reprinted by permission from P. O. Box 103 - Woodmont, Conn. 06460 "inions " """" "- ;? ty ' "' "'
.opinions on legislative maven. The rrspn nuhdtly for state-
ments of fact and opinion to the publicalions or material
COMMONWEAL June 20, 19,69.. Additional copies FREE excep' for postage. dtatnbuted by it n?.t, solely with the author.
Approved For Release 2005/01/12 : CIA-RDP88-01'315R000400260092-2