McFadden
So after seeing the film I got interested in this seemingly heroic congressman, Louis McFadden, who was portrayed as among the few with the courage and vision to speak out against the conspiracy described in part III.
I'm no historian and spent about 30 minutes doing research online -- I am NOT one of those folks who speaks as if he knows what the hell he's talking about -- but I thought it would be interesting to share the results of my inquiry.
Three interesting points:
1. Was he assassinated in order to prevent him from pressing for the impeachment of the Federal Reserve Board?
The movie says:
Once again outraged, Congressman Louis McFadden, a long-time opponent of the banking cartel, began bringing impeachment proceedings against the Federal Reserve Board...
Not surprisingly, and after 2 previous assassination attempts, McFadden was poisoned at a banquet before he could push for the impeachment.
The crucial bit: before he could push for the impeachment. According to Wikipedia (quote below) and other sources, the articles of impeachment were introduced in 1932 and 1933, and he died in 1936. Wikipedia also says he lost his bid for re-election in 1934, so it's not as if he was about to re-introduce those articles of impeachment. (I suppose he could have run again, but it's a bit far-fetched to suppose they assassinated him to prevent him from running, winning, and re-introducing a call for impeachment. In fact, Wikipedia says that, though he tried, he failed to even get nominated in 1936. Doesn't seem like much of a threat there.)
From Wikipedia:
McFadden moved to impeach President Herbert Hoover in 1932, and also introduced a resolution bringing conspiracy charges against the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. The impeachment resolution was defeated by a vote of 361 to 8; it was seen as a big vote of confidence to President Hoover from the House.[4]
In 1933, he introduced House Resolution No. 158, articles of impeachment for the Secretary of the Treasury, two assistant Secretaries of the Treasury, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, and the officers and directors of its twelve regional banks.[7]
No info on what happened to HR158 but something tells me it wasn't passed.
Strangely, the companion guide to Zeitgeist omits the sentence in which it is stated that he was assassinated, so there are no references given. Conspiracy! ;)
The companion guide is here: http://www.zeitgeistthefilm.com/Zeitgeist,%20The%20Movie-%20Companion%20Guide%20PDF.pdf.
The missing bit should be on p. 190 or 191.
For the script of Zeitgeist, plus some interesting commentary (of which I have read very little, so I'm not vouching for it) go here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/62929266/Zeitgeist-Script
2. Was he really assassinated?
I've tried to find evidence for this and can't. The best that I can find is that he very quickly became ill and died, and that there were two previous assassination attempts. That's not much evidence.
FWIW, the commentary mentioned above -- which is generally critical of Zeitgeist -- affirms that he was assassinated, saying:
No one knows why he was poisoned, but some think it was his opposition to the Federal Reserve system. We may never know[41].
Frustratingly, I cannot find the notes, so I can't check the source referenced in that "[41]".
3. He was apparently anti-semitic.
From Wikipedia:
In 1934 he made several Antisemitic comments from the floor of the house and in newsletters to his constituents wherein he cited the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, claimed the Roosevelt administration was controlled by Jews and objected to Henry Morgenthau Jr., a Jew, becoming Secretary of the Treasury.[8][9][10][11][12] He was also reported to have made various comments “in support of Adolf Hitler”.[13]
I don't know if this is true but it certainly undercuts his credibility if it is. Other sources tend to support the charge of antisemitism. One worries if he wasn't just a crank.
For some further debunking, go here:
http://www.publiceye.org/conspire/flaherty/flaherty10.html
Okay, that's it. Any useful info to share? Pass it along! share