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“The word 'Fascism' has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies ‘something not desirable’," wrote George Orwell in 1946. He asked, “Since you don't know what Fascism is, how can you struggle against Fascism?”<ref>George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," in Sonia Orwell and Ian Angus, Eds., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=zaxG_3ivhVAC The Collected Essays, Journalism, & Letters, George Orwell, Volume 4: In Front of Your Nose, 1945-1950]'' (David R. Godine, 2000) ISBN 1567921361, pp. 132, 139</ref>

“The word 'Fascism' has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies ‘something not desirable’," wrote George Orwell in 1946. He asked, “Since you don't know what Fascism is, how can you struggle against Fascism?”<ref>George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," in Sonia Orwell and Ian Angus, Eds., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=zaxG_3ivhVAC The Collected Essays, Journalism, & Letters, George Orwell, Volume 4: In Front of Your Nose, 1945-1950]'' (David R. Godine, 2000) ISBN 1567921361, pp. 132, 139</ref>

While Lenin's “New Economic Policy” (1921-28) followed Lange, Mussolini's Fascism followed Sorel;<ref>David D. Roberts, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=-gsNAQAAIAAJ The Syndicalist Tradition and Italian Fascism]'' (Manchester University Press, 1979) ISBN 0719007615, p. 316</ref> National Socialism, emerging from the shattered remains of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, promised yet another a “third way” between capitalism and communism,<ref>Artur Moeller van den Bruck's book ''The Third Reich'' (1923) was originally entitled ''The Third Way.'' (George Lachmann Mosse, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=6oiD85C9HzUC Masses and Man: Nationalist and Fascist Perceptions of Reality]'' [Wayne State University Press, 1987] ISBN 0814318959, pp. 84, 166) On Fascism as “third way,” see Zeev Sternhell, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=ccgIu6oYkREC Neither Right nor Left: Fascist Ideology in France]'' (Princeton University Press, 1996) ISBN 0691006296, p. 94, and Roger Eatwell, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=x3U6AAAAMAAJ Fascism: A History]'', (London: Allen Lane, 1996), ISBN 071399147X, p. 11.</ref> uniting proletarian and bourgeois to fight for the state and race. It was in this atmosphere that the New Deal took shape.

While Lenin's “New Economic Policy” (1921-28) followed Lange, Mussolini's Fascism followed Sorel;<ref>David D. Roberts, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=-gsNAQAAIAAJ The Syndicalist Tradition and Italian Fascism]'' (Manchester University Press, 1979) ISBN 0719007615, p. 316</ref> National Socialism, emerging from the shattered remains of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, promised yet another a “third way” between capitalism and communism,<ref>Artur Moeller van den Bruck's book ''The Third Reich'' (1923) was originally entitled ''The Third Way.'' (George Lachmann Mosse, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=6oiD85C9HzUC Masses and Man: Nationalist and Fascist Perceptions of Reality]'' [Wayne State University Press, 1987] ISBN 0814318959, pp. 84, 166) On Fascism as “third way,” see Zeev Sternhell, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=ccgIu6oYkREC Neither Right nor Left: Fascist Ideology in France]'' (Princeton University Press, 1996) ISBN 0691006296, p. 94, and Roger Eatwell, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=x3U6AAAAMAAJ Fascism: A History]'', (London: Allen Lane, 1996), ISBN 071399147X, p. 11.</ref> uniting proletarian and bourgeois to fight for the state and race. It was in this atmosphere that the New Deal took shape.

"[T]he New Deal was often compared with Fascism," according to cultural historian Wolfgang Schivelbusch. "Italy had several years earlier begun the transition from a liberal free-market system to a state-run or corporatist one."<ref>Wolfgang Schivelbusch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z3GV5_n1h04C Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939]'' (Macmillan, 2006) ISBN 080507452X, p. 22</ref> “The slogan into which the Nazis condensed their economic philosophy, ''Gemeinnutz geht vor Eigennutz'' (i.e., the commonweal ranks above private profit) is likewise the idea underlying the American New Deal,” wrote Ludwig von Mises.<ref>Ludwig von Mises, ''[http://mises.org/books/socialism.pdf Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis]'' (Yale University Press, 1951), pp. 578-579</ref>

"[T]he New Deal was often compared with Fascism," according to cultural historian Wolfgang Schivelbusch. "Italy had several years earlier begun the transition from a liberal free-market system to a state-run or corporatist one."<ref>Wolfgang Schivelbusch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z3GV5_n1h04C Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939]'' (Macmillan, 2006) ISBN 080507452X, p. 22</ref> “The slogan into which the Nazis condensed their economic philosophy, ''Gemeinnutz geht vor Eigennutz'' (i.e., the commonweal ranks above private profit) is likewise the idea underlying the American New Deal,” wrote Ludwig von Mises.<ref>Ludwig von Mises, ''[http://mises.org/books/socialism.pdf Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis]'' (Yale University Press, 1951), pp. 578-579</ref>

"There was hardly a commentator who failed to see elements of Italian corporatism in Roosevelt's managed economy under the National Recovery Administration, the institution formed in 1933 to maintain mandatory production and price 'codes' for American industry," wrote Schivelbusch. Even "intellectual observers of economics and social policies who were otherwise Roosevelt allies... saw a Fascist element at the core of the New Deal."<ref>Wolfgang Schivelbusch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z3GV5_n1h04C Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939]'' (Macmillan, 2006) ISBN 080507452X, pp. 23, 27</ref>

"There was hardly a commentator who failed to see elements of Italian corporatism in Roosevelt's managed economy under the National Recovery Administration, the institution formed in 1933 to maintain mandatory production and price 'codes' for American industry," wrote Schivelbusch. Even "intellectual observers of economics and social policies who were otherwise Roosevelt allies... saw a Fascist element at the core of the New Deal."<ref>Wolfgang Schivelbusch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z3GV5_n1h04C Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939]'' (Macmillan, 2006) ISBN 080507452X, pp. 23, 27</ref>

Roosevelt and his supporters saw the New Deal in revolutionary and dictatorial terms: [[First Lady]] [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] “lamented that the nation lacked a benevolent dictator to force through reforms."<ref>Christopher Caldwell, “[http://www.slate.com/id/2000099/entry/1003296/  ER: Authoritarian and Aristocratic], Slate.com, July 28, 1999</ref> Soviet intelligence source<ref>[http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/venona/1944/9sep_lippman_views_churchill_roosevelt.pdf 1289 KGB New York to Moscow, 9 September 1944]</ref> [[Walter Lippmann]] told Roosevelt, "The situation is critical, Franklin. You may have no alternative but to assume dictatorial powers";<ref>Thomas Griffith, “[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924464,00.html NEWSWATCH: Comrade of the Powerful],” ''Time'', September 15, 1980</ref> in his influential column, Lippmann added that the use of "'dictatorial powers,' if that is the name for it&mdash;is essential."<ref>Russell Baker, “[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22273 A Revolutionary President], ''The New York Review of Books'', Vol. 56, No. 2 (February 12, 2009)</ref> The ''New York Herald Tribune'' approved the Inauguration with the headline "FOR DICTATORSHIP IF NECESSARY."<ref>“[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5525748 Author Reconstructs FDR's 'Defining Moment'],” National Public Radio</ref> In response to a hit [[Hollywood]] [http://allmovie.com/work/gabriel-over-the-white-house-19092 movie] featuring as hero a President who “dissolves Congress, creates an army of the unemployed, and lines up his enemies before a firing squad,” FDR wrote that he thought the film “would help the country.”<ref>Jonathan Alter, “[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/books/chapters/0507-1st-alter.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all The Defining Moment],” ''The New York Times'', May 7, 2006</ref>

Roosevelt and his supporters saw the New Deal in dictatorial terms: [[First Lady]] [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] “lamented that the nation lacked a benevolent dictator to force through reforms."<ref>Christopher Caldwell, “[http://www.slate.com/id/2000099/entry/1003296/  ER: Authoritarian and Aristocratic], Slate.com, July 28, 1999</ref> Soviet intelligence source<ref>[http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/venona/1944/9sep_lippman_views_churchill_roosevelt.pdf 1289 KGB New York to Moscow, 9 September 1944]</ref> [[Walter Lippmann]] told Roosevelt, "The situation is critical, Franklin. You may have no alternative but to assume dictatorial powers";<ref>Thomas Griffith, “[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924464,00.html NEWSWATCH: Comrade of the Powerful],” ''Time'', September 15, 1980</ref> in his influential column, Lippmann added that the use of "'dictatorial powers,' if that is the name for it&mdash;is essential."<ref>Russell Baker, “[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22273 A Revolutionary President], ''The New York Review of Books'', Vol. 56, No. 2 (February 12, 2009)</ref> The ''New York Herald Tribune'' approved the Inauguration with the headline "FOR DICTATORSHIP IF NECESSARY."<ref>“[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5525748 Author Reconstructs FDR's 'Defining Moment'],” National Public Radio</ref> In response to a hit [[Hollywood]] [http://allmovie.com/work/gabriel-over-the-white-house-19092 movie] featuring as hero a President who “dissolves Congress, creates an army of the unemployed, and lines up his enemies before a firing squad,” FDR wrote that he thought the film “would help the country.”<ref>Jonathan Alter, “[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/books/chapters/0507-1st-alter.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all The Defining Moment],” ''The New York Times'', May 7, 2006</ref>

The mood in Washington at FDR's inauguration was “strangely reminiscent of Rome in the first weeks after the march of the Blackshirts, of Moscow at the beginning of the Five-Year Plan” reported ''The New York Times''. “America today literally asks for orders.” The Roosevelt administration, reported the ''Times,'' “envisages a federation of industry, labor and government after the fashion of the corporative State as it exists in Italy.”<ref>Anne O'Hare McCormick, "[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60A1FFF3E5C16738DDDAE0894DD405B838FF1D3 VAST TIDES THAT STIR THE CAPITAL; Behind the Tremendous Activity and the Revolutionary Experiments in Washington]," ''The New York Times'' Sunday Magazine, May 7, 1933, p. SM1</ref> George Soule, editor of the pro-Roosevelt ''New Republic'' magazine, wrote, "We are trying out the economics of Fascism without having suffered all its social or political ravages."<ref>George Henry Soule, ''[http://books.google.com/books?ei=R4CcSoqXK6SCywSm9tzwDg&id=I89fAAAAIAAJ The Coming American Revolution]'' (The Macmillan Company, 1934), p. 294</ref> In the ''North American Review'', the progressive writer Roger Shaw described the New Deal as “Fascist means to gain liberal ends.”<ref>David Boaz, "[http://reason.com/archives/2007/09/28/hitler-mussolini-roosevelt Hitler, Mussolini, Roosevelt]," ''Reason'', October 2007</ref> "We in America,” wrote liberal journalist Mauritz Hallgren, “are being forced rapidly and definitely into Fascism..."<ref>''[http://www.spectator.co.uk/ Spectator]'', August 18, 1933, p. 211</ref>

The mood in Washington at FDR's inauguration was “strangely reminiscent of Rome in the first weeks after the march of the Blackshirts, of Moscow at the beginning of the Five-Year Plan” reported ''The New York Times''. “America today literally asks for orders.” The Roosevelt administration, reported the ''Times,'' “envisages a federation of industry, labor and government after the fashion of the corporative State as it exists in Italy.”<ref>Anne O'Hare McCormick, "[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60A1FFF3E5C16738DDDAE0894DD405B838FF1D3 VAST TIDES THAT STIR THE CAPITAL; Behind the Tremendous Activity and the Revolutionary Experiments in Washington]," ''The New York Times'' Sunday Magazine, May 7, 1933, p. SM1</ref> George Soule, editor of the pro-Roosevelt ''New Republic'' magazine, wrote, "We are trying out the economics of Fascism without having suffered all its social or political ravages."<ref>George Henry Soule, ''[http://books.google.com/books?ei=R4CcSoqXK6SCywSm9tzwDg&id=I89fAAAAIAAJ The Coming American Revolution]'' (The Macmillan Company, 1934), p. 294</ref> In the ''North American Review'', the progressive writer Roger Shaw described the New Deal as “Fascist means to gain liberal ends.”<ref>David Boaz, "[http://reason.com/archives/2007/09/28/hitler-mussolini-roosevelt Hitler, Mussolini, Roosevelt]," ''Reason'', October 2007</ref> "We in America,” wrote liberal journalist Mauritz Hallgren, “are being forced rapidly and definitely into Fascism..."<ref>''[http://www.spectator.co.uk/ Spectator]'', August 18, 1933, p. 211</ref>

Mussolini was convinced that the New Deal was copying Fascist economic policies.<ref>Stanley G. Payne, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=NLiFIEdI1V4C A History of Fascism, 1914-1945]'' (University of Wisconsin Press, 1996) ISBN 0299148742, p. 230</ref> "Reminiscent of Fascism is the principle that the state no longer leaves the economy to its own devices," wrote Mussolini in a review of FDR's book ''Looking Forward''. "Without question, the mood accompanying this sea-change is reminiscent of Fascism."  Mussolini wrote that the book ''New Frontiers'', by FDR's Secretary of Agriculture [[Henry Wallace]], was "just as 'corporativistic' as the individual solutions put forth in it... The book leaves no doubt that it is on the road to corporatism..."<ref>Wolfgang Schivelbusch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z3GV5_n1h04C Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939]'' (Macmillan, 2006) ISBN 080507452X, pp. 23-24</ref>

Mussolini was convinced that the New Deal was copying Fascist economic policies.<ref>Stanley G. Payne, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=NLiFIEdI1V4C A History of Fascism, 1914-1945]'' (University of Wisconsin Press, 1996) ISBN 0299148742, p. 230</ref> "Reminiscent of Fascism is the principle that the state no longer leaves the economy to its own devices," wrote Mussolini in a review of FDR's book ''Looking Forward''. "Without question, the mood accompanying this sea-change is reminiscent of Fascism."  Mussolini wrote that the book ''New Frontiers'', by FDR's Secretary of Agriculture [[Henry Wallace]], was "just as 'corporativistic' as the individual solutions put forth in it... The book leaves no doubt that it is on the road to corporatism..."<ref>Wolfgang Schivelbusch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z3GV5_n1h04C Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939]'' (Macmillan, 2006) ISBN 080507452X, pp. 23-24</ref>

Hitler himself admired FDR’s approach, saying, “I have sympathy with President Roosevelt because he marches straight toward his objective over Congress, over lobbies, over stubborn bureaucracies.”<ref>Anne O'Hare McCormick, "[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20716F839591A728DDDA90994DF405B838FF1D3 HITLER SEEKS JOBS FOR ALL GERMANS; 'Does Anything Else Matter?' He Asks, Stressing Efforts to End Unemployment. CROMWELL IS HIS HERO Chancellor Admires Roosevelt for Marching to Objectives Over Congress and Lobbies]," ''The New York Times'', July 10, 1933</ref> Hitler likewise expressed "admiration" for Roosevelt's economic policies, and said he was in accord with" Roosevelt's "moral demand," which he identified as the "quintessence of German philosophy of the State," as he wrote to U.S. Ambassador to Germany William Dodd.<ref>[http://www.cdojerusalem.org/icons-multimedia/ClientsArea/HoH/LIBARC/ARCHIVE/Chapters/Forging/Foreign/Message.html A Message from Hitler to Roosevelt], history-of-the-holocaust.org</ref>

Hitler himself admired FDR’s approach, saying, “I have sympathy with President Roosevelt because he marches straight toward his objective over Congress, over lobbies, over stubborn bureaucracies.”<ref>Anne O'Hare McCormick, "[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20716F839591A728DDDA90994DF405B838FF1D3 HITLER SEEKS JOBS FOR ALL GERMANS; 'Does Anything Else Matter?' He Asks, Stressing Efforts to End Unemployment. CROMWELL IS HIS HERO Chancellor Admires Roosevelt for Marching to Objectives Over Congress and Lobbies]," ''The New York Times'', July 10, 1933</ref> Hitler likewise expressed "admiration" for Roosevelt's economic policies, and said he was in accord with" Roosevelt's "moral demand," which he identified as the "quintessence of German philosophy of the State," as he wrote to U.S. Ambassador to Germany William Dodd.<ref>[http://www.cdojerusalem.org/icons-multimedia/ClientsArea/HoH/LIBARC/ARCHIVE/Chapters/Forging/Foreign/Message.html A Message from Hitler to Roosevelt], history-of-the-holocaust.org</ref>

"Roosevelt once spoke in the presence of journalists of Mussolini and Stalin as his 'blood brothers,'"  and "had nothing but 'sympathy and confidence' in Mussolini up until the mid-1930s".<ref>Wolfgang Schivelbusch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z3GV5_n1h04C Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939]'' (Macmillan, 2006) ISBN 080507452X, pp. 30-31</ref> The President privately found Mussolini "admirable," writing to his personal friend John Lawrence, "I don't mind telling you in confidence, that I am keeping in fairly close touch with that admirable Italian gentleman."<ref>David F. Schmitz, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Pzt2AAAAMAAJ The United States and Fascist Italy, 1922-1940]'' (University of North Carolina Press, 1988) ISBN 080781766X, p. 139</ref> FDR also wrote to U.S. Ambassador to Italy Breckinridge Long about Mussolini, "I am much interested and deeply impressed by what he has accomplished and by his evidenced honest purpose of restoring Italy and seeking to prevent general European trouble."<ref>Elliott Roosevelt, Ed., [http://books.google.com/books?id=aHEbAAAAIAAJ ''F.D.R., His Personal Letters'', Vol. 3] (Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1947), p. 352</ref>

"Roosevelt once spoke in the presence of journalists of Mussolini and Stalin as his 'blood brothers,'"  and "had nothing but 'sympathy and confidence' in Mussolini up until the mid-1930s".<ref>Wolfgang Schivelbusch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z3GV5_n1h04C Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939]'' (Macmillan, 2006) ISBN 080507452X, pp. 30-31</ref> The President privately found Mussolini "admirable," writing to his personal friend John Lawrence, "I don't mind telling you in confidence, that I am keeping in fairly close touch with that admirable Italian gentleman."<ref>David F. Schmitz, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Pzt2AAAAMAAJ The United States and Fascist Italy, 1922-1940]'' (University of North Carolina Press, 1988) ISBN 080781766X, p. 139</ref> FDR also wrote to U.S. Ambassador to Italy Breckinridge Long about Mussolini, "I am much interested and deeply impressed by what he has accomplished and by his evidenced honest purpose of restoring Italy and seeking to prevent general European trouble."<ref>Elliott Roosevelt, Ed., [http://books.google.com/books?id=aHEbAAAAIAAJ ''F.D.R., His Personal Letters'', Vol. 3] (Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1947), p. 352</ref>

Long, in turn, reported to Roosevelt’s economic adviser Rexford Tugwell about economic organization under the Fascists: “Your mind runs along these lines … It may have some bearing on the code work under N.R.A.”<ref>Long to Tugwell, May 16, 1934, [http://lccn.loc.gov/mm%2078030502 Breckinridge Long Papers], Box 111, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress</ref> Tugwell, the “most prominent of the Brain Trusters and the man often considered the chief ideologist of the 'first New Deal' (roughly, 1933–34),”<ref>Ralph Raico, "[http://www.fff.org/freedom/0201e.asp FDR — The Man, the Leader, the Legacy, Part 11]," ''Freedom Daily, February 2001</ref> said, “I find Italy doing many of the things which seem to me necessary…. Mussolini certainly has the same people opposed to him as FDR has. But he has the press controlled so that they cannot scream lies at him daily.”<ref>Jonah Goldberg, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=wHihWKJE3asC Liberal Fascism: the Secret History of the American Left, from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning]'' (Random House, Inc., 2008) ISBN 0385511841, p.156</ref> Tugwell, "the most left-wing member of Roosevelt's brain trust" was "open in his respect for Mussolini's economic policies." Of the Fascist system he wrote, "It's the cleanest, neatnest [sic], most efficiently operating piece of social machinery I've ever seen. It makes me envious."<ref>Wolfgang Schivelbusch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z3GV5_n1h04C Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939]'' (Macmillan, 2006) ISBN 080507452X, pp. 31-32</ref> FDR's Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes conceded that “what we were doing in this country were some of the things that were being done in Russia and even some of the things that were being done under Hitler in Germany. But we were doing them in an orderly way.”<ref>Jonah Goldberg, "[http://www.claremont.org/publications/crb/id.1502/article_detail.asp The Raw Deal]," ''Claremont Review of Books'', Winter 2007</ref> Eleanor Roosevelt's close friend Lorena Hickok, a journalist who covered the New Deal, wrote, "If I were 20 years younger and weighed 75 pounds less, I think I'd start out to be the Joan of Arc of the Fascist Movement of the United States."<ref>Lorena A. Hickok, et al., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=nstfz85S4ccC One Third of a Nation: Lorena Hickok Reports on the Great Depression]'' (University of Illinois Press, 1983) ISBN 0252010965, p. 218</ref>

Long, in turn, reported to Roosevelt’s economic adviser Rexford Tugwell about economic organization under the Fascists: “Your mind runs along these lines … It may have some bearing on the code work under N.R.A.”<ref>Long to Tugwell, May 16, 1934, [http://lccn.loc.gov/mm%2078030502 Breckinridge Long Papers], Box 111, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress</ref> Tugwell, the “most prominent of the Brain Trusters and the man often considered the chief ideologist of the 'first New Deal' (roughly, 1933–34),”<ref>Ralph Raico, "[http://www.fff.org/freedom/0201e.asp FDR — The Man, the Leader, the Legacy, Part 11]," ''Freedom Daily, February 2001</ref> said, “I find Italy doing many of the things which seem to me necessary…. Mussolini certainly has the same people opposed to him as FDR has. But he has the press controlled so that they cannot scream lies at him daily.”<ref>Jonah Goldberg, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=wHihWKJE3asC Liberal Fascism: the Secret History of the American Left, from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning]'' (Random House, Inc., 2008) ISBN 0385511841, p.156</ref> Tugwell, "the most left-wing member of Roosevelt's brain trust" was "open in his respect for Mussolini's economic policies." Of the Fascist system he wrote, "It's the cleanest, neatnest [sic], most efficiently operating piece of social machinery I've ever seen. It makes me envious."<ref>Wolfgang Schivelbusch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z3GV5_n1h04C Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939]'' (Macmillan, 2006) ISBN 080507452X, pp. 31-32</ref> FDR's Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes conceded that “what we were doing in this country were some of the things that were being done in Russia and even some of the things that were being done under Hitler in Germany. But we were doing them in an orderly way.”<ref>Jonah Goldberg, "[http://www.claremont.org/publications/crb/id.1502/article_detail.asp The Raw Deal]," ''Claremont Review of Books'', Winter 2007</ref> Eleanor Roosevelt's close friend Lorena Hickok, a journalist who covered the New Deal, wrote, "If I were 20 years younger and weighed 75 pounds less, I think I'd start out to be the Joan of Arc of the Fascist Movement of the United States."<ref>Lorena A. Hickok, et al., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=nstfz85S4ccC One Third of a Nation: Lorena Hickok Reports on the Great Depression]'' (University of Illinois Press, 1983) ISBN 0252010965, p. 218</ref>

The centerpiece of the New Deal was the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of 1933, which was “similar to experiments being carried out by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in Italy and by the Nazis in Adolf Hitler's Germany,” according to John A. Garraty,<ref>John Arthur Garraty, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=DGRuAAAAMAAJ The American Nation]'', 4th ed., vol. 2 (Harper & Row, 1979) ISBN 0060422696, p. 656</ref> president of the Society of American Historians.<ref>[http://sah.columbia.edu/content/history History], The Society of American Historians</ref> NIRA established the National Recovery Administration (NRA), “the New Deal’s attempt to bring to America the substance of Mussolini’s corporativism.”<ref>Leonard Peikoff, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=2_xpAAAAIAAJ The Ominous Parallels]'' (Stein and Day, 1982) ISBN 081282850X, p. 293</ref> As one NRA study concluded, “The Fascist principles are very similar to those which have been evolving in America and so are of particular interest at this time.”<ref>Janet C. Wright, "Capital and Labor Under Fascism," National Archives, Record Group 9, Records of the National Recovery Administration, [http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/009.html#9.2.4 Special Research and Planning Reports and Memoranda, 1933-35], Entry 31, Box 3</ref>

The centerpiece of the New Deal was the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of 1933, which was “similar to experiments being carried out by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in Italy and by the Nazis in Adolf Hitler's Germany,” according to John A. Garraty,<ref>John Arthur Garraty, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=DGRuAAAAMAAJ The American Nation]'', 4th ed., vol. 2 (Harper & Row, 1979) ISBN 0060422696, p. 656</ref> president of the Society of American Historians.<ref>[http://sah.columbia.edu/content/history History], The Society of American Historians</ref> NIRA established the National Recovery Administration (NRA), “the New Deal’s attempt to bring to America the substance of Mussolini’s corporativism.”<ref>Leonard Peikoff, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=2_xpAAAAIAAJ The Ominous Parallels]'' (Stein and Day, 1982) ISBN 081282850X, p. 293</ref> As one NRA study concluded, “The Fascist principles are very similar to those which have been evolving in America and so are of particular interest at this time.”<ref>Janet C. Wright, "Capital and Labor Under Fascism," National Archives, Record Group 9, Records of the National Recovery Administration, [http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/009.html#9.2.4 Special Research and Planning Reports and Memoranda, 1933-35], Entry 31, Box 3</ref>

Just as Mussolini “organized each trade or industrial group or professional group into a state supervised trade association” that “operated under state supervision and could plan production, quality, prices, distribution, labor standards, etc.,”<ref>John T. Flynn, ''[http://mises.org/books/rooseveltmyth.pdf The Roosevelt Myth]'' (The Devin-Adair Company, 1948) pp. 42-43</ref> the NRA “forced virtually all American industry, manufacturing, and retail business into cartels possessing the power to set prices and wages, and to dictate the levels of production.”<ref>Richard M. Ebeling, "[http://www.fee.org/pdf/the-freeman/1005RMEColumn.pdf When the Supreme Court Stopped Economic Fascism in America]," ''The Freeman'', Vol. 55, No. 8 (October 2005), p. 3</ref>

Just as Mussolini “organized each trade or industrial group or professional group into a state supervised trade association” that “operated under state supervision and could plan production, quality, prices, distribution, labor standards, etc.,”<ref>John T. Flynn, ''[http://mises.org/books/rooseveltmyth.pdf The Roosevelt Myth]'' (The Devin-Adair Company, 1948) pp. 42-43</ref> the NRA “forced virtually all American industry, manufacturing, and retail business into cartels possessing the power to set prices and wages, and to dictate the levels of production.”<ref>Richard M. Ebeling, "[http://www.fee.org/pdf/the-freeman/1005RMEColumn.pdf When the Supreme Court Stopped Economic Fascism in America]," ''The Freeman'', Vol. 55, No. 8 (October 2005), p. 3</ref>

As head of the NRA and thus “FDR’s leading bureaucrat,”<ref>[http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/hsjohnson.htm Hugh Samuel Johnson], arlingtoncemetary.net</ref> the President appointed<ref>[http://www.condenaststore.com/Politicians/General-Hugh-Johnson/invt/103630 General Hugh Johnson], Condé Nast store</ref> General Hugh Johnson, who was granted “almost unlimited powers over industry.”<ref>Associated Press, "[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0716FC3E5F1A7A93CBA8178ED85F478385F9 Johnson Chosen Industry Chief]," ''The New York Times'', May 19, 1933, p. 1</ref> According to economist Thayer Watkins (who teaches economic history at California’s San José State University),<ref>[http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/economics/faculty/thayer.htm Thayer Watkins, Ph.D.], Faculty & Staff, Economics, San José State University</ref> Johnson was “an admirer of Mussolini’s National Corporatist system in Italy and he drew upon the Italian experience in formulating the New Deal.”<ref>Thayer Watkins, "[http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/corporatism.htm The Economic System of Corporatism]," Department of Economics, San José State University</ref> Walker F. Todd, research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, agrees that Johnson “did admire greatly what Mussolini appeared to have done,” identifying the NRA as a “thoroughly corporativist” idea.<ref>Walker F. Todd, "[http://www.aei.org/docLib/Todd%20-%20The%20Federal%20Reserve%20Board%20and%20the%20Rise%20of%20the%20Corporate%20State.pdf The Federal Reserve Board and the Rise of the Corporate State, 1931-1934]," ''Economic Education Bulletin'', Vol. XXXV No. 9 (September 1995) pp. 6, 34</ref>

As head of the NRA and thus “FDR’s leading bureaucrat,”<ref>[http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/hsjohnson.htm Hugh Samuel Johnson], arlingtoncemetary.net</ref> the President appointed<ref>[http://www.condenaststore.com/Politicians/General-Hugh-Johnson/invt/103630 General Hugh Johnson], Condé Nast store</ref> General Hugh Johnson, who was granted “almost unlimited powers over industry.”<ref>Associated Press, "[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0716FC3E5F1A7A93CBA8178ED85F478385F9 Johnson Chosen Industry Chief]," ''The New York Times'', May 19, 1933, p. 1</ref> According to economist Thayer Watkins (who teaches economic history at California’s San José State University),<ref>[http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/economics/faculty/thayer.htm Thayer Watkins, Ph.D.], Faculty & Staff, Economics, San José State University</ref> Johnson was “an admirer of Mussolini’s National Corporatist system in Italy and he drew upon the Italian experience in formulating the New Deal.”<ref>Thayer Watkins, "[http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/corporatism.htm The Economic System of Corporatism]," Department of Economics, San José State University</ref> Walker F. Todd, research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, agrees that Johnson “did admire greatly what Mussolini appeared to have done,” identifying the NRA as a “thoroughly corporativist” idea.<ref>Walker F. Todd, "[http://www.aei.org/docLib/Todd%20-%20The%20Federal%20Reserve%20Board%20and%20the%20Rise%20of%20the%20Corporate%20State.pdf The Federal Reserve Board and the Rise of the Corporate State, 1931-1934]," ''Economic Education Bulletin'', Vol. XXXV No. 9 (September 1995) pp. 6, 34</ref>

According to Jonah Goldberg, Johnson displayed a portrait of ''Il Duce'' in his NRA office and actually “distributed a memo at the Democratic Convention proposing that FDR become a Mussolini-like dictator.”<ref>Jonah Goldberg, [http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Mjc0ZmFlMDFiNDJkODdjYjE3NDY5OGVlY2JiZWRmNjM= Hendrick Hertzberg & The F-Word], The Corner (National Review Online), March 5, 2009</ref> In his retirement speech, Johnson invoked what he called the “shining name” of Mussolini.<ref>Arthur Meier Schlesinger, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=mj3VmJ38tHIC The Coming of the New Deal, 1933-1935]'' (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2003) ISBN 0618340866, p. 153</ref> Johnson was said to carry around with him a copy of Raffaello Viglione’s pro-Mussolini book,<ref>Sheldon Richman, "[http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Fascism.html Fascism]," ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics'', econlib.org</ref> ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=vIJQHAAACAAJ The Corporate State]'', even presenting a copy to Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins.<ref>Frances Perkins, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=AIEhAAAAMAAJ The Roosevelt I Knew]'' (The Viking press, 1946) p. 206. Socialist (Kent Worcester, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=TwTTArAPWswC C.L.R. James: A Political Biography]'' [SUNY Press, 1995] ISBN 079142751X, p. 175) George Rawich wrote that Perkins told him Johnson gave each member of the Cabinet a book by [http://www.marxists.org/archive/rawick/1969/xx/self.html Fascist theoretician Giovanni Gentile], “and we all read it with great care.” Schivelbusch suggests the book was actually [http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo172.html Mussolini advisor] Fausto Pitigliani’s ''The Italian Corporativist State.'' (Wolfgang Schivelbusch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z3GV5_n1h04C Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939]'' [Macmillan, 2006] ISBN 080507452X, p. 203, n. 28)</ref> Perkins commented that the NRA, "[c]ombined with the relief program and with public works... constituted an effective demonstration of the theories which John Maynard Keynes had been preaching and urging upon the English government," adding:

According to Jonah Goldberg, Johnson displayed a portrait of ''Il Duce'' in his NRA office and actually “distributed a memo at the Democratic Convention proposing that FDR become a Mussolini-like dictator.”<ref>Jonah Goldberg, [http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Mjc0ZmFlMDFiNDJkODdjYjE3NDY5OGVlY2JiZWRmNjM= Hendrick Hertzberg & The F-Word], The Corner (National Review Online), March 5, 2009</ref> In his retirement speech, Johnson invoked what he called the “shining name” of Mussolini.<ref>Arthur Meier Schlesinger, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=mj3VmJ38tHIC The Coming of the New Deal, 1933-1935]'' (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2003) ISBN 0618340866, p. 153</ref> Johnson was said to carry around with him a copy of Raffaello Viglione’s pro-Mussolini book,<ref>Sheldon Richman, "[http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Fascism.html Fascism]," ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics'', econlib.org</ref> ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=vIJQHAAACAAJ The Corporate State]'', even presenting a copy to Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins.<ref>Frances Perkins, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=AIEhAAAAMAAJ The Roosevelt I Knew]'' (The Viking press, 1946) p. 206. Socialist (Kent Worcester, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=TwTTArAPWswC C.L.R. James: A Political Biography]'' [SUNY Press, 1995] ISBN 079142751X, p. 175) George Rawich wrote that Perkins told him Johnson gave each member of the Cabinet a book by [http://www.marxists.org/archive/rawick/1969/xx/self.html Fascist theoretician Giovanni Gentile], “and we all read it with great care.” Schivelbusch suggests the book was actually [http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo172.html Mussolini advisor] Fausto Pitigliani’s ''The Italian Corporativist State.'' (Wolfgang Schivelbusch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z3GV5_n1h04C Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939]'' [Macmillan, 2006] ISBN 080507452X, p. 203, n. 28)</ref>

 

Perkins commented that the NRA, "[c]ombined with the relief program and with public works... constituted an effective demonstration of the theories which John Maynard Keynes had been preaching and urging upon the English government," adding:

{{cquote|[Keynes] pointed out that the combination of relief, public works, raising wages by NRA codes, distributing moneys to farmers under agricultural adjustment, was doing exactly what his theory would indicate as correct procedure. He was full of faith that we in the United States would prove to the world that this was the answer.<ref>Frances Perkins, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=AIEhAAAAMAAJ The Roosevelt I Knew]'' (The Viking press, 1946) p. 225</ref>}}

{{cquote|[Keynes] pointed out that the combination of relief, public works, raising wages by NRA codes, distributing moneys to farmers under agricultural adjustment, was doing exactly what his theory would indicate as correct procedure. He was full of faith that we in the United States would prove to the world that this was the answer.<ref>Frances Perkins, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=AIEhAAAAMAAJ The Roosevelt I Knew]'' (The Viking press, 1946) p. 225</ref>}}

As a leading Fascist propagandist<ref>James Strachey Barnes led a "major group" established "to promote ... fascism," and circulate "fascist propaganda," emphasizing "the positive nature of fascism." Roger Griffin with Matthew Feldman, eds., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=xeHuSpHzqGUC Fascism: The 'Fascist Epoch']'' (Taylor & Francis, 2004) ISBN 0415290198, p. 255</ref> noted (in a book with a preface by Mussolini):<ref>Gaetano Salvemini, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=CaONx1VLelsC Under the Axe of Fascism]'' (Read Books, 2008) ISBN 1443736708, p. 115</ref>

As a leading Fascist propagandist<ref>James Strachey Barnes led a "major group" established "to promote ... fascism," and circulate "fascist propaganda," emphasizing "the positive nature of fascism." Roger Griffin with Matthew Feldman, eds., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=xeHuSpHzqGUC Fascism: The 'Fascist Epoch']'' (Taylor & Francis, 2004) ISBN 0415290198, p. 255</ref> noted (in a book with a preface by Mussolini):<ref>Gaetano Salvemini, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=CaONx1VLelsC Under the Axe of Fascism]'' (Read Books, 2008) ISBN 1443736708, p. 115</ref>

{{cquote|...Fascism entirely agrees with Mr. Maynard Keynes, despite the latter’s prominent position as a Liberal. In fact, Mr. Keynes’ excellent little book, ''The End of Laissez-Faire'' (l926) might, so far as it goes, serve as a useful introduction to fascist economics. There is scarcely anything to object to in it and there is much to applaud.<ref>James Strachey Barnes, ''[http://books.google.com/books?cd=1&id=N_jSAAAAMAAJ Universal Aspects of Fascism]'' (London: Williams and Norgate, 1929), pp. 113-114</ref>}}

{{cquote|...Fascism entirely agrees with Mr. Maynard Keynes, despite the latter’s prominent position as a Liberal. In fact, Mr. Keynes’ excellent little book, ''The End of Laissez-Faire'' (l926) might, so far as it goes, serve as a useful introduction to fascist economics. There is scarcely anything to object to in it and there is much to applaud.<ref>James Strachey Barnes, ''[http://books.google.com/books?cd=1&id=N_jSAAAAMAAJ Universal Aspects of Fascism]'' (London: Williams and Norgate, 1929), pp. 113-114</ref>}}

Roosevelt appointed Johnson’s former business partner George Peek to head the AAA. Both men had “worked with the War Industries Board, the agency that regulated American production during World War I, and they believed their experience of managing an economy almost totally sealed off from the world market would suit the country now.”<ref>Eric Rauchway, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=BtSU6ZaCbzMC The Great Depression & the New Deal: A Very Short Introduction]'' (Oxford University Press, 2008) ISBN 0195326342, p. 76</ref> They had long advocated a policy of expanding tariffs to keep foreign agricultural products out of the United States,<ref>William J. Barber, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Nks8pTPnsVYC From New Era to New Deal: Herbert Hoover, the Economists, and American Economic Policy, 1921-1933]'' (Cambridge University Press, 1989) ISBN 0521367379, p. 50</ref> a policy that would have again rendered the U.S. economy “almost totally sealed off from the world market”<ref> Neil Vousden, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=uabXBMnp7XgC The Economics of Trade Protection]'' (Cambridge University Press, 1990) ISBN 052134669X, p. 91</ref>&mdash;a fair approximation of “[http://www.economist.com/research/economics/alphabetic.cfm?letter=A#autarky autarky],” an economic policy particularly but not exclusively “associated with Nazi economic organization.”<ref>Gilbert Pleuger, "[http://www.history-ontheweb.co.uk/concepts/autarky.htm Economic autarky]," ''new perspective'' Vol 6,  No 3</ref>

Roosevelt appointed Johnson’s former business partner George Peek to head the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). Both men had “worked with the War Industries Board, the agency that regulated American production during World War I, and they believed their experience of managing an economy almost totally sealed off from the world market would suit the country now.”<ref>Eric Rauchway, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=BtSU6ZaCbzMC The Great Depression & the New Deal: A Very Short Introduction]'' (Oxford University Press, 2008) ISBN 0195326342, p. 76</ref> They had long advocated a policy of expanding tariffs to keep foreign agricultural products out of the United States,<ref>William J. Barber, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Nks8pTPnsVYC From New Era to New Deal: Herbert Hoover, the Economists, and American Economic Policy, 1921-1933]'' (Cambridge University Press, 1989) ISBN 0521367379, p. 50</ref> a policy that would have again rendered the U.S. economy “almost totally sealed off from the world market”<ref> Neil Vousden, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=uabXBMnp7XgC The Economics of Trade Protection]'' (Cambridge University Press, 1990) ISBN 052134669X, p. 91</ref>&mdash;a fair approximation of “[http://www.economist.com/research/economics/alphabetic.cfm?letter=A#autarky autarky],” an economic policy particularly but not exclusively “associated with Nazi economic organization.”<ref>Gilbert Pleuger, "[http://www.history-ontheweb.co.uk/concepts/autarky.htm Economic autarky]," ''new perspective'' Vol 6,  No 3</ref>

"The German Labor Service (''Reichsarbeitsdienst''&mdash;RAD) arose from a party organization set up in 1931 and known as the ''NS-Arbeitsdienst'' for the purpose of easing unemployment,"<ref>United States War Department, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=b3W1tiuHzcoC Handbook on German Military Forces]'' (Washington: GPO, 1945) p. 203</ref> "like its New Deal equivalent, the Civilian Conservation Corps,"<ref>David Schoenbaum, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=1wNCSxrUlyMC Hitler's Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939]'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997) ISBN 0393315541, p. 78</ref> which would be established in 1933.<ref>[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=14609 Executive Order 6101 Starting The Civilian Conservation Corps], The American Presidency Project, University of California - Santa Barbara</ref> According to Garraty, both

"The German Labor Service (''Reichsarbeitsdienst''&mdash;RAD) arose from a party organization set up in 1931 and known as the ''NS-Arbeitsdienst'' for the purpose of easing unemployment,"<ref>United States War Department, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=b3W1tiuHzcoC Handbook on German Military Forces]'' (Washington: GPO, 1945) p. 203</ref> "like its New Deal equivalent, the Civilian Conservation Corps,"<ref>David Schoenbaum, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=1wNCSxrUlyMC Hitler's Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939]'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997) ISBN 0393315541, p. 78</ref> which would be established in 1933.<ref>[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=14609 Executive Order 6101 Starting The Civilian Conservation Corps], The American Presidency Project, University of California - Santa Barbara</ref> According to Garraty, both

{{cquote|were essentially designed to keep young men out of the labor market. Roosevelt described work camps as a means for getting youth ‘off the city street corners,’ Hitler as a way of keeping them from ‘rotting helplessly in the streets.' In both countries much was made of the beneficial social results of mixing thousands of young people from different walks of life in the camps. Furthermore, both were organized on semimilitary lines with the subsidiary purposes of improving the physical fitness of potential soldiers and stimulating public commitment to national service in an emergency.<ref>John A. Garraty, "[http://www.jstor.org/pss/1858346 The New Deal, National Socialism, and the Great Depression]," ''The American Historical Review'', Vol. 78, No. 4 (October, 1973), pp. 907-944</ref>}}

{{cquote|were essentially designed to keep young men out of the labor market. Roosevelt described work camps as a means for getting youth ‘off the city street corners,’ Hitler as a way of keeping them from ‘rotting helplessly in the streets.' In both countries much was made of the beneficial social results of mixing thousands of young people from different walks of life in the camps. Furthermore, both were organized on semimilitary lines with the subsidiary purposes of improving the physical fitness of potential soldiers and stimulating public commitment to national service in an emergency.<ref>John A. Garraty, "[http://www.jstor.org/pss/1858346 The New Deal, National Socialism, and the Great Depression]," ''The American Historical Review'', Vol. 78, No. 4 (October, 1973), pp. 907-944</ref>}}

Even some New Dealers have come to see the essential similarities between their ideology and fascism. Bertram Gross, for example, was a leading architect of liberal social policy under presidents Roosevelt, Truman and Carter.<ref>Richard Poe , “[http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=22062 Third Way or Third Reich?]” FrontPageMagazine, June 22, 2000</ref>

Even some New Dealers have come to see the essential similarities between their ideology and fascism. Bertram Gross, for example, was a leading architect of liberal social policy under presidents Roosevelt, Truman and Carter.<ref>Richard Poe , “[http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=22062 Third Way or Third Reich?]” FrontPageMagazine, June 22, 2000</ref>

While writing his book, Gross dreamed that he was searching through a huge, empty house for "friendly fascists."

While writing his book, Gross dreamed that he was searching through a huge, empty house for "friendly fascists."

{{cquote|I flung open one of the doors," Gross writes. "And there sitting at a typewriter and smiling back at me, I saw myself."<ref>Bertram Myron Gross, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=KLmyw-p7IwUC Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America]'' (South End Press, 1980) ISBN 0896081494, pp. 3-5</ref>}}

{{cquote|I flung open one of the doors," Gross writes. "And there sitting at a typewriter and smiling back at me, I saw myself."<ref>Bertram Myron Gross, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=KLmyw-p7IwUC Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America]'' (South End Press, 1980) ISBN 0896081494, pp. 3-5</ref>}}

Regarding the myth that Naziism was a capitalist plot, David Schoenbaum notes that the Nazi Party census found the single largest category of Party members was “Workers” (30.3%), the second-largest category was “White collar,” (19.4%), of which 59.1% were in sales; the third-largest category, “Independent”/“Self-Employed” made up 19%, the largest group of whom were in “handicraft” (43.7%) Schoenbaum adds that of the two exhibits most often trotted out in defense of the Naziism-as-capitalist-plot thesis&mdash;Fritz Thyssen and the Krupps&mdash;that Thyssen eventually had to flee Nazi Germany for Switzerland, while even the Krupps “did not finance Hitler before 1933,” when his victory had become a ''fait accompli''.<ref>David Schoenbaum, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=1wNCSxrUlyMC Hitler's Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939]'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997) ISBN 0393315541, p. 67</ref> Moreover, some business people likewise supported FDR's policies (e.g., "Although I'm a capitalist, I happen to believe in [Roosevelt's] program").<ref>Lorena A. Hickok, et al., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=nstfz85S4ccC One Third of a Nation: Lorena Hickok Reports on the Great Depression]'' (University of Illinois Press, 1983) ISBN 0252010965, p. 218</ref> Even Ronald Reagan was a New Dealer, back when he was a liberal Democrat and a Roosevelt man (although he later saw the light, saying, "Fascism was really the basis of the New Deal").<ref>Howell Raines, "[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60D10FB3A5F12728DDDAE0994D0405B8084F1D3 Reagan Denies Plan to Answer Carter]," ''The New York Times'', August 17, 1980, p. 1</ref>

Several myths have formed around both the New Deal and fascism. Among these are the myth that the New Deal ended the Great Depression, that Nazism was a plot by big business rather than a mass movement, and that fascism espoused ''laissez faire'' economics and "corporativism" was the rule of corporations over the state, rather than the rule of the state over corporations.

 

 

David Schoenbaum notes that the Nazi Party census found the single largest category of Party members was “Workers” (30.3%), the second-largest category was “White collar,” (19.4%), of which 59.1% were in sales; the third-largest category, “Independent”/“Self-Employed” made up 19%, the largest group of whom were in “handicraft” (43.7%) Schoenbaum adds that of the two exhibits most often trotted out in defense of the Naziism-as-capitalist-plot thesis&mdash;Fritz Thyssen and the Krupps&mdash;that Thyssen eventually had to flee Nazi Germany for Switzerland, while even the Krupps “did not finance Hitler before 1933,” when his victory had become a ''fait accompli''.<ref>David Schoenbaum, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=1wNCSxrUlyMC Hitler's Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939]'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997) ISBN 0393315541, p. 67</ref> Moreover, some business people likewise supported FDR's policies (e.g., "Although I'm a capitalist, I happen to believe in [Roosevelt's] program").<ref>Lorena A. Hickok, et al., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=nstfz85S4ccC One Third of a Nation: Lorena Hickok Reports on the Great Depression]'' (University of Illinois Press, 1983) ISBN 0252010965, p. 218</ref> Even Ronald Reagan was a New Dealer, back when he was a liberal Democrat and a Roosevelt man (although he later saw the light, saying, "Fascism was really the basis of the New Deal").<ref>Howell Raines, "[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60D10FB3A5F12728DDDAE0994D0405B8084F1D3 Reagan Denies Plan to Answer Carter]," ''The New York Times'', August 17, 1980, p. 1</ref>

In fact, much of Nazism was borrowed<ref>[http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8d34748 Southington, Connecticut. School children pledging their allegiance to the flag], United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944 (Library of Congress)</ref> from American progressives and Democrats<ref>Jim Lindgren, [http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2004_10_17-2004_10_23.shtml#1098345826 1938 Gallup poll data], The Volokh Conspiracy, October 21, 2004, 4:03am</ref>&mdash;eugenics and "racial hygiene,"<ref>Karlheinz Weissmann, "[http://mises.org/journals/jls/12_2/12_2_3.pdf The Epoch of National Socialism]," ''The Journal of Libertarian Studies'' Vol. 12 No. 2 (Fall 1996), pp. 257–294</ref> for example. As [http://www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/Nisbet.pdf Robert Nisbet] observed:

In fact, much of Nazism was borrowed<ref>[http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8d34748 Southington, Connecticut. School children pledging their allegiance to the flag], United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944 (Library of Congress)</ref> from American progressives and Democrats<ref>Jim Lindgren, [http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2004_10_17-2004_10_23.shtml#1098345826 1938 Gallup poll data], The Volokh Conspiracy, October 21, 2004, 4:03am</ref>&mdash;eugenics and "racial hygiene,"<ref>Karlheinz Weissmann, "[http://mises.org/journals/jls/12_2/12_2_3.pdf The Epoch of National Socialism]," ''The Journal of Libertarian Studies'' Vol. 12 No. 2 (Fall 1996), pp. 257–294</ref> for example. As [http://www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/Nisbet.pdf Robert Nisbet] observed:

{{cquote|the West's first real experience with totalitarianism&mdash;political absolutism extended into every possible area of culture and society, education, religion, industry, the arts, local community and family included, with a kind of terror always waiting in the wings&mdash;came with the American war state under [[Woodrow Wilson]]."<ref>Robert A. Nisbet, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=wMElAAAAMAAJ The Twilight of Authority]'' (Oxford University Press, 1975), p. 183</ref>}}

{{cquote|the West's first real experience with totalitarianism&mdash;political absolutism extended into every possible area of culture and society, education, religion, industry, the arts, local community and family included, with a kind of terror always waiting in the wings&mdash;came with the American war state under [[Woodrow Wilson]]."<ref>Robert A. Nisbet, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=wMElAAAAMAAJ The Twilight of Authority]'' (Oxford University Press, 1975), p. 183</ref>}}

Regarding the myth that “corporativism” represented rule by corporations: “The programme of the Fascists, as drafted in 1919, was vehemently anti-capitalistic,” wrote Ludwig von Mises. “The most radical New Dealers and even communists could agree with it.”<ref> Ludwig von Mises, ''[http://mises.org/books/socialism.pdf Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis]'' (Yale University Press, 1951), p. 576</ref> It demanded “Suppression of incorporated joint-stock companies, industrial or financial. Suppression of all speculation by banks and stock exchanges,” and “Control and taxation of private wealth. Confiscation of unproductive income.”<ref> Count Carlo Sforza, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=5a0EHPh-X-YC Contemporary Italy - Its Intellectual and Moral Origins]'' (Read Books, 2007) ISBN 1406760307, pp. 295-296</ref> The Fascists called this economic system ''corporativismo'' (corporativism). As UCLA international relations and political science professor Herbert Steiner observed in 1938, “So substantial are the limitations under which private property and capital are exercised in Italy, that the conception of ‘capitalism’ is avowedly destroyed and replaced by ''corporativismo''.”<ref>H. Arthur Steiner,  ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=1LqtuYl43dwC Government in Fascist Italy]'' (McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1938), p. 92</ref>

Regarding the myth that “corporativism” represented rule by corporations: “The programme of the Fascists, as drafted in 1919, was vehemently anti-capitalistic,” wrote Ludwig von Mises. “The most radical New Dealers and even communists could agree with it.”<ref> Ludwig von Mises, ''[http://mises.org/books/socialism.pdf Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis]'' (Yale University Press, 1951), p. 576</ref> It demanded “Suppression of incorporated joint-stock companies, industrial or financial. Suppression of all speculation by banks and stock exchanges,” and “Control and taxation of private wealth. Confiscation of unproductive income.”<ref> Count Carlo Sforza, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=5a0EHPh-X-YC Contemporary Italy - Its Intellectual and Moral Origins]'' (Read Books, 2007) ISBN 1406760307, pp. 295-296</ref> The Fascists called this economic system ''corporativismo'' (corporativism). As UCLA international relations and political science professor Herbert Steiner observed in 1938, “So substantial are the limitations under which private property and capital are exercised in Italy, that the conception of ‘capitalism’ is avowedly destroyed and replaced by ''corporativismo''.”<ref>H. Arthur Steiner,  ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=1LqtuYl43dwC Government in Fascist Italy]'' (McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1938), p. 92</ref>