Talk:Louis T. McFadden

Formatting help needed
- There is a problem with 2 of my links (currently 22 & 24) they begin 'Template:Http' and don't work.

- the Hospital for Ruptured and Crippled is now called the Hospital for Special Surgery but I don't how to make the link work. Lenbrazil (talk) 22:18, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

People from ... Category
Why is Mr. McFadden listed as being from Elmira, New York (USA)? He was born in Granville Center, Pennsylvania (USA) and worked for a bank in Pennsylvania before later becaming a senator from Pennsylvania. His only recorded contact with Elmira was that he attended a college there. NPeters22 originally had Mr. McFadden in the People from Pennsylvania category but HOT L Baltimore changed him to the People from New York category on 26 OCT 06. Believing this change to be an oversight, I am reverting the category back. If I am wrong, please explain and un-revert. JimScott 09:09, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Poisoning Claims
According to http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8450558837192717138 (around 11:50) Mr. McFadden was poisoned. Does anyone know anything about this ? 20:00, 15 June 2007


 * I've heard this elsewhere also An Astounding Exposure. The wikipedia article itself says his death was due to poisoning. If true, he would be the only Congressman assassinated by poisoning in the US. P L Logan 19:09, 15 September 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm no right-winger or conspiracy dunce, but I found a couple of publications that reference. I'm open to being disproved, but apparently, User:Mateo_SA just wants to delete any mention of it, ref or no, using mere ad hominem arguments that since some sources may be anti-semitic/nazi in nature, the claims of poisoning are thereby untrue.  I will admit though that it's been horribly difficult finding any alternative, more reputable reference to the exact causes of his death and claims of assassination attempts.  Might actually have to go to a real library to discover this.  J.A.McCoy (talk) 23:51, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

It certainly is possible that McFadden was deliberately poisoned by someone. But I see no way to conclude anything more than that. Some things that should be kept in mind are the following.

McFadden acted like a hypocrite and a scoundrel in several ways. He charged that efforts to take the United States off of the gold standard were a Jewish plot, but he praised Hitler who took Germany off of the gold standard. Not a very consistent philosophy, at least not in monetary terms. That parallels the fact pointed out by Benjamin Strong in Congress in June 1932: (this comment seems very hypocritical given that North American leaders all praised Hitler. This is out of context for the effect of mentioning "Hitler".)


 * The following comments appear to be completely subjective, and are hardly complimentary to Wiki. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.49.192.36  (talk • contribs)  22:37, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

"I have not the time to refer to the many charges he makes against the Federal Reserve system, but I call attention to the fact that for 12 years he has been the chairman of the Banking and Currency Committee of this House and did not see fit during that time to remedy any of the evils of which he now complains. It seems to me entirely out of place to wait until he is retired as chairman of that great committee and then assault all of the institutions of which it has control."

In other words, McFadden was a hypocrite who was trying to make political hay out of the Great Depression. The 1930s were a rather politically charged up time and so I find the hypothesis quite plausible that someone may have reacted to McFadden's extremely cynical scare-mongering by poisoning him. However, one should not read much more into the matter than that. If he was deliberately poisoned, which we don't really know for sure that he was, was it done by a single individual who was irked with his obnoxious behavior? Or was it done by some grandiose international conspiracy? Since we don't really know anything specific, it's pointless to try to answer that. But there certainly is no reason to attach too high of a meaning to the whole thing.

Most important of all, one can decisively debunk the idea that McFadden was letting loose some special insider information in the speeches he gave. As already noted, if we assume that McFadden really was sincerely trying to blow the whistle on some substantive monetary conspiracy, then it's only logical to expect consistency on financial issues. Since Hitler did remove Germany from the gold standard, and since McFadden praised Hitler for everything he was doing in Germany, then it is only logical to expect McFadden to be calling for an end to the gold standard in the United States. But instead we know that he attacked the Roosevelt administration for attempting such, and attributed this to a Jewish plot. The only consistency one can see there is the "it was Jews" meme. The gold standard itself is treated as inconsequential and can be evaluated differently depending upon what best fits the meme. Does that really sound like someone preparing to reveal some important hidden secret about the monetary system? It sounds like an ideologue who may, conceivably, have been hit with a backlash somehow. Or he may have been poisoned accidentally. That happens too. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.69.137.6 (talk) 23:17, 5 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Germany was not under a gold standard when Hitler was elected in 1933. The gold had been seized by allies as part of the war reparations, so such a standard would have been impossible.  Germany had a fiat system similar to what we have today.  The NS alternative is too complicated for this discussion, but the real issue is Germany had really no natural resources besides coal and some iron ore. The had no gold, no oil, and had to import food since the 1860s.  A commodity based currency was for them impossible, no matter if it was gold or whatever. So, McFaddaen was no hypocrite in regards to the gold standard in the US versus the monetary policy of Germany either under the Weimar Republic or National Socialism.
 * Wow 207.69.137.6. You clearly have some issues with logic and fallacies. I recommend you go through this list and familiarize yourself. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies
 * For example (Wikipedia): "Falsus in unus, falsus omnibus
 * This Latin phrase means "false in one thing, false in everything", and it is often used to label someone found to be wrong on one issue to also be wrong with regard other issues. This is a logical fallacy because being found incompetent in one respect does not imply that one is incompetent in all other respects. This is a special case of the association fallacy."
 * Annoying username (talk) 11:32, 12 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Irrespective of whether an individual Wikipedian regards Rep. McFadden as "cynical" and "obnoxious," the assassination of a U.S. Congressman is a serious matter, and should be detailed as such, to the best of our ability (finding sources may be problematic, admittedly). To simply assert, as was done here, that we ought not to regard his murder as a very big deal, presumably based on the opinion he deserved it, or something to that effect, transcends merely ignoring the NPOV policy, and is really quite distasteful.  The assassination of a U.S. Congressman, without regard to ideological consideration, is a significant historical & criminal event, and attempts to look into it further should not be discouraged. This is particularly true in light of Rep. McFadden's intense opposition to the Federal Reserve system, seeing as how by being so outspokenly opposed on that issue, he provided a very obvious motive for murder to some of the most wealthy and powerful men of his time. KevinOKeeffe (talk) 06:46, 13 March 2009 (UTC)


 * The bottom line is that you're a liar. Who accuses others of being so, no less. You lied about Hitler 'taking Germany of the gold standard', which is not true; and furthermore, you lie about the circumstances of having one's country delapidated by a barbaric war (not even started by itself) and shameful (and futurly tragic) surrender conditions. Germany was in no conditions to issue gold standard because Germany had NO gold. Yet, you, in scurrilous fashion, use these lies to call others in this discussion forum 'falacious', and to insult Mr. McFadden himself as 'hypocrite'. You're the hypocrite! And a liar to boot, in bold face!


 * About his death i have no opinion nor information, but that half a century of it his death, to most sickening of liars lie on his deathbed and attacks him here with nothing but ad hominem untruths surely tells us something about the interest of attacking him whilst alive. 13:42, 28 March 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.84.110.189 (talk)

If we could keep this balanced and rational, please. Regardless of the character of L.T McFadden, it's of great historical importance if he was assassinated. Furthermore, it's important to find out who killed him, and why. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.1.210.26 (talk) 18:33, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

As far as I can tell, the only evidence of any physical attacks on McFadden are from a single source. According to many web sites, the following item appeared in the Oct 14, 1936 issue of Pelley's Weekly:

Now that this sterling American patriot has made the Passing, it can be revealed that not long after his public utterance against the encroaching powers of Judah, it became known among his intimates that he had suffered two attacks against his life. The first attack came in the form of two revolver shots fired at him from ambush as he was alighting from a cab in front of one of the Capital hotels. Fortunately both shots missed him, the bullets burying themselves in the structure of the cab.

He became violently ill after partaking of food at a political banquet at Washington. His life was only saved from what was subsequently announced as a poisoning by the presence of a physician friend at the banquet, who at once procured a stomach pump and subjected the Congressman to emergency treatment.

Robert Edward Edmondson (Publicist-Economist)

This is not taken seriously as a source for several reasons:


 * Pelley's Weekley was not a news magazine, it was “The personal organ of the Chief of the Silvershirt Movement”. William Dudley Pelley was the leader of the openly fascist Silver Legion of America and Pelley's Weekly was his one of his propaganda outlets. Robert Edward Edmondson was another leader of the extreme right.
 * The account does not name a single witness, any dates, any specific locations or other details that could aid in verifying the alleged incidents.
 * There are no other records of attacks.
 * There is no evidence that McFadden's family every mentioned any these alleged incidents or any suspicions about his death.

KHirsch (talk) 13:39, 13 November 2009 (UTC)


 * I agree, another reason to doubt that he was murdered is that by the time he died he was a political nobody. After 1932 he was ostracized by his own party, he failed to get re-elected in 1934 (and was the only Republican to loose the district 1914 - 50), announced his candidacy for president in 1935 but was ignored and decisively lost the GOP nomination for his old seat in April 1936.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lenbrazil (talk • contribs) 22:08, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Deathweed
According to http://video.google.com/videosearch?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GZAZ_en___US229&q=ZEITGEIST&um=1&sa=N&tab=wv# he was killed after standing up to big bankers, since he knew the corruption they were doing with taking over the country.--PUNk Limited (talk) 01:41, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

On apparent smear or guilt by association
It should be pointed out that most 'all the US "elites" praised Hitler and his policies before the war. Hitler was even made TIME Magazine's "Man of The Year" and put on the front cover in 1933. Among the notables supporting Hitler was Henry Ford and Prescott Bush, President George Herbert Walker Bush's father and George W. Bush's grandfather.

An opposition to jewish or indeed any groups dominance over the economic system in any nation can not logically or intellectually honestly be seen as racist or anti-semitic on its own merit. I don't doubt that McFadden harboured anti-semitic views, but it does not follow automatically from his policies or his opposition to jewish dominance in the banking industry, nor does the article properly document or quote any such proof. I'd like to see such proof reflected in the article itself and not just a references to Hitler. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nunamiut (talk • contribs) 15:03, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

A Concise History Of American Antisemitism
the reference to Michael's A Concise History Of American Antisemitism page 180 is a non-encyclopedic reference for the 'moneychangers' comment notwithstanding the idea that this quote infers that Jesus Christ was anitsemetic, it could also be taken to mean that the moneychangers/bankers are in fact select Jews. Is it both? Is it neither? The Michael books paints Christianity in general as antisemetic and the USA as christian country. The idea is that each and every attempt at Christian celebration is antisemetic because it's founding idea is not Jewish ergo making it antisemetic. At different points the MIchael works refers to gallup polls indicating 2/3 of Americans and 81% of Americans were antisemetic because of their views on Jewish immigration. Michael sees America and christianity as antisemetic in his work. The Michael reference to McFadden supporting anti-Jewish policies of Nazi Germany is a non-encyclopedic reference to a reference. The Michael source is a biased source that accuses many prominent Americans and the American public at large of antisemetism. Mrpoisson (talk) 13:40, 19 July 2009 (UTC)


 * It is a well documented historic fact that zionists ( those who wished for and worked for Palestine to become Jewish property and a Jewish State) during the early 1900's and late 1800's were working actively to get as many Jews as possible to go to the "promised land" instead of the USA. The Zionist's like Theodore Herzl and others had powerful friends, among them powerful politicians and large financial backing as from Rothschild and the Rothschild family throughout the period and even up until today. (Israels Supreme Court building was financed entirely by Rothschild money according to several sources). It would have been in the zionists interest that as many jews as possible were turned away from the doorstep of the United States, and redirected to Palestine. There are even quotes from high ranking zionists that this was even desireable and an end towards they would work actively. This concerted effort is well documented and is abundant with sources from notable historic sources and even several notable jewish historians and sources themselves. Zionists even made deals with Hitler and the Nazi regime, and found anti-semitism in Germany favourable to their cause as it again also made Jews leave for the promised land or the USA only to get turned away and hopefully end up in Palestine. These are not anti-semite claims or my anti semite ideas, they are historic facts and abundantly documented facts at that. Nunamiut (talk) 22:33, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Date of Death
The current entry shows his date of death as Oct. 1, 1936. Other sources (found via a Google search) have it as Oct. 3, 1936. Is there any source to back up the Oct. 1 date? Ndvanderhoofven (talk) 04:08, 22 February 2010 (UTC)


 * I found the answer. The biographical directory of Congress at http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=M000434 lists his date of death as October 1, 1936.  That seems more reliable than a random internet page. Ndvanderhoofven (talk) 04:16, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

How can you derive that L.T. McFadden is anti-Semitic?
In my readings I have found that the only mention of Jews by Louis T. McFadden is in such a manner as to clarify which groups of people are in cahoots (through religion in this case) and which are not. For example on the Congressional Record, June 14, 1934 McFadden begins:

"At that time a man named Jacob Schiff came to this country as the agent of certain foreign money lenders. His mission was to get control of American railroads.  This man was a Jew.  He was the son of a rabbi.  He was born in one of the Rothschilds's houses in Frankfort, Germany."

Later McFadden states again:

"Sometime before Schiff's arrival there was a firm of Jewish peddlers or merchants in Lafayette, Ind., by the name of Kuhn & Loeb."

It's just an abrasive way to draw attention to the subversive nature of the subject. Later on McFadden says:

"He appears to have been a man who would stop at nothing to gain his own ends. I do not blame him for being a Jew.  I blame him for being a trouble maker."

Clearly anyone who thinks these remarks anti-Semitic has neither read nor understood the dangers that lie in wait when the super rich and powerful get together and vie for power. For example McFadden says (remember this was said before World War 2):

"You have heard, no doubt, of the so-called persecutions of Jews in Germany. Mr. Speaker, there is no real persecution of Jews in Germany. Hitler and the Warburgs, the Mendelssohns and the Rothschilds, appear to be on the best of terms." Winstalfred Alfronzo (talk) 15:03, 19 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Ultimately, we go with descriptions from reliable sources. Personally, someone who reads into record anything from The Protocols of Zion, after they were discredited, is at least somewhat deserving of the term. Ravensfire ( talk ) 16:14, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

Protocols, etc. sources
The Jews of Capitol Hill: A Compendium of Jewish Congressional Members By Kurt F. Stone p. 137 "McFadden (IS76-1936), an admirer of ihe aniSemilic William Dudley Pelley, actually quoted from the Protocols of the Elders of lion and Henry Ford's International few on the House floor. An uncompromising enemy of what he termed Roosevelt's "Jew-controlled New Deal," McFadden applauded Hitlers "heroic" efforts to eliminate "Jewish domination" in Germany."

A Concise History of American Antisemitism By Robert Michael: "Representative Louis McFadden, a ten-term Republican from Pennsylva-Pennsylvania inveighed against international Jewish money powers, denounced Jews, and praised the Nazis from the floor of the HousS. In 1933, he warned that America would have to choose between God and the "money changcrs." Con-Convinced that the Jews intended to control the world as well as the United 142	Chapter Five States, he seemed to accept wholeheartedly the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. He claimed that Jewish bankers intended "to paralyze industry, to de-destroy patriotism, and, finally, to secure the overthrow of government itself in the United States" McFadden also sympathized with the anti-Jewish policies of the Third Reich.112 Defeated in his bid for reelection in 1934, he ran for the presidency in 1936 on a platform one of whose planks was "Christianity in-instead of Judaism."

The Untold History of the United States By Oliver Stone, Peter J. Kuznick "Hitler, too, had more than his share of U.S. defenders. Among the more notorious was Republican Congressman Louis T. McFadden of Pennsylvania. He took to the floor of the House in May 1933 to decry the international Jewish conspiracy, reading passages from Vie Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an anti- Semitic screed purporting to prove a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world, into the Congressional Record and announcing that the president s abandonment of the gold standard "had given the gold and lawful money of the country to the international money Jews of whom Franklin D. Roosevelt is the familiar." "This country has fallen into the hands of the international money changers," he charged. "Is it not true," McFadden asked, "that in the United States today the Gentiles have the slips of paper while the Jews have the gold and the lawful money? And is not this repudiation bill a bill specifically designed and written by the Jewish international money changcrs in order to perpetuate their power?"

The edit summary that removed it made it clear the editor didn't like using the Jewish Telegraph Agency as a source and wanted balance - not sure what this means - show that he liked kittens? Doug Weller talk 15:47, 13 August 2016 (UTC)

McFadden Act 1927
The top paragraph states that the McFadden Act "limited nationally-chartered banks to only open branch banks within the state in which the main branch was situated." This is wrong. Prior to the Act nationally chartered banks weren't allowed to open any branches. so the McFadden Act liberizled branch banking for national banks. I will do the editing. Marc.1337 (talk) 09:17, 13 March 2019 (UTC)