The Business Coup Against Franklin Delano Roosevelt, BBC Video

When Franklin Delano Roosevelt came to office in 1933, he was considered a fairly safe bet for the captains of industry. Although he was talking about taking major action to turn the Great Depression around, business oligarchs were not too worried. Herbert Hoover was so despised that a Democratic candidate was likely to win, and what better candidate than a wealthy Roosevelt to protect the class interests of business leaders?

In his very first week in office, he saved the banking system. Then, he went on looking for new programs in every area to rebuild the nation and, as many said, 'to save capitalism from itself.'

Reforms went too far for leaders of business. A group of oligarch types got together to plan for the removal of FDR from office by force in a coup. The coup attempt was discovered and the plan was foiled before the next election.

By the 1936 election, business leaders were opposed to FDR, unsurprisingly.