10 Outlandish Conspiracies That Were Actually True

4. George W Bush's Fascist Grandad Tried To Overthrow The Government

Seems like we peaked with that one, right? Far from it. Because now we present to you the story of Prescott S Bush: Wall Street magnate, US Senator, father to George and grandfather to George W, and the man who both helped Hitler rise to power and tried to organise a coup to turn America into a fascist dictatorship. Which is an interesting dynasty for a family that has twice held the power of the whole free world in their palms.

In 1934, the 'Business Plot', as it was known, was widely dismissed as a "gigantic hoax". Looking back, modern historians aren't so quick to judge. A year before that, a group of wealthy businessmen - including Bush, the heads of Chase Bank, GM, Goodyear and Standard - had teamed up to recruit retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler to their cause of overthrowing President of the United States Franklin D Roosevelt and installing a new government consisting of fascist-leading military veterans. They might even have pulled it off, too, if Butler hadn't blabbed to the Supreme Court. They probably should've done their homework when approaching somebody to head their coup, what with the General being an outspoken patriot and FDR fanboy.

Unfortunately, the government found Butler's story a little hard to swallow and, between that and the conspirators in question vehemently denying any involvement, nobody got done for it. The House McCormack-Dickstein Committee did acknowledge the existence of the conspiracy, although clearly it never managed to get off the ground. If it had, though, you would have seen a very different United States of America than we have today. All the businessmen involved didn't bother trying another plot like this, but many kept financial ties to Nazi Germany which helped Hitler get elected and start... all that business.