Reply #17: At it's 1919 founding, [View All]

[pnorman]

the American Leagion was all but explicitly "anti-red" and anti-union --- primarily the IWW. They engaged in violence on occasion, and the intermediaries of the 1935 planned coup on Washington (regarding USMC Gen. Smedley Butler) were high ranking officers of the Legion.

The influx of WW2 veterans, diluted and occasionally swamped such sentiments, but the Legion now seems to be returning to it's roots. I'm not a member of it, but because of it's above history, I've kept an eye on them over the years. I recall that up until the late 50s or perhaps even later, many American Legion posts, particularly in southern California, were openly anti-Semitic. (In many such circles, and up to fairly recent times, "jewcommie" was a single word ... NO hyphen).

pnorman