Silver Legion of America
| Silver Legion of America | |
|---|---|
The Roman L was the official Silver Legion's symbol.
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| Also known as | "Silver Shirts" |
| Country | United States |
| Leader(s) | William Dudley Pelley |
| Foundation | January 30, 1933 |
| Dissolved | December 7, 1941 |
| Active region(s) | All United States, mainly American South and California |
| Ideology |
American nationalism White nationalism White supremacy Clerical fascism Social conservatism Anti-semitism Isolationism |
| Political position | Far-right |
| Major actions | |
| Status | Defunct |
| Size | Ca. 15,000 (1934) |
The Silver Legion of America, commonly known as the Silver Shirts, was an underground American fascist organization founded by William Dudley Pelley that was headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina and announced publicly on January 30, 1933.
A white-supremacist, antisemitic group modeled after Hitler's Brownshirts, the paramilitary Silver Legion wore a silver shirt with a tie along with a campaign hat and blue corduroy trousers with leggings. The uniform shirts bore a scarlet letter L over the heart: an emblem meant to symbolize Loyalty to the United States, Liberation from materialism, and the Silver Legion itself. The blocky slab serif L-emblem was in a typeface similar to the present-day Rockwell Extra Bold. The organizational flag was a plain silver field with such a red L in the canton at the upper left.
By 1934, the Silver Shirts claimed about 15,000 members. Circa 1935, a Nazi agent befriended mining fortune heiress Jessie Murphy, convincing her to contribute cash, and the use of her ranch, recently purchased from screen cowboy Will Rogers, to the Fascist movement. The Silver Shirts began construction of the Murphy Ranch, situated on a secluded 55 acre site in the Los Angeles hills, meant to serve as a fortified world headquarters after the expected Fascist global conquest.
Silver Shirt leader Pelley ran for President of the United States in the 1936 election on a third-party ticket. Pelley hoped to seize power in a "silver revolution" and set himself up as dictator of the United States; the presidency remained in the hands of incumbent Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. By around 1938, the Silver Legion's membership was down to about 5,000.
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