Speaking of Fascists, 98 years ago today (10/29/1922), Mussolini took power in Rome.

How did Americans react?

Outrage? Shock? Collapse of democracy?

Nope. White Americans really liked Mussolini. A lot.

Though Mussolini later created a myth of a popular uprising, Fascism came to power with the support and connivance of elites/ aristocracy. His blackshirts did stage a march on Rome, but this was mostly theatre. He was appointed by the King as prime minister on October 29, 1922.

Made up mainly of WW1 veterans who were angry about poor economic conditions and political stalemate in Italy, the early fascist movement, like the Nazi party that emerged at the same time in Germany, sounded kind of left-wing: jobs! nationalization of industry! State control!

But this platform was just an echo of the Socialists, and Mussolini blended into this economic program a new idea: make Italy great again! In 1921, Mussolini founds the National Fascist Party (the Partito Nazionale Fascista).

What defined Fascism?
Nationalism: restore Italy’s greatness, recover mythic Roman past.
Corporatism: workers, business, govt join together to toil for the nation. No class struggle!
Anti-Communism: we like private property!
A cult of personality around *Il Duce* (the leader).

Many Americans found Mussolini irresistible. Fascism was elastic. US business elites hailed its anti-communism. And swooned over its repression of strikes.

Fascism also appealed to US eugenicists/racists who saw democracy as a threat to white supremacy.

Even some progressives were wowed by Il Duce! Lincoln Steffens saw him as breaking the stalemate of liberalism in the name of action, reform. Ida Tarbell, the progressive muckraker, put out a series of flattering articles on Mussolini, who she called “the despot with a dimple.”

US newspapers gushed! Chicago Tribune: “Fascism is the most successful effort of the middle class to meet the tide of revolutionary socialism… So far, so good.” New York Times: “Mussolini is a severe disciplinarian but no dictator.” He was putting Italy back to work.

Masculinity features in early accounts of Mussolini. Alice Rohe in NYT noted his “indomitable will, personal fearlessness.” His eyes: “piercing, commanding, brooding…” His mouth: “Strong, determined, domineering, uncompromising.” His lips: “an unmistakable sensuousness.” Woah.

In June 1924, Mussolini’s outspoken critic in parliament, Giacomo Matteotti, a Socialist, was kidnapped by fascist thugs who beat him to death and dumped his body on a roadside. This was the real Fascist order.

One month after Matteotti’s murder, The San Francisco Examiner praised Mussolini. He “ransomed Italy from the Reds… He is a dictator with a temper that brooks no opposition… A man of iron…remarkable deeds.”

*Time* put him on the cover in 1923. In '26, they did so again, showing him petting a tiger! “I am like the animals,” he said. “My blood speaks!” Rarely was there a discussion of Mussolini in US press that did not sigh over his clenched fists, square jaw, boldness, decisiveness.

Not until 1935, w/ Italian invasion of Ethiopia, did US opinion turn. The war featured barbarism of every kind including gas attacks. Perhaps as many as 800,000 people died. The African American press took the lead in denouncing the Fascists. Pittsburgh Courier:

In 1936, Mussolini announced that Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy shared “a common destiny.” Mussolini went on to describe the relationship between the two countries as the ‘axis’ around which Europe would revolve.

Upshot: Many white Americans found early Fascism beguiling, even romantic. Unity, nationalism, an end to politics, crushing of the “Reds,” law and order! And the chance to build an “imperial race”. That strain has never been totally vanquished...

Brilliant new work on these themes by @ruthbenghiat @jasonintrator @sarahchurchwell shows that Fascism, under varying guises, has persisted in the USA for decades. Its constant aim: to normalize autocracy, inflame nationalism, expel aliens, crush the Left. /End