[1]6,933 words
1. “Brother, can you spare a Duce?”
Apparently, that was the question on the lips of many Americans during the early years of the Great Depression. They watched from afar as Mussolini, unburdened by political opposition, made tremendous strides in ridding Italy of unemployment and bringing back economic prosperity. Many Americans wondered if their problems could really be solved by democratic means, and whether a dictator might not be the most sensible solution.
But they didn’t want a dictator of the Red variety. Despite the swelling ranks of the American Communist Party during the “Red decade,” average Americans never got past their horror at Communism’s atheism and totalitarianism. It was authoritarianism we needed, they said...
