[size=12.571428298950195px]It Can't Happen Here[/size]
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is a semi-satirical 1935 [/size][size=12.571428298950195px]
political novel[/size][size=12.571428298950195px]
by American author[/size][size=12.571428298950195px]
Sinclair Lewis[/size][size=12.571428298950195px]
. Published during the rise of [/size][size=12.571428298950195px]
fascism[/size][size=12.571428298950195px]
in Europe, the novel describes the rise of Buzz Windrip, a populist United States senator who is elected to the presidency after promising drastic economic and social reforms while promoting a return to patriotism and traditional values. After his election, Windrip takes complete control over the government and imposes totalitarian rule with the help of a ruthless paramilitary force, in the manner of [/size][size=12.571428298950195px]
Adolf Hitler[/size][size=12.571428298950195px]
and the [/size][size=12.571428298950195px]
SS[/size][size=12.571428298950195px]
. The novel's plot centers around newspaperman Doremus Jessup's opposition to the new regime and his subsequent struggle against it. Reviewers at the time and literary critics ever since have emphasized the connection with Louisiana politician[/size][size=12.571428298950195px]
Huey Long[/size][size=12.571428298950195px]
, who was preparing to run for president in 1936 when the novel appeared.[/size]
[size=19.428571701049805px] Plot[size=small][edit][/size][/size]
[size=12.571428298950195px]
In 1936 Senator Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, a charismatic and power-hungry politician, wins election as President of the United States on a populist platform, promising to restore the country to prosperity and greatness, and promising each citizen $5,000 a year (approximately $80,000, adjusted for inflation[1]). Portraying himself as a champion of traditional American values, Windrip easily defeats his opponents, Senator Walt Trowbridge and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Though having previously foreshadowed some authoritarian measures in order to reorganize the United States government, Windrip rapidly outlaws dissent, incarcerates political enemies in concentration camps, and trains and arms a paramilitaryforce called the Minute Men, who terrorize citizens and enforce the policies of Windrip and his "corporatist" regime. One of his first acts as President is to eliminate the influence of the United States Congress, which draws the ire of many citizens as well as the legislators themselves. The Minute Men respond to protests against Windrip's decisions harshly, attacking demonstrators with bayonets. In addition to these actions, Windrip's administration, known as the "Corpo" government, curtails women's and minority rights, and eliminates individual states by subdividing the country into administrative sectors. The government of these sectors is managed by "Corpo" authorities, usually prominent businessmen or Minute Men officers. Those accused of crimes against the government appear before kangaroo courts presided over by "military judges". Despite these dictatorial measures, a majority of Americans approve of them, seeing them as necessary though painful steps to restore American power. Others, those less enthusiastic about the prospect of corporatism, reassure themselves that fascism cannot "happen here"; hence the novel's title.[/size]
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Plot: [/size]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Can't_Happen_Here
