Talk:Louis T. McFadden

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People from ... Category

Why is Mr. McFadden listed as being from Elmira, New York (USA)? He was born in Granville Center, Pennsylvania (USA) and worked for a bank in Pennsylvania before later becaming a senator from Pennsylvania. His only recorded contact with Elmira was that he attended a college there. NPeters22 originally had Mr. McFadden in the People from Pennsylvania category but HOT L Baltimore changed him to the People from New York category on 26 OCT 06. Believing this change to be an oversight, I am reverting the category back. If I am wrong, please explain and un-revert. JimScott 09:09, 10 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Poisoning Claims

According to http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8450558837192717138 (around 11:50) Mr. McFadden was poisoned. Does anyone know anything about this ? 20:00, 15 June 2007

I've heard this elsewhere also An Astounding Exposure. The wikipedia article itself says his death was due to poisoning. If true, he would be the only Congressman assassinated by poisoning in the US. P L Logan 19:09, 15 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm no right-winger or conspiracy dunce, but I found a couple of publications that reference. I'm open to being disproved, but apparently, User:Mateo_SA just wants to delete any mention of it, ref or no, using mere ad hominem arguments that since some sources may be anti-semitic/nazi in nature, the claims of poisoning are thereby untrue. I will admit though that it's been horribly difficult finding any alternative, more reputable reference to the exact causes of his death and claims of assassination attempts. Might actually have to go to a real library to discover this. J.A.McCoy (talk) 23:51, 23 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It certainly is possible that McFadden was deliberately poisoned by someone. But I see no way to conclude anything more than that. Some things that should be kept in mind are the following.

McFadden acted like a hypocrite and a scoundrel in several ways. He charged that efforts to take the United States off of the gold standard were a Jewish plot, but he praised Hitler who took Germany off of the gold standard. Not a very consistent philosophy, at least not in monetary terms. That parallels the fact pointed out by Benjamin Strong in Congress in June 1932:

"I have not the time to refer to the many charges he makes against the Federal Reserve system, but I call attention to the fact that for 12 years he has been the chairman of the Banking and Currency Committee of this House and did not see fit during that time to remedy any of the evils of which he now complains. It seems to me entirely out of place to wait until he is retired as chairman of that great committee and then assault all of the institutions of which it has control."

In other words, McFadden was a hypocrite who was trying to make political hay out of the Great Depression. The 1930s were a rather politically charged up time and so I find the hypothesis quite plausible that someone may have reacted to McFadden's extremely cynical scare-mongering by poisoning him. However, one should not read much more into the matter than that. If he was deliberately poisoned, which we don't really know for sure that he was, was it done by a single individual who was irked with his obnoxious behavior? Or was it done by some grandiose international conspiracy? Since we don't really know anything specific, it's pointless to try to answer that. But there certainly is no reason to attach too high of a meaning to the whole thing.

Most important of all, one can decisively debunk the idea that McFadden was letting loose some special insider information in the speeches he gave. As already noted, if we assume that McFadden really was sincerely trying to blow the whistle on some substantive monetary conspiracy, then it's only logical to expect consistency on financial issues. Since Hitler did remove Germany from the gold standard, and since McFadden praised Hitler for everything he was doing in Germany, then it is only logical to expect McFadden to be calling for an end to the gold standard in the United States. But instead we know that he attacked the Roosevelt administration for attempting such, and attributed this to a Jewish plot. The only consistency one can see there is the "it was Jews" meme. The gold standard itself is treated as inconsequential and can be evaluated differently depending upon what best fits the meme. Does that really sound like someone preparing to reveal some important hidden secret about the monetary system? It sounds like an ideologue who may, conceivably, have been hit with a backlash somehow. Or he may have been poisoned accidentally. That happens too. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.69.137.6 (talk) 23:17, 5 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Germany was not under a gold standard when Hitler was elected in 1933. The gold had been seized by allies as part of the war reparations, so such a standard would have been impossible. Germany had a fiat system similar to what we have today. The NS alternative is too complicated for this discussion, but the real issue is Germany had really no natural resources besides coal and some iron ore. The had no gold, no oil, and had to import food since the 1860s. A commodity based currency was for them impossible, no matter if it was gold or whatever. So, McFaddaen was no hypocrite in regards to the gold standard in the US versus the monetary policy of Germany either under the Weimar Republic or National Socialism.

Wow 207.69.137.6. You clearly have some issues with logic and fallacies. I recommend you go through this list and familiarize yourself. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies

For example (Wikipedia): "Falsus in unus, falsus omnibus

This Latin phrase means "false in one thing, false in everything", and it is often used to label someone found to be wrong on one issue to also be wrong with regard other issues. This is a logical fallacy because being found incompetent in one respect does not imply that one is incompetent in all other respects. This is a special case of the association fallacy."

Annoying username (talk) 11:32, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Irrespective of whether an individual Wikipedian regards Rep. McFadden as "cynical" and "obnoxious," the assassination of a U.S. Congressman is a serious matter, and should be detailed as such, to the best of our ability (finding sources may be problematic, admittedly). To simply assert, as was done here, that we ought not to regard his murder as a very big deal, presumably based on the opinion he deserved it, or something to that effect, transcends merely ignoring the NPOV policy, and is really quite distasteful. The assassination of a U.S. Congressman, without regard to ideological consideration, is a significant historical & criminal event, and attempts to look into it further should not be discouraged. This is particularly true in light of Rep. McFadden's intense opposition to the Federal Reserve system, seeing as how by being so outspokenly opposed on that issue, he provided a very obvious motive for murder to some of the most wealthy and powerful men of his time. KevinOKeeffe (talk) 06:46, 13 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The bottom line is that you're a liar. Who accuses others of being so, no less. You lied about Hitler 'taking Germany of the gold standard', which is not true; and furthermore, you lie about the circumstances of having one's country delapidated by a barbaric war (not even started by itself) and shameful (and futurly tragic) surrender conditions. Germany was in no conditions to issue gold standard because Germany had NO gold. Yet, you, in scurrilous fashion, use these lies to call others in this discussion forum 'falacious', and to insult Mr. McFadden himself as 'hypocrite'. You're the hypocrite! And a liar to boot, in bold face!

About his death i have no opinion nor information, but that half a century of it his death, to most sickening of liars lie on his deathbed and attacks him here with nothing but ad hominem untruths surely tells us something about the interest of attacking him whilst alive. 13:42, 28 March 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.84.110.189 (talk)

If we could keep this balanced and rational, please. Regardless of the character of L.T McFadden, it's of great historical importance if he was assassinated. Furthermore, it's important to find out who killed him, and why.

Deathweed

According to http://video.google.com/videosearch?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GZAZ_en___US229&q=ZEITGEIST&um=1&sa=N&tab=wv# he was killed after standing up to big bankers, since he knew the corruption they were doing with taking over the country.--PUNk Limited (talk) 01:41, 23 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]