The story is said to have been influenced by the conservative anti communist General Walker after he retired from the military. He took command in Koreas after MacArthur was relieved of his command. Walker was later relieved because he also wantd to put a radio active belt across the 39th parelell, you may remember that. He was made commander of the 25th INF Div and he hated to loose at anything. The football season had started when he took command. We had lost our first 4 games and he didnot like it. He, I can only assume it was he who sent to W.Point and had there backfield coach, Jim Kane also a former All American just after Blanchard & Davis. re-assigned We had a 10 day break in between games and we didn't loose after that change. I recall being drenched in sweat and mudd after a game and his coming down on the field and shaking my hand. I was impressed.
It was a novel the author, Knebel, got the idea for the book after interviewing then Air Force Chief of Staff Curtis LeMay. His book and the movie were adapted from the story refered to as the Business Plot. It was also called the Plot against the White House & FDR.
It was a political conspiracy in 1933 wherein wealthy businessmen and corporations plotted a coup to overthrow FDR. In 1934, the Business Plot was publicly revealed by retired Marine Corps Maj Gen Smedley Butler. With a name like Smedley he had to be good. He testified to the McCormack-Dickstein Congressional Committee In his testimony, Butler claimed that a group of men had approached him as part of a plot to overthrow Roosevelt in a military coup. One of the alleged plotters, Gerald MacGuire, vehemently denied any such plot. In their final report, the Congressional committee supported Butler's allegations of the existence of the plot, but no prosecutions or further investigations followed, and the matter was mostly forgotten.
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