The president might have used the occasion to alert the public to the anti-democratic impulses of a major segment of the capitalist class. But this of course would only have bolstered the fortunes of Communist, Socialist and other anti-capitalist political tendencies here, which were already gaining some ground among artists, intellectuals and a surprising number of working people. It is well known that Hollywood screenwriting in the 1930s was replete with Communist-inspired sentiment.

And of course we must not forget that FDR was himself a (somewhat renegade) member of the very class that would have toppled him. While FDR was open to watered-down Keynesian policies in a way that very few of his class comrades were, his commitment (like Keynes's) to the "free enterprise" system was unconditional. He had no interest in publicizing a plot that might constitute a public-relations victory for anti-capitalist politics. He therefore refused to out the plotters, and sought no punitive measures against them. In the end, class solidarity carried the day for Roosevelt. The Congressional committee cooperated by refusing to reveal the names of many of the key plotters.

Thus, fascist tendencies gestating deep within the culture of the U.S. ruling class were effectively left to develop unhindered by mass political mobilization.

As in our own time, class solidarity among the political elite carries the day, ensuring that pardons will be issued, history sanitised for at least a generation and a half, and so on.  Kissinger will die in luxury with the best of medical care;  many of the criminals from Contragate (and earlier) have been recycled into the current US regime, blah blah, it's Business As Usual and I do mean business.  Phoney Tony will be treated with respect by the media as a "distinguished statesman" within a couple of years, wanna bet?  The aristos may squabble amongst themselves, but they close ranks fast enough when facing us plebes.

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...