You know how Welles' 'Citizen Kane' was somewhat inspired by stories of William Randolph Hearst. Was this book/movie supposed to be a thinly veiled (but highly hyperbolied) nudge-nudge-wink-wink of some real national hero with fascist sympathies? Like Charles Linbergh?
shareYes the Forrest character is said to have been inspired by Lindbergh, with the biographical details changed enough to avoid a lawsuit.
shareI think Lindbergh is the best guess when it comes to when the book and film came out. For some reason reviews are found pointing to Robert LaFollette Jr. It seems to me this is very unfair to LaFollette.
Lindbergh makes sense as he was a hero who had strong fascist sympathies. LaFollette does not make sense as he was strongly democratic in his politics and while some Progressive ideas were screwy they were strongly pro-democracy.
share[deleted]
No. Like many, Lindbergh had admired Germany's recovery from World War I and the Depression. Like the overwhelming majority of Americans Lindbergh wanted to stay out of the European war. Once we were at war, Lindberg was unconditionally anti-Germany. Of Germany's Final Solution he said, "It seemed impossible that men - civilized men - could degenerate to such a level."
Lindbergh was not political. In fact, his lack of political sensibility got him into trouble. But in character Lindbergh was in no way, shape or form like Robert Forrest.
So, who was Forrest? Every movie story has a "What if...." What if there were an American Hitler in every way, except that the American version was hidden, a fifth columnist? The screenwriter Donald Ogden Stewart was on an anti-fascist tear during the war. Maybe Stewart drew from Hearst the tycoon and Lindbergh the hero for personality, but for character I think he drew from Hitler.
I can't help but feel that there are elements of the so-called Business Plot to the film. The Business Plot is a fascinating and often overlooked episode from early on in FDR's presidency when respected retired Marine Corp General Smedley Butler was approached by a representative of a number of Wall Street bankers. The plan was for Butler to put together and lead a group of ex-soldiers ala the Nazi storm-troopers to seize power and place FDR as a figure head of an American fascist regime. Butler exposed the plot and it created quite a stir in its day but outside of a few books (such as the late Jules Archer's The Plot To Seize The White House) has been forgotten about today.
My gut feeling is that Forest is a "what if?" for Butler had he chosen to go along with the plot instead of exposing it to Congress and the American public. I think there's shades of Charles Lindbergh as well who has already been mentioned but the Business Plot seems like a huge influence on the film.
timdalton007