After the Watergate scandal forced President Reagan from office, he gave a television interview in which the host spoke with him about Fascism.
The United States, which had always championed freedom and democracy, ought to have stood opposed to Fascism. The viewers expected that perhaps the president would once again speak of America's contributions during World War II.
But Reagan answered, "Many years ago, someone said that if Fascism ever came to America, it would come in the name of liberalism. What is Fascism? Fascism is private ownership, private companies, but all under government control and regulation. Isn't that the philosophy of liberalism? For conservatives, it means reducing government regulation. Stop bothering me, get out of my pocket, and let me have more control over my own destiny."
After the Nazis came to power, Germany's industry shifted from civilian to military use. All enterprises, whether privately or state-owned, had to obey government allocation. That was precisely what President Reagan meant: private companies did not want government regulation, but under the wartime mechanisms of the Roosevelt era, that was impossible.
Fascists had once attempted to ally themselves with Southern Democrats in America. They had also signed non-aggression treaties with Chamberlain in Britain and with Russia. The origins of America's Southern Democrats could be traced back to 1792, when they were still called the Republican Party. In 1825, they split into two factions. The main supporters of the Second Party System led by Andrew Jackson were in Northern states such as New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Adams, who had drafted the Declaration of Independence, led the other faction, whose supporters were mainly in the slaveholding states of the South. Those states often had only the Democratic Party, and it also had many supporters in the rural Midwest.
After the American Civil War