It Can’t Happen Here

It Can’t Happen Here

by

Sinclair Lewis

“Colonel” Osceola Luthorne is a Kansas magazine editor and real estate agent who joins Buzz Windrip’s campaign team from the very beginning and eventually becomes Windrip’s Secretary of War. He is not a real colonel, but his friend, the Governor of Tennessee, gives him the title anyway. He eventually gets fired and replaced by Dewey Haik because he didn’t give the Corpos enough power. He retires to his Kansas farm, until Lee Sarason orders him to be murdered without Buzz Windrip’s knowledge. His career trajectory shows how fascist administrations allocate power based on arbitrary loyalties, not ability or qualifications.
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Osceola Luthorne Character Timeline in It Can’t Happen Here

The timeline below shows where the character Osceola Luthorne appears in It Can’t Happen Here. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 10
American Fascism Theme Icon
Political Communication and Mass Media Theme Icon
Buzz Windrip and his team—Bishop Prang, Senator Porkwood, and Colonel Osceola Luthorne —give constant radio addresses and take a 40-day campaign trip around the country on a... (full context)
Chapter 15
American Fascism Theme Icon
Political Communication and Mass Media Theme Icon
...Secretary of State, the tax-evading banker Webster R. Skittle as Secretary of the Treasury, and Colonel Osceola Luthorne as Secretary of War (even though his title is honorary and he has no actual... (full context)
Chapter 29
American Fascism Theme Icon
Morality and Resistance Theme Icon
...up Doremus Jessup and passes on some confidential information: Windrip is replacing Secretary of War Osceola Luthorne with Provincial Commissioner Dewey Haik, who will be replaced by John Sullivan Reek. Tasbrough might... (full context)
Chapter 35
American Fascism Theme Icon
Political Communication and Mass Media Theme Icon
...and Windrip suggests taking control of the Minute Men back from Dewey Haik or hiring Osceola Luthorne to help run it. Embarrassed, Sarason reveals that the government has already killed Luthorne. Windrip... (full context)