From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| General Smedley Darlington Butler | |
|---|---|
| Butler in uniform, c. 1929 | |
| Birth name | Smedley Darlington Butler |
| Nickname(s) | “Old Gimlet Eye”, “The Fighting Quaker”, “Fighting Hell-Devil” |
| Born | July 30, 1881 West Chester, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | June 21, 1940 (aged 58) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service/branch | Marine Corps |
| Years of service | 1898–1931 |
| Rank | Major general |
| Commands held | 3d Battalion, 1st Marines13th MarinesMarine Barracks, QuanticoMarine Corps Base, San Diego3rd Marine BrigadeMarine Barracks, Quantico |
| Battles/wars | Spanish–American WarPhilippine–American WarBattle of NoveletaBoxer RebellionBattle of Tientsin (WIA)Battle of San Tan PatingBanana WarsBattle of MasayaSiege of Granada, NicaraguaBattle of Coyotepe HillInfiltration of Mexico CityBattle of Fort DipitieBattle of Fort RivièreMexican RevolutionBattle of VeracruzWorld War IDefensive Sector |
| Awards | Medal of Honor (2)Marine Corps Brevet MedalMilitary Medal (Haiti)Commander of the Order of the Black Star (France)See more |
| Relations | Smedley Darlington (grandfather)Samuel Butler (grandfather)Thomas S. Butler (father)Isabel Darlington (aunt) |
| Other work | Activist, official, lecturer, writer |
| Director of Public Safety for Philadelphia | |
| In office January 7, 1924 – December 23, 1925 | |
Major General Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940), nicknamed the Maverick Marine, was a senior United States Marine Corps officer. During his 34-year career, he fought in the Philippine–American War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Mexican Revolution, World War I, and the Banana Wars. At the time of his death, Butler was the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. By the end of his career, Butler had received sixteen medals, including five for heroism; he is the only Marine to be awarded the Brevet Medal as well as two Medals of Honor, all for separate actions.
In 1933, he became involved in a controversy known as the Business Plot, when he told a congressional committee that a group of wealthy industrialists were planning a military coup to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt, with Butler selected to lead a march of veterans to become dictator, similar to fascist regimes at that time. The individuals involved all denied the existence of a plot, which included the father of George H. W. Bush, Prescott Bush, and the media ridiculed the allegations, but a final report by a special House of Representatives Committee confirmed some of Butler’s testimony.
Butler later became an outspoken critic of American wars and their consequences. In 1935, Butler wrote the book War Is a Racket, where he alleged imperialist motivations for U.S. foreign policy and wars (such as those in which he had been involved). After retiring from service, he became a popular advocate, speaking at meetings organized by veterans, pacifists, and church groups in the 1930s.
Anti-war Lectures
After his retirement and later years, Butler became widely known for his outspoken lectures against war profiteering, U.S. military adventurism, and what he viewed as nascent fascism in the United States.
In December 1933, Butler toured the country with James E. Van Zandt to recruit members for the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). He described their effort as “trying to educate the soldiers out of the sucker class.” In his speeches he denounced the Economy Act of 1933, called on veterans to organize politically to win their benefits, and condemned the FDR administration for its ties to big business. The VFW reprinted one of his speeches with the title “You Got to Get Mad” in its magazine Foreign Service. He said: “I believe in…taking Wall St. by the throat and shaking it up.”[60] He believed the rival veterans’ group the American Legion was controlled by banking interests. On December 8, 1933, he said: “I have never known one leader of the American Legion who had never sold them out—and I mean it.”[61]ø
In addition to his speeches to pacifist groups, he served from 1935 to 1937 as a spokesman for the American League Against War and Fascism.[62][63] In 1935, he wrote the exposé War Is a Racket, a trenchant condemnation of the profit motive behind warfare. His views on the subject are summarized in the following passage from the November 1935 issue of the socialist magazine Common Sense:[14]
I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer; a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.
Business Plot
Video at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler
Smedley Butler describes a political conspiracy to overthrow U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935.
In November 1934, Butler claimed the existence of a political conspiracy by business leaders to overthrow President Roosevelt, a series of allegations that came to be known in the media as the Business Plot.[64][65] A special committee of the House of Representatives headed by Representatives John W. McCormack of Massachusetts and Samuel Dickstein of New York, who was later alleged to have been a paid agent of the NKVD,[66] heard his testimony in secret.[67] The McCormack–Dickstein committee was a precursor to the House Un-American Activities Committee.[citation needed]
In November 1934, Butler told the committee that one Gerald P. MacGuire told him that a group of businessmen, supposedly backed by a private army of 500,000 ex-soldiers and others, intended to establish a fascist dictatorship. Butler had been asked to lead it, he said, by MacGuire, who was a bond salesman with Grayson M. P. Murphy & Co. The New York Times reported that Butler had told friends that General Hugh S. Johnson, former head of the National Recovery Administration, was to be installed as dictator, and that the J.P. Morgan banking firm was behind the plot. Butler told Congress that MacGuire had told him the attempted coup was backed by three million dollars, and that the 500,000 men were probably to be assembled in Washington, D.C. the following year. All the parties alleged to be involved publicly said there was no truth in the story, calling it a joke and a fantasy.[67]
In its report to the House, the committee stated that, while “no evidence was presented… to show a connection… with any fascist activity of any European country… [t]here was no question that these attempts were discussed, were planned, and might have been placed in execution…” and that “your committee was able to verify all the pertinent statements made by General Butler, with the exception of the direct statement about the creation of the organization. This, however, was corroborated in the correspondence of MacGuire with his principal, Robert Sterling Clark….”[68]
No prosecutions or further investigations followed, and historians have questioned whether or not a coup was actually contemplated. Historians have not reported any independent evidence apart from Butler’s report on what MacGuire told him. One of these, Hans Schmidt, says MacGuire was an “inconsequential trickster”.[69][70][71][72] The news media dismissed the plot, with a New York Times editorial characterizing it as a “gigantic hoax”.[73] When the committee’s final report was released, the Times said the committee “purported to report that a two-month investigation had convinced it that General Butler’s story of a Fascist march on Washington was alarmingly true” and “… also alleged that definite proof had been found that the much publicized Fascist march on Washington, which was to have been led by Major Gen. Smedley D. Butler, retired, according to testimony at a hearing, was actually contemplated”.[74] The individuals involved all denied the existence of a plot.
