![]() The problem was, these certificates were like bonds with a maturity date, and couldn’t be paid out until 1945. They were seeking cash payment of Service Certificates given to them eight years prior via the World War Adjusted Compensation Act of 1924. As the Great Depression raged on, many were still out of work. Smedley Butler first started speaking out in 1932, when thousands of World War I veterans and their families congregated in Washington demanding the Veterans bonus they were promised. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. ![]() I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. (Then) I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. In short, I was a racketeer a gangster for capitalism. “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. Morgan, and the Wall Street investor Grayson M.P. This was done in order to protect Americas commercial and financial interests in these countries, and they were done while being backed by major companies such as, City Bank, J.P. Looking back on his years abroad, mostly in Latin America, he realized that America was dominating these countries and helped put people into power that could further their interests, such as Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic and the dictators of the Somoza family of Nicaragua.īoth, at least for a time, were allied with the United States. It seems that his discontent started, at least publicly, after World War I and his retirement in 1931.Ĭoming home to the US and seeing how the war has affected America and realizing who was profiting from the bloodshed, led him to begin to understand how destroying democracies abroad could lead to authoritarianism at home. Whether he always held the beliefs of war being a racket, but maybe felt the end justified the means, or if there was a specific instance that led to him changing the way he viewed the work he partook in. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when Butler’s disillusionment started. influence and financial interests in other countries. Starting his journey as an idealistic teenager with dreams of freeing Cuba and helping other countries, he ended it questioning the industry that is War, and his role in securing U.S. ![]() He was one of three to be awarded the Marine Corps Brevet Medal as well as the Medal of Honor, and he is the only Marine to have been awarded both awards for two different actions. He’s received the Medal of Honor twice, only one of nineteen people to do so. His service earned him sixteen medals, five for valor. This decision led to a very successful 34-year Military career, also serving in the Philippine-American War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Banana Wars, and World War I. He soon found himself off to fight in the Spanish-American war. Against his family’s wishes and his Quaker roots, he lied about his age and joined the Marine Corps. His father was chairman of the House of Naval Affairs Committee when Butler decided to leave High School early, just shy of his seventeenth birthday. He was the oldest son of a Quaker family. Major General Smedley Darlington Butler was born Jin West Chester, Pennsylvania. So how does someone who was one of the most decorated veterans go from the Military’s poster boy to one of the Military’s most outspoken critics? One thing you can always count on humans having, is conflict. Consequently, it has been a part of our history since the earliest recorded date with the earliest known war happening in Mesopotamia in c. War has long been a topic of fascination the history, psychology, and impact on society.
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