Happy birthday, Smedley Butler! (July 30, 1881)
A career US military officer, Smedley Butler was born to an English-American Quaker family, the grandson of two Pennsylvania politicians. Butler lied about his age to join the Marine Corps during the Spanish-American War in 1898, and spent the next 33 years as a Marine, rising through the ranks to achieve the position of Major General. He served through the Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War, Boxer Rebellion, and the Banana Wars in Latin America, and became intimately aware of the nature of American militarism to serve imperialist and capitalist interests, something which increasingly disgusted him. After his service, Butler became a touring speaker against militarism, writing the pamphlet War is a Racket. He also helped to expose the Business Plot, a scheme to depose President Franklin D. Roosevelt and install in his place a fascist and corporatist dictatorship in the United States. He died in 1940.
"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."
