Twice] Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Marine Corps Commandant
Smedley Butler:
approached by representatives of the Morgan Bank who offered to finance him
to establish a dictatorship of the United States to replace the Roosevelt
government in 1932. He refused and went to the press. A Congressional
investigation was eventually suppressed. See Jules Archer, The Plot to
Seize the White House for a recent, documented version of this
well-publicised (in 1932) event.
"War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something
that is not what it seems to the majority of people. ONLY A SMALL INSIDE
GROUP KNOWS WHAT IT IS ABOUT. It is conducted for the benefit of the very
few at the expense of the masses.
I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a
nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America
is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets
restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the
dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.
I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment
of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the
defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other
reason is simply a racket.
There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind
to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to
destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss"
Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.
It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison.
Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in
active military service as a member of this country's most agile military
force, the Marine Corps.
I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General.
And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle
man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was
a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.
I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it.
Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of
my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended
animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with
everyone in the military service.
I helped make Mexico, 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 benefits of Wall Street. The record of
racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international
banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the
Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped
to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.
During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell
racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could 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."
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