by Robert Wilkinson
Today would have been the 139th Birthday of one of the greatest Americans ever to live, General Smedley Butler. And no, it’s NOT due to his military exploits, even if he did win two Congressional Medals of Honor!
Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940) was a US Marine Corps Major General, the highest rank of the era, and at the time of his death he was the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. But that’s not why he was a hero.
He stopped wealthy plutocrats (who were mainly Republican banksters) from staging a military coup in “the Business Plot,” aka "The Wall Street Putsch, and overthrowing the elected president of the US at the time, Franklin D Roosevelt. Yes, we almost had a military coup by fascists, and Smedley Butler stopped it in a heartbeat!
In 1935, he gave a talk that became a book, the singularly amazing “War is a Racket.” It was the first expose’ of how governments serve industrialists and corporations who make a lot of money off the obscenity we call war. The link takes you to it, and certainly worth your while to spend some time reading. Chapter 2 is especially revealing, since he tracked the profits of various companies from pre-WWI through the war. It seems our corporations literally made fortunes on our few hundred days "over there."
If you want to know more about this true patriot, please check out his Wikipedia entry, Smedley Butler
This website article has a great bio and a lot of great quotes by this hero of democracy! Please go take a look at General Smedley Butler Quotes on War, Patriotism, and More
Semper Fi, General. You were one of the best. Thanks for our Democratic Republic. Beats fascism by a long shot!
© Copyright 2020 Robert Wilkinson
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