Smedley Butler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Major General Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 - June 21, 1940) was at the time of his death the most decorated U.S. Marine in history. He was twice the recipient of the Medal of Honor, one of only nineteen to be so honored.

Military Career

• 1898 - Commissioned a Second Lieutenant
• April 1898 - Philippine-American War
• 1900 - Promoted to Brevet Captain for his action during the Boxer Rebellion
• 1903 - Saves U.S. Consular agent in Honduras from rebels
• 1909-1912 - Nicaragua
• April 1914 - Vera Cruz, Mexico, earns first Medal of Honor
• November 17, 1915 - Action in Haiti, earns second Medal of Honor
• 1927 - Tour in China
• 1929 - Returns to the United States as a Major General
• October 1931 - Retires from the USMC

Quotes

• 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. (1933)

• War is a racket. (1935)

• 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. (1940)

External Links

• Major General Smedley D. Butler, USMC from the Marine CorpsLegacy Museum
• Smedley D. Butler Citations from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society

See also: Chesty Puller

The original article can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.