In
1934 a shadowy figure approached a highly decorated retired Marine Corps Major General with a startling proposal. The officer was offered the opportunity
to lead a force of thousands of Veterans
largely recruited from the ranks of the American Legion on a march on
Washington intended to depose
President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As
the “Man on the White Horse” the
General would be installed as a figurehead
dictator taking orders from a cabal of
wealthy bankers and industrialists. The plan was frankly modeled on Benito Mussolini’s Italian Fascists and
Adolph Hitler’s use of disgruntled veterans as shock troops for a coup d’etat. Boy, did they pick the wrong guy!
Smedley Darlington Butler was born July 30,
1881, in West Chester, Pennsylvania. His parents were descended from local Quaker families. His father Thomas was a lawyer, a judge and was later served for 31 years
as a Congressman who became Chairman of the House Naval Affairs Committee during the Harding and Coolidge
administrations.
His
son attended a local Friends school and
then the prestigious prep school Haverford
School where he was an outstanding athlete
and scholar. Against his father’s wished the boy dropped
out in his senior year to enlist in the Marine Corps for the Spanish
American War. The
school later awarded him diploma anyway.
Butler
lied about his age to receive a
direct commission as a Marine second
lieutenant. In the short war he
served briefly a Guantánamo Bay
after its capture by American forces and then spent four months as a Fleet Marine on the armored cruiser USS New York. He mustered out of the service in February
1899 but re-enlisted in April with a promotion to first
lieutenant.
That
was just in time to be sent to Manila for
the Philippine Rebellion. In October 1899, he saw his first combat
action when he led 300
Marines to take the town of Noveleta
from Filipino troops of the newly declared
Philippine Republic. After this victory he showed his devotion
to the Corps by getting a very large Eagle,
Globe & Anchor tattoo that started at his throat and extended to his waist.
In
1900 as an officer in a company slated to be posted to Guam he instead was sent to China
aboard the USS Solace to help put down
the Boxer Rebellion. He took part in the Battle of Tientsin on July 13, 1900, and in the subsequent Gaselee Expedition, during which he saw
the mutilated remains of Japanese soldiers. When he saw another
Marine officer fall wounded, he
climbed out of a trench to rescue him and was shot in the thigh.
Despite his leg wound, Butler assisted the wounded officer to the rear. Although he was ineligible for the Medal of
Honor which was then reserved
for enlisted personnel only he was cited
for bravery by his commanding officer and received a brevet commission as Captain.
Butler
spent much of his subsequent career which saw a steady advancement in rank
in the so-called Banana Wars of Central America and the Caribbean.
In 1903 he served in Honduras
supposedly to defend the U.S.
Consulate but in fact to defend the government held by large
landowners and allies of American fruit companies against Bonillista rebels. Despite writing home that he was leading an expedition by
boat to “to land and shoot everybody and everything that was breaking the
peace,” he found that the mere presence of his troops caused the rebels to melt
away only to return and take control of the town of Trujillo when he withdrew.
After
returning home and marrying Butler was assigned garrison duty in the Philippines in 1908. He always chaffed at the boredom of such assignments
and was stressed by his separation from his family. Despite a brief adventure of bringing
supplies and rations to an isolated outpost in danger of starvation
during a typhoon, he suffered a nervous
breakdown and he received nine months sick
leave, which he spent at home but returned to active duty at the first opportunity.
From
1909 to 1912 Butler served in Nicaragua enforcing U.S. policy. With a
104-degree fever he led his battalion to the relief of a
rebel-besieged city, Granada. In
December 1909 he commanded the 3d Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment
on the Isthmus of Panama. On August
11, 1912, he was temporarily detached
to command an expeditionary battalion for the Battle of Masaya on September 19, 1912, and the bombardment, assault and capture of Coyotepe Hill, Nicaragua, in October
1912.
Butler
and his family were living in Panama in
January 1914 when he was ordered to report as an officer of a battleship squadron massing off the coast of Mexico, near Veracruz,
to monitor a revolutionary movement. He was sent on in mufti on a spy mission to
Mexico City under the identity of a Mr. Johnson, a minor official of the Inter-Oceanic Railway. He searched for weapons caches of Mexican Army, determined the size of
units and states of readiness, updated maps and verified the railroad lines for
use in a planned US invasion. The
invasion was scrapped by the Tampico
Affair when a detachment of sailors ashore to buy gasoline was captured by forces
of Gen. Victoriano Huerta.
When
President Woodrow Wilson discovered
that an arms shipment was about to
arrive in Mexico, he sent a contingent of Marines and sailors to Veracruz to intercept it on April 21,
1914. For his actions on April 22, Butler was awarded his first Medal of
Honor
After
the occupation of Veracruz, an unusually high number of the Medals were
awarded—one member of the Army, nine
Marines and 46 naval personnel. Many felt that large number of awards diminished
its prestige. During World
War I Butler attempted to return
his medal, explaining he had done nothing to deserve it. The
medal was returned to him with orders
to wear it as well.
In
1915 Haitian President Vilbrun Guillaume
Sam was killed by a mob. In
response, the USS Connecticut was dispatched to Haiti with Butler in command of the Marines contingent on board. On
October 24, 1915, an estimated 400 Cacos—peasant
rebels—ambushed Butler’s patrol of 44 mounted Marines when they approached Fort Dipitie. Surrounded by Cacos, the Marines maintained their perimeter throughout the night. The
next morning they charged the larger
enemy force by breaking out in three
directions. In early November Butler and a force of 700 Marines and sailors
returned to the mountains to clear the area. At their temporary
headquarters base at Le Trou they fought off an attack by about 100
Cacos. After the Americans took several
other forts and ramparts during the following days, only Fort Rivière, an old French-built
stronghold atop Montagne Noire,
was left.
For an
assault operation Butler was given three companies of Marines and some sailors
from the USS Connecticut, about 100
men. They encircled the fort and gradually closed in on it. Butler
reached the fort from the southern side and found a small opening in the wall. The Marines entered through the opening and engaged the Cacos
in hand-to-hand combat. Butler and the Marines took the rebel stronghold
on November 17, an action for which he received his second Medal of Honor, as
well as the Haitian Medal of Honor.
Once the Medal was approved and presented
in 1917, Butler achieved the distinction of being only one of two Marines to
receive the Medal of Honor twice for
separate actions.
He
was detailed to establish and command the new collaborationist unit, the Gendarmerie d’Haïti, paramilitary
police force that continued to shore up the U.S. supported Hattian
dictatorship through 1926.
Much
to his disappointment Butler was not assigned to a combat command on the Western
Front in World War I despite
repeated appeals and the endorsement of many if not most of the
officers he had served with. But he
already had made enemies of some of
his Marine superiors for his outspoken views and supposed “unreliability” i.e., a habit of challenging
what he felt were wrong-headed orders. Instead he was promoted to brigadier general and posted to command
Camp Pontanezen at Brest, France, a debarkation depot
that funneled troops of the American
Expeditionary Force (AEF). the
battlefields. He found sanitary
and living conditions in the camp were abominable. Tents were
pitched on oozing mud and sanitation
was neglected. He raided the wharf at
Brest for duckboards no longer needed for the trenches and “carted the
first one himself up that four-mile hill
to the camp, and thus provided something in the way of protection for the men
to sleep on.” Gen. John J. Pershing
authorized a duckboard shoulder patch
for the units. For his exemplary service
he was awarded both the Army Distinguished
and Navy Service Distinguished Service Medals and the French Order of the Black Star. He also won the undying affection of
the thousands of Doughboys and Lethernecks that passed through the
camp.
Following
the war, he became commanding general
of the Marine barracks at Quantico, Virginia transforming the wartime training camp into a permanent post and the showcase of
the Corps.
In
1924 Butler received a unique new post.
At the request of newly elected
Philadelphia Mayor W. Freeland Kendrick
for the loan of a general officer to
take command of the notoriously corrupt
city police department, President
Calvin Coolidge selected Butler at the urging of his powerful Congressman
father. Coolidge authorized Butler to
take the necessary leave from the Corps to serve as Philadelphia’s Director
of Public Safety in charge Police and Fire Departments from
January 1924 until December 1925. He began his new job by assembling all 4,000 of the city police into the Metropolitan Opera House in shifts to introduce himself and inform
them that things would change while
he was in charge. Since he had not been given authority to fire corrupt police officers, he switched entire units from one part of the city to another to
undermine local protection rackets
and profiteering. A reformed
drinker turned ardent Prohibitionist
Butler organized raids on more than 900 speakeasies,
ordering them padlocked and, in many
cases, destroyed. More zealous than he was political, he ordered crackdowns on the social elite’s favorite hangouts,
such as the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and the Union League Club, as
well as working class watering holes. In addition to raiding the speakeasies, he
also attempted to eliminate other illegal
activities including bootlegging,
prostitution, and gambling.
He
established policies and guidelines of administration and developed a new police uniform that resembled that of the Marine Corps. Other changes included military-style checkpoints, bandit-chasing
squads armed with sawed-off shotguns
and armored police cars. The press praised the significant reduction
in crime but also reflected the public’s growing negative opinion of their authoritarian Public Safety
Director. Many felt that he was being too aggressive
in his tactics and resented the
reductions in their civil rights,
such as the stopping of citizens at the city checkpoints. Butler also frequently
swore in his radio addresses.
The
Mayor was preparing to allow Buttler’s appointment lapse at the end of the year
and the officer himself was requesting new duty with the Corps. But when the public became aware of the imminent departure 4,000 supporters
assembled at the Academy of Music and
negotiated a truce between him and the mayor to keep him in Philadelphia for a
while longer, and the President authorized a one-year extension.
Butler
devoted much of his second year to executing
arrest warrants, cracking down
on crooked police and enforcing prohibition. On January 1, 1926, his leave from
the Marine Corps ended and the President declined
a request for a second extension. Butler received orders to report to San Diego and prepared his family and
his belongings for the new assignment. In light of his pending departure, he
began to defy the mayor and other
key city officials. On the eve of his departure, he wrote an article in the
press stating his intention to
stay and “finish the job”. The mayor demanded his immediate resignation.
After almost two years in office, Butler resigned
under pressure. He later wrote that
“cleaning up Philadelphia was worse than any battle I was ever in.”
Butler
was posted to a command at the important
San Diego Marine base in 1927 and moved his family
there. Barely a year later he was sent
to an old stomping ground as commander
of a Marine Expeditionary Force—the China
Marines—in Tientsin, China during the chaotic period of War Lord
conflicts in Sun Yat Sen’s unstable
republic which threatened American
interests and the lives of merchants,
missionaries, and diplomats. In fact, Butler avoided direct intervention and conflict when he could and developed relationships with various hostile
faction leaders who were eager to avoid a repeat of an international
intervention like that of the Boxer Rebellion.
He served with distinction for two years and returned home to be made
the youngest major general in
the Corps at age 48.
But
the death of his Congressman father shortly before hand removed an important
protection from senior officers who mistrusted him. With not much to do at home he became alarmed
at the rise of fascism in Italy and bluntly repeated rumors that Benito Mussolini
allegedly struck and killed a child with his speeding automobile in a hit-and-run accident. The Italian
government protested and President
Herbert Hoover, who strongly disliked Butler, forced Secretary of the Navy Charles Francis Adams III to court martial him. Butler became the
first general officer to be placed under
arrest since the Civil War. He apologized
to Secretary Adams and the court-martial was canceled with only a reprimand.
That
should have been a signal that his chances of further advancement or an
important command were over. But as
senior General in the Corps, with his long combat record, and the endorsement
of many of his peers in the officer corps, Butler hoped to be appointed Commandant of the Marine Corps when Maj.
Gen. Wendell C. Neville died July 8, 1930.
In the end the position went to Maj.
Gen. Bee Fuller, who had more years of commissioned
service than Butler and was considered less
controversial. Disappointed and bitter Butler
requested retirement and left active duty on October 1, 1931.
Butler
took up a busy schedule of public lectures and appearances
at conferences often expressing unorthodox
opinions and sprinkling his addresses with colorful tales and salty
language. He became critical of the interventionist
foreign policy that had so often
sent him into combat in weak nations, warned of the rise of Fascism, and joined
in the growing call for an early payment of a promised Bonus to World War
I vets. He donated much of his speaking
income to hunger relief in Depression wracked Philadelphia.
Butler
announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in the Republican primary
in Pennsylvania in March 1932 as an ally of progressive Republican Governor Gifford Pinchot and a Dry
proponent of Prohibition. He was a vocal critic of his nemesis Herbert
Hoover for his inaction in meeting the rising crisis of the Great Depression. He was defeated in the April primary election with only 37.5% of the vote
to incumbent Sen. James J. Davis’
60%.
After
the Senate campaign Butler and his wife and son visited the Bonus Marcher camp just outside Washington
on July 19, 1932. They stayed overnight in the camp and he
told them that they were fine soldiers
and they had a right to
lobby Congress just as much as any corporation. He warned them of any violence that might
endanger wide-spread sympathy but
essentially endorsed the March. Less than a week later on July 28 troops
under the command of Army Chief of Staff
General Douglas MacArthur and cavalryman
Colonel George Patton attacked the marchers on the streets of Washington
with tanks, mounted troops, and tear
gas. Then they raided the encampment on the Anacostia flats. Several
veterans and some of their wives and children were killed, and many badly
injured. In response Butler declared
himself a “Hoover-for-Ex-President-Republican.”
After
the November election Butler set off on another speaking tour with James E. Van Zandt to recruit members for the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). He described their effort as ‘trying
to educate the soldiers out of the sucker class.” In his speeches he denounced the Economy Act of
1933, called on veterans to organize
politically to win their benefits, and condemned
the Roosevelt administration for its ties
to big business. In his speech You
Got to Get Mad which was printed in the VFW magazine Foreign
Service. He said, “I believe in...taking Wall St. by the throat and
shaking it up.” He believed the rival veteran group the American Legion was controlled
by banking interests. On
December 8, 1933, he said: “I have never known one leader of the American
Legion who had never sold them out—and I mean it.”
So,
Butler was an astonishing choice to be asked to front a Fascist Coup most of whose
boots-on-the-ground would be recruited from the Legion. MacArthur, the storied commander of the Rainbow Division in World War I, was
better known and perhaps more amenable
to the allure of authoritarianism. It’s not known if he was ever approached, but
if so turned down the opportunity but declined to report the attempt. Or perhaps the capitalist cabal behind the plot thought that the attack on the
Bonus Marchers had made him too unpopular among veterans to gain wide-spread
support.
Perhaps
they cynically believed that Butler
would seize the opportunity for glory or that his personal grievances at having his career cut short by the government would make him ready for revenge. They certainly hoped his popularity with many
veterans would attract more support to the putsch
and cloud the identity of the super-rich
backers. They badly miscalculated. Not
only did Butler turn down the offer, but he also went to Congress to expose what became known as the Business Plot.
In
November 1934 Butler told a special
House Committee headed by
Representatives John W. McCormack of Massachusetts
and Samuel Dickstein of New York that Gerald P. MacGuire, a bond
salesman with Grayson M–P Murphy
& Co told him that a group of businessmen, backed a private army of 500,000 ex-soldiers and mercenaries, and
he had been asked to lead it. The
nation’s most powerful bank J.P Morgan & Co was said to be a major
backer. Those implicated publicly dismissed the allegations as fantasy and that was echoed by much of the press
which could either not believe such
a tale or were controlled by
interests connected to the plot.
In
its report to the House, the committee stated that, while:
“…no evidence was
presented... to show a connection... with any fascist activity of any European
country... [t]here was no question that these attempts were discussed, were
planned, and might have been placed in execution...” and that “your committee
was able to verify all the pertinent statements made by General Butler, with
the exception of the direct statement about the creation of the organization.
This, however, was corroborated in the correspondence of MacGuire with his
principal, Robert Sterling Clark...”
Subsequently
the Committee received further confirmation of Butler’s testimony and in their final report stated:
In the last few
weeks of the committee’s official life it received evidence showing that
certain persons had made an attempt to establish a fascist organization in this
country... There is no question that these attempts were discussed, were
planned, and might have been placed in execution when and if the financial
backers deemed it expedient.
Even
the once skeptical New
York Times was finally convinced. But despite everything no official action
or prosecution was ever undertaken, undoubtedly due to the power of the
plotters and the targeted Roosevelt administration’s desire to let sleeping dogs lie as it pressed on with the progressive programs of the New Deal.
As
for Butler, he wasn’t yet finished. He
was a from 1935 to 1937 a spokesman
for the American League Against War and
Fascism. In 1935, he wrote his
famous exposé War Is a Racket, a condemnation of the profit motive behind warfare. His views
on the subject were summarized in
the November 1935 issue of the socialist magazine Common Sense:
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. 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.
Butler
supported Socialist Party Presidential candidate Norman Thomas in the
1936 election and continued to speak out as Fascism and Nazism rose in
Europe.
On
June 21, 1940, Butler died at Naval
Hospital, Philadelphia of gastro-intestinal
cancer at the age of just 58. Toward
the end of his life he harbored the unlikely hope that he might be recalled
to active service if and when the USA entered
the World War against Fascism.
Obviously
the plot that Butler explored did not ever get put into action. But similar shadowy business interests,
especially billionaire Ayn Rand followers—think the Koch Brothers and others—have been
quietly funding the rise of the militant
ultra-right for years—overtly
letting their Super Pacs back Donald
Trump and compliant Republicans in state legislatures, governors’ mansions, and Congress. But there is mounting suspicion and some
evidence that their money has also poured into astro-turf organizations, White supremacist organizations, and
perhaps even armed militias. Recent
discoveries that key leaders
received payments in Bit Coins shortly before the Siege
of the Capitol in Washington last year lends credence to the suspicion.
It
is likely that the cabalist tendencies exposed by Butler never really
went away. They helped fan the flames of the Post-World War II Red Scare and the rise of McCarthyism and were behind the paranoid conspiracy theories
peddled by the John Birch Society in the ‘50s and ‘60s.
There is certainly no reason to believe that they will melt away just because their first clumsy coup attempt failed. They will be around, and dangerous for a long time to come.
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