Smedley Butler Biography Quotes 4 Report mistakes

Early Life and Family
Smedley Darlington Butler was born on July 30, 1881, in West Chester, Pennsylvania, into a prominent family with deep local roots. His father, Thomas S. Butler, served in the U.S. House of Representatives for decades and chaired the House Naval Affairs Committee, a position that kept military and naval matters at the center of family conversations. Raised in a Quaker community and educated at the Haverford School, he developed a reputation for directness and a strong sense of duty. Restless and eager to serve when war broke out in 1898, he left school early to pursue a military commission.

Entry into the Marine Corps
Appointed a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps during the Spanish-American War, Butler was unusually young for an officer. He embraced the hardships of service life, often choosing to share the risks of the enlisted ranks. That habit, and his piercing presence in the field, would later earn him the nickname Old Gimlet Eye. Early postings took him to the Caribbean and Asia at a time when the United States was expanding its military footprint overseas.

Overseas Campaigns and Decorations
Butler first gained wide notice in China during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, where he was wounded at Tientsin and later received the Marine Corps Brevet Medal for distinguished conduct, a rare award. Over the next decade and a half he became a central figure in the so-called Banana Wars, leading Marines in interventions across the Caribbean and Central America. In 1914 he was cited for conspicuous leadership during the seizure of Veracruz, Mexico, receiving the Medal of Honor. The following year, in Haiti, he led an assault on Fort Riviere against entrenched Caco fighters, earning a second Medal of Honor. He also helped organize the Gendarmerie d Haiti during the U.S. occupation, a role that placed him at the intersection of military administration and the complexities of imperial policy.

World War I and High Command
During World War I, Butler was sent to France, where he commanded the vast Camp Pontanezen at Brest, the main port for American troops arriving and departing Europe. There he proved an exceptional organizer, improving sanitation, logistics, and troop flow on a massive scale. His wartime record accelerated his rise through senior ranks, and by the 1920s he was one of the Marine Corps most recognized leaders, serving under Commandant John A. Lejeune and shaping younger officers by example.

Reform-Minded Public Servant
In 1924, at the request of Philadelphia mayor W. Freeland Kendrick, Butler took a leave from the Corps to serve as the citys director of public safety. He launched an energetic, controversial crackdown on bootlegging, gambling, and entrenched corruption during Prohibition. His uncompromising methods won public praise but alienated political power brokers, and he returned to Marine duty after a year amid intense local opposition.

Outspoken Officer and Controversies
Known for plain talk, Butler sometimes collided with diplomatic sensitivities. In 1931 he publicly criticized Benito Mussolini in a speech, triggering protests from the Italian government. Secretary of the Navy Charles Francis Adams III reprimanded him over the incident, underscoring how his candor could unsettle official Washington. Shortly thereafter, he retired from active duty with the rank of major general, one of the most decorated Marines of his era.

War Is a Racket and Public Advocacy
In retirement he became a sought-after lecturer, addressing packed halls with forceful critiques of war profiteering and the costs borne by ordinary service members. His 1935 book, War Is a Racket, distilled those speeches into a sharp indictment of how financial interests can shape foreign policy. Though he remained proud of the Marines he led, he argued that the nation owed veterans honest accounting and care, not just rhetoric.

The Business Plot Testimony
In 1934 Butler testified before a House Special Committee chaired by John McCormack and Samuel Dickstein, describing an approach he said he received to front a mass movement of veterans that would pressure or even unseat President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He identified Gerald P. MacGuire as a key intermediary and worked with journalist Paul Comly French to document meetings. The committee reported that some statements were credible enough to merit concern, but no prosecutions followed, and the episode entered American political lore as the Business Plot.

Support for Veterans
Butlers empathy for rank-and-file soldiers also brought him to the Bonus Army encampments in 1932, where he urged protesting World War I veterans to remain disciplined and peaceful as they sought early payment of promised bonuses. The camps were later dispersed by the U.S. Army under General Douglas MacArthur, with George S. Patton among the officers present, an event that deepened public debate over how the nation treated those who had served.

Personal Life and Character
Butler married Ethel Conway Peters in 1905, and the couple built a family life that moved with his postings but remained anchored to Pennsylvania. He cultivated a reputation for loyalty to his Marines, disdain for pretension, and impatience with graft. Colleagues and subordinates alike recalled a commander who led from the front, spoke in the language of the field, and defended enlisted men as fiercely as any decoration on his own chest. He was often grouped with Dan Daly as among the Corps most storied heroes, both holding two Medals of Honor.

Final Years and Legacy
Ill health slowed him late in the 1930s, and he died on June 21, 1940, in Pennsylvania. By then his career had come to symbolize a paradox: a fearless combat leader who later warned against the political and economic forces that can drive nations to war. His name endures in Marine Corps history, in the cautionary pages of War Is a Racket, and in the civic tradition of speaking uncomfortable truths to powerful institutions.

Our collection contains 4 quotes who is written by Smedley, under the main topics: Freedom - Military & Soldier - War.