# Smedley Butler Day? Is this for real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 28, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smedley-butler-day-is-this-for-real/469984 "2008-10-28T19:19:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OompaLoompa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cab0a1/32.png) [@OompaLoompa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OompaLoompa)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smedley-butler-day-is-this-for-real/469984/1 "2008-10-28T19:19:40Z")
I got this semi-kooky email about Smedley Butler, but then got interested because I like history. There’s a link in it, but basically he was a Marine for 30 years, resigned as a general, then went into politics and became an anti-war whistleblower. Anyway I think a holiday is out of his reach, but my question is, do you think teachers should teach about him in school? Seems like it might make them cynical, but then again I have a high-schooler who comes home with a head full of political fluff. So I guess I think they should. But it bothers me, like when they found out Santa isn’t real. Here’s the email: "----------------------- Please take the time to learn about this important American hero who twice won the Medal of Honor in service of our country. He deserves to be recognized as a true and honorable American. Our feeling is that if you haven’t heard of Smedley Butler’s place in history, it’s because our educations are sorely lacking. > **[Smedley Butler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler)** > > Major General Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940), nicknamed the Maverick Marine, was a senior United States Marine Corps officer. During his 34-year career, he fought in the Philippine–American War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Mexican Revolution, and World War I. At the time of his death, Butler was the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. By the end of his career, Butler had received sixteen medals, including five for heroism; he is the only Marine to be awarded the Breve... We feel that Smedley’s life and works should be widely taught in schools and that a day should be named in his honor. If you’d like to be a friend of Smedley please pass this message along. We don’t organize. Friends of Smedley Butler Happy Smedley Day! --------------------------" There’s a lot of interesting info about him out there, like this. “In 1931, Butler talked informally after a speech, and discussed how European conquerors became drunk with power and became “mad dogs.” He related an apparently true story told him by Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr. Vanderbilt spent time with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, and they were driving in an armored car through the Italian countryside, with Mussolini driving. During their drive, Mussolini hit and killed a child. Mussolini did not even stop the car, telling Vanderbilt as he grabbed his knee, “Never look back, Mr. Vanderbilt, never look back in life.”[21] Mussolini passed off his hit and run incident with the observation that one life was insignificant when compared to the affairs of state.” [http://www.ahealedplanet.net/war.htm#butler](http://www.ahealedplanet.net/war.htm#butler) > **[Business Plot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot)** > > The Business Plot (also called the Wall Street Putsch and The White House Putsch) was a political conspiracy in 1933, in the United States, to overthrow the government of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and install Smedley Butler as dictator. Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler asserted that wealthy businessmen were plotting to create a fascist veterans' organization with Butler as its leader and use it in a coup d'état to overthrow Roosevelt. In 1934, Butler testified unde Early ... ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smedley-butler-day-is-this-for-real/469984/2 "2008-10-28T19:27:46Z")
Smedley Butler was a very, very interesting figure in American history. In the 1930s there was a group of plutocrats considering a coup d’etat against President Roosevelt; they only abandoned their idea because Butler who was to be their frontman wouldn’t join them. Butler also earned the Medal of Honor twice, one of the few men to have done so and there is a legitimate argument that he was entilted to a third which was not awarded because of a temporary glitch in the law governing its award. But a holitday? No. A subject for discussion in American history classes? Maybe for 5 minutes, when there is time. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smedley-butler-day-is-this-for-real/469984/3 "2008-10-28T21:34:41Z")
I’ve read another article about Butler that talked about his ability to procure and distribute resources during WWI, in particular wooden slats to keep soldiers out of the mud. Most vividly, I remember that he was so respected for his efforts on behalf of the soldiers, that one man said of him, “I’d cross hell on a slat if Butler gave the word.” Sounds like he was a heck of a guy. I can’t see a federal holiday, but if we can have a National Broccoli Week or whatever, surely we can have a Smedley Butler Day. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smedley-butler-day-is-this-for-real/469984/4 "2008-10-28T21:47:25Z")
> [@Ronald\_C.Semone](#): > > In the 1930s there was a group of plutocrats considering a coup d’etat against President Roosevelt; they only abandoned their idea because Butler who was to be their frontman wouldn’t join them. There’s a question as to how serious that was, though. Butler had a tendency to exaggerate. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smedley-butler-day-is-this-for-real/469984/5 "2008-10-28T21:47:40Z")
> [@Ronald\_C.Semone](#): > > But a holitday? No. A subject for discussion in American history classes? Maybe for 5 minutes, when there is time. I don’t think they are proposing a federal holiday, just a day of recognition, like [General Pulaski Memorial Day](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/10/20081010-4.html) or [Wright Brothers Day](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051216-2.html). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smedley-butler-day-is-this-for-real/469984/6 "2008-10-28T22:01:46Z")
The best way to honor Butler would be for public libraries and schools to pass out free copies of [his booklet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_is_a_racket). ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smedley-butler-day-is-this-for-real/469984/7 "2008-10-29T01:58:06Z")
Even back then he said he was fighting for corporations. He said war was a racket to make the rich even more wealthy. it is a lesson we never learn. [Smedley Butler on Interventionism](http://www.fas.org/man/smedley.htm) We have to quit warring. Iraq is a corporate war for oil. ---
**Author:** ![OompaLoompa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cab0a1/32.png) [@OompaLoompa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OompaLoompa)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smedley-butler-day-is-this-for-real/469984/8 "2008-10-29T08:08:12Z")
Hey there’s a Smedley Butler song on youtube! I guess everything really is on there. Some other documentaries about him, too. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/OjmscPrsSF0/hqdefault.jpg "ElectraJet LIVE - General Smedley Butler - Fragment") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjmscPrsSF0)