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War
Is A Racket
This is piece was written way
back in 1933, but is still just as relevant. It is an excerpt from a speech by
Major General Smedley Butler, USMC. Smedley Butler is one of only 19 people in
the entire history of the US military to have been awarded the The Congressional
Medal of Honor twice. The Medal of Honor is the highest award given by the US
military.
War is just a racket.
A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to
the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is
conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.
I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation
comes over here to fight, then we’ll fight. The trouble with America is that
when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes
overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers
follow the flag.
I wouldn’t go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of
the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense
of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is
simply a racket.
There isn’t a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to.
It has its “finger men” to point out enemies, its “muscle men” to destroy
enemies, its “brain men” to plan war preparations, and a “Big Boss”
Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.
It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness
compels me to. I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military
service as a member of this country’s most agile military force, the Marine
Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to
Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high
class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In
short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.
I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. 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.
I helped make Mexico, 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 benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering
is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown
Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American
sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went
its way unmolested.
During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell
racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could 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.
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