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A review by liberrydude
Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America's Empire by Jonathan M. Katz
4.0
Having served 30 years in the Marines, the last five as a historian, I thought I knew most of Butler’s story. I was wrong. Katz does a brilliant job of telling his story as the enforcer of American imperialism. As much as it is biographical it is a concise history of American imperialism for five decades as well.
I think the most startling and appalling revelation for me was the “heist” by Marines of the Haitian Bank’s coffers and subsequent transfer to Wall Street. This precipitated a political crisis and civil chaos which the United Stated used as a pretext to invade and further control the people and the resources of Haiti.
As for Butler’s record I find it not worthy of emulation or approbation. He’s basically a rich kid from Philadelphia who never completed high school but was intoxicated by going off to the Spanish American War before he was of age. His father was a congressman who later rose to chairman of the then equivalent of our current Armed Services Committee. He missed combat in Cuba but caught some action in the Philippines. More combat in China during the Boxer Rebellion. I was appalled at the looting. He also caught typhoid and was sidelined medically afterwards.
He is assigned to Subic Bay as a newlywed but has a nervous breakdown while tasked with installing gun emplacements. He takes a leave of absence from the Corps and works managing a coal mine in West Virginia. That’s not something that would happen today. He’s promoted to major and is assigned to the Canal Zone while the canal is being constructed. Then to Nicaragua. Involved in the Mexican Revolution with American landing at Vera Cruz where he was awarded the MOH.
Butler was the first person to downplay this award. He tried to refuse it. He certainly didn’t believe he merited it. It was awarded liberally. Later after an intense gunfight at a Caco rebel stronghold in Haiti he would be awarded his second MOH but only after he hosted FDR ( worked in SecNav) on a visit to Port au Prince. One wonders at the politics of this too. Chesty Puller, another icon of the Corps, was awarded five Navy Crosses but never the MOH. Puller was the more courageous IMHO.
One can’t help but wonder if Butler’s father’s position as a Congressman ensured his continued career success. Butler would write his parents assiduously. In yet another irony he was marooned in Haiti and considered too valuable to go to the “real war.” He lamented missing out on the real war in Europe. He was a schemer too; he got the SecNav’s son assigned to be his aide betting it would result in his unit being assigned to France. Butler finally got to France in September 1918 but the war would be over. However, he also brought influenza and would deal with it as the Commander of Camp Pontanezen in Brest.
Another leave of absence to be the police commissioner in Philadelphia. He proved himself to be incorruptible.
An intriguing and ironic man Smedley Butler was a Quaker who fought people of color without a thought. Later he had thoughts and was woke to what he had done and became the “anti-Marine.” He went from a teenager aspiring to free Cubans from Spain to destroying democracy in Haiti as a colonel. He died much too young at age 58 right before World War II. The Haitians would say the “Evil One’s” death was ordained and justice for all he had done to their country. Cursed?
I think the most startling and appalling revelation for me was the “heist” by Marines of the Haitian Bank’s coffers and subsequent transfer to Wall Street. This precipitated a political crisis and civil chaos which the United Stated used as a pretext to invade and further control the people and the resources of Haiti.
As for Butler’s record I find it not worthy of emulation or approbation. He’s basically a rich kid from Philadelphia who never completed high school but was intoxicated by going off to the Spanish American War before he was of age. His father was a congressman who later rose to chairman of the then equivalent of our current Armed Services Committee. He missed combat in Cuba but caught some action in the Philippines. More combat in China during the Boxer Rebellion. I was appalled at the looting. He also caught typhoid and was sidelined medically afterwards.
He is assigned to Subic Bay as a newlywed but has a nervous breakdown while tasked with installing gun emplacements. He takes a leave of absence from the Corps and works managing a coal mine in West Virginia. That’s not something that would happen today. He’s promoted to major and is assigned to the Canal Zone while the canal is being constructed. Then to Nicaragua. Involved in the Mexican Revolution with American landing at Vera Cruz where he was awarded the MOH.
Butler was the first person to downplay this award. He tried to refuse it. He certainly didn’t believe he merited it. It was awarded liberally. Later after an intense gunfight at a Caco rebel stronghold in Haiti he would be awarded his second MOH but only after he hosted FDR ( worked in SecNav) on a visit to Port au Prince. One wonders at the politics of this too. Chesty Puller, another icon of the Corps, was awarded five Navy Crosses but never the MOH. Puller was the more courageous IMHO.
One can’t help but wonder if Butler’s father’s position as a Congressman ensured his continued career success. Butler would write his parents assiduously. In yet another irony he was marooned in Haiti and considered too valuable to go to the “real war.” He lamented missing out on the real war in Europe. He was a schemer too; he got the SecNav’s son assigned to be his aide betting it would result in his unit being assigned to France. Butler finally got to France in September 1918 but the war would be over. However, he also brought influenza and would deal with it as the Commander of Camp Pontanezen in Brest.
Another leave of absence to be the police commissioner in Philadelphia. He proved himself to be incorruptible.
An intriguing and ironic man Smedley Butler was a Quaker who fought people of color without a thought. Later he had thoughts and was woke to what he had done and became the “anti-Marine.” He went from a teenager aspiring to free Cubans from Spain to destroying democracy in Haiti as a colonel. He died much too young at age 58 right before World War II. The Haitians would say the “Evil One’s” death was ordained and justice for all he had done to their country. Cursed?