Smedley Butler

[Scuba]

I'd never heard of this guy - surprise: he's not in the history books.

But he was courageous enough to take on the monster.

From Wikipedia: In 1934 he (Butler) was involved in a controversy known as the Business Plot when he told a congressional committee that a group of wealthy industrialists had approached him to lead a military coup to overthrow Franklin D. Roosevelt. The individuals that were involved denied the existence of a plot, and the media ridiculed the allegations. The final report of the committee claimed that there was evidence that such a plot existed, but no charges were ever filed.

Wealthy industrialists, huh? It's clearly time to rein these guys in, lock them up in cells, nationalize the energy industry and give America back to the people.

[leveymg]

1. Same businessmen - JP Morgan bank and related cos. in '34 - JPMorgan-Chase own 27% of BP today

The more things change . . .

See, http://www.bp.com/extendedsectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9010453&contentId=7019612

Major shareholders
Register of members holding BP ordinary shares as at 31 December 2009
Range of holdings Number of shareholders Percentage of total shareholders Percentage of total share capital
1 - 200 57,927 18.43 0.02
201 - 1,000 116,624 37.11 0.30
1,001 - 10,000 126,034 40.10 1.83
10,001 - 100,000 11,867 3.77 1.17
100,001 - 1,000,000 1,065 0.34 1.85
Over 1,000,000a 777 0.25 94.83
314,294
100.00 100.00
aIncludes JP Morgan Chase Bank, holding 27.74% of the total ordinary issued share capital (excluding shares held in treasury) as the approved depositary for ADSs, a breakdown of which is shown in the table below.
Register of holders of American depositary shares as at 31 December 2009a
Range of holdings Number of ADS holders Percentage of total ADS holders Percentage of total ADSs
1 - 200 72,272 54.22 0.48
201 - 1,000 37,695 28.28 2.08
1,001 - 10,000 21,893 16.42 6.80
10,001 - 100,000 1,417 1.06 2.81
100,001 - 1,000,000 22 0.02 0.43
Over 1,000,000b 1 0.00 87.40
133,300 100.00 100.00
aOne ADS represents six 25 cent ordinary shares.
bOne of the holders of ADSs represents some 698,373 underlying shareholders.

As at 31 December 2009, there were also 1,660 preference shareholders.
Substantial shareholdings
The disclosure of certain major interests in the share capital of the company is governed by the Disclosure and Transparency Rules (DTR) made by the UK Financial Services Authority. Under DTR 5, we have received notification that BlackRock, Inc. holds 5.93% of the voting rights of the issued share capital of the company; and Legal and General Group Plc holds 4.18% of the voting rights of the issued share capital of the company.

[Scuba]

2. Why am I not surprised?

[hobbit709]

3. Any Marine knows who Smedley Butler is.

I first read "War Is A Racket" 30 years ago.

[unhappycamper]

4. Have you read "The Plot To Sieze The White house"?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51kYEMGmUtL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg


If you liked "War Is A Racket", you'll like this one also. Smedley Darlington Butler had a major role in this true story.

[leveymg]

5. Oliver Stone had the movie rights. What ever happened to that project?

I can imagine that some potential investors and studio heads might not have liked the concept.

[unhappycamper]

6. I have no clue.

I agree with your comment about 'potential investors and studio heads'. The story is too explosive and has been (mostly) hidden from public view.

[leveymg]

8. They can make honest pictures about Rome (Gladiator, Spartacus), but the ones about America usually

either don't get made or are panned by the critics and end up destroying the careers of their Directors (Heaven's Gate, Burn!)

[mod mom]

7. Here you go (link to Harpers & BBC) Every American should know this:

1934: The Plot Against America
DEPARTMENT No Comment
BY Scott Horton
PUBLISHED July 28, 2007
I’m back from the land of heather and thistles, not to mention wee drams and lukewarm ale, but on my way out a friend at the BBC alerted me to this, a not-to-miss program on the BBC this morning, accessible over the next several days by internet. It’s the story of the Plot Against America. I don’t mean the Philip Roth novel, nor even the Sinclair Lewis book, It Can’t Happen Here, but rather the historical events upon which these two works of fiction were based.

In November 1934, federal investigators uncovered an amazing plot involving some two dozen senior businessmen, a good many of them Wall Street financiers, to topple the government of the United States and install a fascist dictatorship. Roth’s novel is developed from several strands of this factual account; he assumed the plot is actually carried out, whereas in fact an alert FDR shut it down but stopped short of retaliatory measures against the plotters. A key element of the plot involved a retired prominent general who was to have raised a private army of 500,000 men from unemployed veterans and who blew the whistle when he learned more of what the plot entailed. The plot was heavily funded and well developed and had strong links with fascist forces abroad. A story in the New York Times and several other newspapers reported on it, and a special Congressional committee was created to conduct an investigation. The records of this committee were scrubbed and sealed away in the National Archives, where they have only recently been made available.

The Congressional committee kept the names of many of the participants under wraps and no criminal action was ever brought against them. But a few names have leaked out. And one is Prescott Bush, the grandfather of the incumbent president. Prescott Bush was of course deep into the business of the Hamburg-America Lines, and had tight relations throughout this period with the new Government that had come to power in Germany a year earlier under Chancellor Aldoph Hitler. It appears that Bush was to have formed a key liaison for the group with the new German government.

Prescott Bush, of course, went on to service as a U.S. Senator from Connecticut, and his son, George H.W. Bush emerged from World War II as a hero.

-snip

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/07/hbc-90000651



The Whitehouse Coup
Monday 23 July 2007



The coup was aimed at toppling President Franklin D Roosevelt with the help of half-a-million war veterans. The plotters, who were alleged to involve some of the most famous families in America, (owners of Heinz, Birds Eye, Goodtea, Maxwell Hse & George Bush’s Grandfather, Prescott) believed that their country should adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression.

Mike Thomson investigates why so little is known about this biggest ever peacetime threat to American democracy.




http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/document/document_20070723.shtml

[underpants]

10. My reading of this was that it was more of measure to prevent communism

as capitalism had just recently failed so miserably

Not that this is an authoritative summary but Wikipedia waffles all over the place as to the plot. It cites that the NY Times and Time magazine ridiculed the idea of such a plot until the McCormack-Dickstein Committee report came out and then they said

On November 22, The New York Times wrote its first article on the story and described it as a "gigantic hoax."

Later


However after the committee released its report, Time wrote "Also last week the House Committee on Un-American Activities purported to report that a two-month investigation had convinced it that General Butler's story of a Fascist march on Washington was alarmingly true." The New York Times reported that the committee "alleged that definite proof had been found that the much publicized Fascist march on Washington, which was to have been led by Major. Gen. Smedley D. Butler, retired, according to testimony at a hearing, was actually contemplated".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot

Gee times sure have changed :sarcasm:

[BrklynLiberal]

16. The type of documentary that will never see the light of day in THIS country!!!

[Bitwit1234]

17. You beat me to it...I was going to mention Prescott Bush

and here we have the Bush Family involved who the MSM calls the closest thing to royalty in America. Don't tell me big business doesn't own America. How in the hell did Prescott Bush get elected to congress after that. If this had come out like it should have he would have been in jail and the country wouldn't have been ruined by his grandson. The name Bush would give people the jitters and much much more.

[unhappycamper]

18. That's why it's called the BFEE.

Bush Family Evil Enterprise....

[mod mom]

19. Glad to hear you pass this knowledge never learned in history class on as well, too.

I had absolutely no knowledge of this before coming to DU. I have since passed this on to as many people I can including one former republican veteran who had voted for Bush in the first election and was outraged upon learning this.

:hi:

[pnorman]

9. Watch this video:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=628728631767818729#

Also check him out at Wiki.

[BrklynLiberal]

11. Smedley Butler has been a hero around here for years....

"War is a Racket" should be required reading for everyone.

He does an excellent job of showing how the US Govt is a tool of the big corporations..even to the extent of using the US Army to protect corporate interests..in Central/South America at the time..

BP is an excellent example of one of the corporations whose interests were protected by government forces...in the Middle East, from the 1920's...right up to the present.

[Dr.Phool]

13. It's available for free download from Google books.

I downloaded the PDF version for my Sony Reader.

[BrklynLiberal]

15. thanks for that info..

:thumbsup:

[no_hypocrisy]

12. War Is A Racket

http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

[chill_wind]

29. Yes it is.

eom

[Yuugal]

14. K&R

[wmbrew0206]

20. Butler was a very complicated man and left the Marine Corps extremely bitter.

Just to put Butler's views into perspective, you have to remember that he was extremely unhappy about how his career ended.

Butler's father was a powerful congressman and that helped Butler over the course of his career. He was extremely brave in battle earning two Medals of Honor, the only military officer to ever do that. He also held several commands and did very well while he had them.

The big controversy with Butler was that the Marine Commandant during WWI was General Barnett. Barnett had served four years in the post and agreed to continue to serve another four years during WWI. When the war ended, General Lejeune came back from France and it is alleged that Butler and Lejeune (who were very close), with the help of Butler's father arranged to Barnett's retired early so Lejeune could become Commandant. This would have put a General with recent war experience under Pershing in charge of the Marine Corps, as well as someone who could probably assure that Butler would become Commandant eventually. Barnett thought he was entitled to serve out his full second term of four years, but that didn't happen and he was told to step down after a year or two so Lejeune could take over. Needless to say Barnett was not happy about it as were some other senior Marine officers. After Lejeune retired, Butler was up to be Commandant and he really wanted the position and probably desired it due to being the senior officer in the Marie Corps and having two Medals of Honor. However, Butler's father had died and there was still a lot of resentment with other senior officers about what happened with Gen. Barnett. Butler was passed over for Commandant and it pretty much ended his carer.

If you read his books and books about him, you can clearly see how his tone about the Marine Corps changes after he retires. Just make sure you are aware of this whenever bringing up Butler. Most of the time anyone you discuss this with won't have a clue who he is, but there will be some who do. Be ready to hear that Butler was just a bitter, old man who was pissed off at the world when he wrote his book.

[Catherina]

21. Really? Then I'll dismiss every word he ever wrote right there!

Would you please at least try? It's no fun otherwise.

[wmbrew0206]

23. Be ready to hear it.

I think Butler was right, especially if you look at his full career as a Marine Officer in the South America. He was basically in charge of trying to shore up corrupt governments that were friendly to the US and owed US banks money from loans they had extended to this governments.

However, the fact that he did not become Commandant, even with two MOH's, is extremely significant. If memory serves me correctly, Butler was the only senior Marine Officer eligible for the position of Commandant that had a Medal of Honor after Lejeune. Normally a MOH winner is a shoe in for the position. So the fact that he did not get the position is significant. Butler even said that he was not happy about the way his career ended.

I've read a lot about Butler over the years because he is the most highly decorated Marine Officer (because of the two MOH's). I always wondered why Marine Officer's put Chesty Puller on a higher plane than Butler, even though Butler was more decorated. In every book about Butler, there is mention of how Butler's attitude towards his service changes after he retires.

It is there. It doesn't mean he is not right. It just such a stark change between how Butler talked and wrote about his service before retiring and how he talked about it after. I personally think that Butler finally had time to look back at what he had done and reflect on what it was really about rather than just accepting the official story the government gave. I think he was pissed off at the fact that he lost a lot of Marines just to ensure JP Morgan & Co made a profit.

[Scuba]

22. I'm betting Butler's priviledged background...

...is what mades the ghouls think they could trust him.

[mod mom]

24. Four words: "War is a racket" says a lot, doesn't it?

[phasma ex machina]

31. +1 "Butler was a very complicated man"

You just know it's going to be complicated when you see the phrase "the fighting Quaker."

Edit to append the following:

IMHO Teddy Roosevelt's "big stick" props (eg Great White Fleet) kick started world class American empire building. Although Wilson campaigned against America's entry into WWI he ended up sending American troops to the battlefield.

To what purpose?

After WWI Butler tried to warn America that war is a racket.

Too late.

WWII cemented the American empire. IMHO.

I also want to share the link to rather lengthly story about contemporary Guatemalan lawlessness that contains a bit of Guatemalan history as a banana republic. http://www.indigomoon.us/triplog/print_tr030.html

[suffragette]

25. "War is a Racket" is available in different formats through archive.org

http://www.archive.org/details/WarIsARacket

[Scuba]

26. Thank you!!!

[suffragette]

30. Thank you for this thread

Count me among those who heard of this through DU.

[wildbilln864]

27. Prescott Bush....

GW's pappy was one of those wealthy industrialists but you didn't hear any of that either.
:shrug:

[troubledamerican]

28. John Perkins

The Smedley Butler of his day, making the world safe for American hegemonic corporate predation.

Unfortunately, John Perkins was not in a military position to stop a coup.

Who will stop the new Business Coup?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Perkins