He became an outspoken antiwar activist, explaining, “I was a racketeer for capitalism,” serving the interests bankers and big business during his military service.įoreign correspondent JONATHAN KATZ tells Smedley’s fascinating story and his evolution in his book, Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America’s Empire. We’ll talk with Katz about this complicated man and America’s history of imperialism. Smedley, born into a prominent Main Line Quaker family outside Philadelphia, was a celebrated Marine General during the height of American expansion, but became disillusioned later in life with the use of America’s military might.
A two-time Medal of Honor winner, General Smedley Butler went from spreading American imperialism in the early 20 th century to places like Cuba, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and the Philippines, to despising it.
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