Army’s short campaign of ground combat was already essentially over, and Spain was forced to relinquish its claims to Cuba. When Butler landed in Cuba, he arrived at Guantánamo Bay. Together, they show the force of Butler’s critique, and some of its limitations.
Sometimes they reveal how dramatically the world has changed. Sometimes Katz’s visits to Butler’s grounds reveal the ways in which empire has hardly relaxed its grasp. In Gangsters of Capitalism, Katz follows Butler through the archives and on foot, retracing Butler’s path across the globe: from Cuba to the Philippines, to Nicaragua, to Haiti. Katz’s engaging new book is an opportunity to correct for the omission. If you missed your youthful window for Butleriana-either by not being a member of the Marine Corps or by not devoting a shelf in your dorm room to the collected works of Chomsky-Jonathan M. Famous in his day, the subject of fiction and film, he retired with two Medals of Honor and a greater number of nicknames-Old Gimlet Eye, the Leatherneck’s Friend, the Fighting Quaker-that testified to his place in the culture. His military career would take him from Cuba to China to Central America, where he became a legend in the Marine Corps, representing martial valor and virtue. When he read of the explosion of the USS Maine in the Havana harbor in 1898-which the “yellow journalism” of the era painted as a Spanish attack-he decided to enlist in the Marines. “I clenched my fists when I thought of those poor Cuban devils being starved and murdered by the beastly Spanish tyrants,” he wrote later. In spite of the Quaker tradition of pacifism, Butler believed in the mission.
#Marine corps general smedley butler free#
The United States promised it was entering the fight to free the remaining Spanish overseas colonies from tyranny. He was 16 years old when the Spanish-American War broke out. Both were prominent families, but the young Butler would not pursue a career in politics. Others earning Medals of Honor for heroism in this action were: Sergeant Ross Iams and Private Samuel Gross.The name reflects Butler’s Pennsylvania Quaker heritage-his father, Thomas Butler, was a congressman in the seat once held by his wife’s father, Smedley Darlington. Smedley Butler earned his FIRST award of the Medal of Honor during the Mexico Incursion at Vera Cruz in 1914. Throughout this perilous action, Major Butler was conspicuous for his bravery and forceful leadership. Reaching the fort on the southern side where there was a small opening in the wall, Major Butler gave the signal to attack and marines from the 15th Company poured through the breach, engaged the Cacos in hand-to-hand combat, took the bastion and crushed the Caco resistance. Following a concentrated drive, several different detachments of marines gradually closed in on the old French bastion fort in an effort to cut off all avenues of retreat for the Caco bandits. Connecticut, Major Butler led the attack on Fort Riviere, Haiti, 17 November 1915. The World War II destroyer USS Butler (DD-636) was named in his honor.Īs Commanding Officer of detachments from the 5th, 13th, 23d Companies and the Marine and sailor detachment from the U.S.S. He died on June 21, 1940, and was buried at Oaklands Cemetery in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Gen Butler served as Commander of the Marine Expeditionary Force in China from 1927 to 1929, and then returned to Quantico as Commanding General, where he retired from the Marine Corps on October 1, 1931. He received a leave of absence from the Marine Corps from January 1924 to December 1925, during which time he served as the Director of Public Safety for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During World War I, Gen Butler commanded Camp Pontanezen in Brest, France, followed by service as Commanding General of the Marine Barracks in Quantico, Virginia, from 1919 to January 1924. Maj Butler received a 2nd Medal of Honor during the Occupation of Haiti in 1915, making him the only person in history to have been awarded the Medal of Honor twice as well as the Marine Corps Brevet Medal. Butler served in Honduras in 1903, and in the Occupation of Nicaragua from 1909 to 1912, followed by the Occupation of Veracruz, Mexico, in 1914, where he received his 1st Medal of Honor. Butler served in China during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, and became only one of 20 Marines ever to receive a brevet promotion during this time, which later earned him the Marine Corps Brevet Medal.
Marine Corps at age 16 on June 22, 1898, and served in Guantanamo, Cuba, during the Spanish-American War. Smedley Butler was born on July 30, 1881, in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
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