Smedley Butler Essay, Research Paper
Smedley Darlington Butler
On July 30, 1881, a man was born that would bring into this country courage and leadership as it has never seen before. He was one of only two men to ever win the Congressional Medal of Honor twice, as well as being the most decorated soldier to ever wear an American uniform. He fought in every American conflict from the Spanish-American War in 1898 to the guerrilla Wars in Central America that followed World War I as an officer in the Marine Corps. He also protected domestic disputes by organizing a force from the 4th Marine Regiment in October of 1926 to protect the mailing system, which would become known as the Western Mail Guards. After his tour with the Marines, he was very popular with rank-and-file soldiers and veterans. He strongly defended the Bonus Marchers in 1932, who were later attacked by US troops under General Douglas MacArthur in Washington DC. In an incident whose history is surpressed today, he was approached by representatives of the Morgan Bank who wished him to lead a fascist military coup d etat against the Roosevelt government in 1932, which he refused. Yet through all of these conflicts, he still maintained that American armed intervention into the affairs of sovereign nations was not in our best interest. In his 34 year career with the Marine Corps, he would demonstrate that true patriotism does not mean blind allegiance to government policies with which one does not agree. His name was Smedley Darlington Butler.
Smedley Butler played a big role in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. In the Yellow Sea, the USS Solance sailed with 106 Marines including two extra that snuck aboard the night before it s departure. These men, along with eight officers, were the first American reinforcements which could be sent from the Philippines; they had been mounting out for Guam, under the command of Major Waller, when the emergency diverted them to China. Smedley Butler, who was only a first lieutenant at the time, was counted as saying, Major Waller came ashore at 4:45 PM and told me that Company A was the one chosen for the expedition and that I was to go in command of it. He told me that I was to get the company ready by 8:45 that same night. For a while I seemed dazed and then it dawned on me and we all began preparations. Another officer and myself first went out to the quarters and set all the men wild by the news and in my short but eventful life I had never seen such a howling mob. We then went back and packed ourselves and at 8:15 PM I started for the quarters to bring the company down to the boat. That was pretty quick work when you consider that I took out half an hour for dinner. (Davison, 1947) The ship sailed for Taku on June 14. hours later, the US Minister in Peking got word through to Washington that the foreigners in Peking had been completely besieged within the compounds with the entire city in the possession of a rioting, murdering mob, with no visible effort being made by the government in any way to restrain it.
On June 19, at 0330, Waller s Marines debarked, reinforced by 30 more Marines from the USS Nashville, armed with a 3-inch landing gun and a Colt machine gun. With the help of machinist s mates and water tenors from the Civil War gunboat Monocacy, Waller coaxed a Chinese train back to life, loaded it with spare ties, rails and Marines, and traveled from Tangku towards Tientsin. Repairing tracks as they advanced, the Marines joined forces with a battalion of 440 Russian infantry halted 12 miles from Tientsin. At 0200 on June 20, the Marines and Russians resumed the advance. By 0700, they were on the outskirts of Tientsin, under heavy fire and counter-attacked by more than 1500 Boxers and Imperial troops. Outnumbered, the Marines and Russians disengaged.
The withdrawal was signalized by the rescue of a wounded Marine, inadvertently left behind, by a rear guard consisting of Lieutenants Butler A.B. Harding and other enlisted Marines. Under continual Chinese pursuit and fire, by cavalry and artillery, the six Marines carried the wounded man seven miles without a stretcher. All four of the enlisted Marines received the Medal of Honor. Since officers were not eligible to receive the Medal of Honor in those days, Butler and Harding were both brevetted captain for gallantry.
This would not be the only time that Smedley Butler would be awarded highest honors for acts of great courage and bravery. In 1914, Butler, who by then had achieved the rank of Major, was awarded the Congressional Medal of honor for his role in the seizing of Vera Cruz in order to prevent Huerta from receiving an alleged shipment of arms from Germany. His citation read the following:
For distinguished conduct in battle, engagement of Vera Cruz, April 22,
1914, was eminent and conspicuous in command of his battalion. He
exhibited courage and skill in leading his men through the action of the
22nd and in the final occupation of the city. (Marine Corps)
A little more than one year later, Butler would do the unprecedented and receive yet another Congressional Medal of Honor for the Haitian Campaign of 1915 where US troops were sent to restore order to a rebellious mob who were revolting against a bankrupt Haitian government:
As Commanding Officer of detachments from the 5th, 13th, 23d Companies
and the marine and sailor detachment from the U.S.S. Connecticut, Major
Butler led the attack on Fort Riviere, Haiti, 17 November 1915. 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. 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.
Throughout the perilous action, Major Butler was conspicuous for his bravery
and forceful leadership. (Marine Corps)
Butler demonstrated a new kind of leadership as has never been seen before. He put himself and his men through peril and yet achieved his mission. As a marine, he would not have it any other way.
Following the Haitian campaign, he saw little action in World War II as he was declared a General by the wars outbreak in America. However, his assistance as a soldier and planner was needed again in 1926 when violence and robbery brought a new and entirely different role for the 4th Marines. In Elizabeth, New Jersey, on 14 October 1926, the brutal robbery and killing of a US Mail truck driver forced President Calvin Coolidge to turn to the Marine Corps for assistance in the civil community. By Presidential order, 2,500 Marines proceeded on duty to guard the mail. The Commandant, anticipating the Presidential Order, on 18 October had directed the Commanding General, Headquarters, located in San Francisco to organize a force from the 4th Regiment, to be know as the Western Mail Guards, under the command of Brigadier-General Smedley D. Butler. Butler, who was known as Ol Gimlet Eye by his fellow Marines, brought with him a long record of leadership and his cold, methodical approach to the task given to the Marines. As the primary source of personnel for the Western Mail guard, the 4th Marines initially would be spread throughout eleven states. Part of the twelfth state, Texas, would be added on 22 October 1926. General Butler s fully armed Marines soon became sobering influences throughout Post Offices, mail trains, and mail trucks in those areas. While Marines carried out their mail guard assignment, only one attempted robbery was recorded. That particular robbery involved an unguarded mail train carrying no mail at the time. Meanwhile, in San Diego, the base stood relatively empty with a reduced level of caretaker personnel awaiting the return of the 4th regiment.
When normal operations returned to the US Mail system, the need for continued assignment of such forces became less and less justified. The return of the 4th Marines to San Diego began on 10 January 1927. Later in that same year, American interests and lives in China and Nicaragua had once again been endangered by internal unrest and civil war. The Marines received the call to conduct expeditionary protective operations in these two countries to protect Americans and their property. The east coast based 2nd Brigade sailed for Nicaragua while the 4th Marines reinforced, becoming the 3rd Brigade under Brigadier-General Butler in San Diego, prepared for service in China.
In late March of 1927, General Butler arrived in Shanghai and took charge of all Marine forces ashore. The 4th Regiment was then attached to the 3rd Marine Brigade and General Butler amplified its instructions, giving it more leeway to help in perimeter defense if necessary. Butler also injected some common sense and gained the favor of the men by replacing tiresome foot patrols with motor patrols.
The situation in Shanghai would remain stable until 1932, giving the 4th Marines a chance to settle into the city. By that time, they had become in effect, a permanent garrison in the International Settlement in Shanghai. However, by the time the 4th Marines would have the need for defense, General Butler would have already retired from the Marine Corps.
In the few years to follow, Butler would start comparing the United States military to the racketeering mobs of the 1920 s. He said that like other gangs, the military hand its finger men (to point out enemies), it s muscle men (to destroy enemies), it s brain guys (to plan war) and a Big Boss (super-nationalistic capitalism). He wrote an article that stated his role in American affairs succinctly and with honor and presented it before a group of legionnaires, called In Time of Peace, written in 1935. In this article, he stated, It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent 33 years and 4 months in active service as a member of our country s most agile military force – the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from a 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 for capitalism.
I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all members of the profession I never had an original thought until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of the higher-ups. This is typical of everyone in the military service. (Butler, 1935)
It is commonly supposed that our armed forces are entirely defensive in nature, that they have nothing to do with the making of war or the creating of situations that lead to war. The General Staff states publicly, that the military organization is founded on the principle that we must be ready for aggressive war, yet fully capable of defending ourselves. To be defensive in motive, as we intend to be, a nation must surrender all thought of initiative. (Makis, 1973) If this statement was a fact and effectively translated into reality, there would be little causes for concern. But close examination reveals that it is just another publicity release from the War Department.
Training Regulations of the War Department contain the official Doctrine of War for the United States. Section II of the doctrine says, Decision to go to war having made, operations will be carried into hostile territory…the primary objective will be the destruction of the enemy s armed forces, and this demands the strategical and tactical offensive be taken and maintained until a decision is reached. (Congress) Section V says, the object to be attained by military training is to enable the Army to wage offensive warfare. While training must cover certain phases of defensive doctrine and police doctrine, the Army must definitely understand that these are only means to the definite end – offensive war – and every individual in the military service must be imbued with the spirit of the offensive. (Congress)
Butler doesn t believe that our goal is entirely defensive. In fact, he views the military as an organization design to strike fear in to other nations. He goes on to say in his article, Lest this seem to be the bellicose pipe-dream of some dyspeptic desk soldier, let us remember that the military deal of our country has never been defensive warfare. Since the Revolution, only the United Kingdom has beaten our record for square miles of territory acquired by military conquest. Our exploits against the American Indian, against the Filipinos, the Mexicans and against the Spanish are vastly larger then the campaigns of Genghis Khan, the Japanese in Manchuria and the African attack of Mussolini. No country has ever declared war on us before we first obliged them with that gesture. Our whole history shows we have never fought a defensive war, and at the rate our armed forces are being implemented at present, the odds are against our fighting one in the near future. (Butler) The War Plans Section spends all of its time creating blue-prints for the defensive of this country. This means, according to Butler, vast schemes for foreign invasion and offensive war. The personnel of this division are those whose hides will never be scratched should hostilities occur. Consequently they can devise plans of whatever magnitude they fancy, and against any momentary enemy . Nothing troubles them and such a detail as how their next war is going to be paid for is not even considered.
Butler leaves behind him a legacy of military struggle and achievements. Throughout his career, he continuously battled with the notion of serving his country honorably, but also knowing that something wasn t quite right about its device purpose. Fortunately for the US, he was able to keep his differences separate until after he retired, because having a man like him against you is not a peaceful thought. His leadership and abilities were far superior to the time in which he lived and even today we could all look back on his accomplishments in the military and find out where we are going wrong and how to correct it.
- Butler, Smedley D. – In Time of Peace : The Army
Commons Sense Amgazine, November 1935 pp. 8-12
- Congress, Library of Congress – Offical Doctrine of War
- Davison, Eugene – US Armed Forces and the Boxer Rebellion
New York, 1947
- Makis, John M. – Roles of the US Military in the 20th Century
New York, 1973
- Marine Corps – taken directly from copies of Congressional Medal
of Honor citations.