He trained at Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C. In the Spanish war fervor of 1898, Butler lied about his age to receive a direct commission as a Marine second lieutenant. His transcript stated that he completed the scientific course "with Credit". Haverford awarded him his high school diploma, nevertheless, on June 6, 1898, before the end of his final year. Against the wishes of his father, he left school 38 days before his seventeenth birthday to enlist in the Marine Corps during the Spanish–American War. He became captain of the school baseball team and quarterback of its football team. Butler's childhood home is a registered landmark.īutler attended the West Chester Friends Graded High School, followed by The Haverford School, a (then) Quaker-affiliated secondary school, popular with sons of upper-class Philadelphia families. His paternal grandfather was Samuel Butler, who served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and served as Pennsylvania State Treasurer from 1880 to 1882. His maternal grandfather was Smedley Darlington, a Republican congressman from 1887 to 1891. Smedley's Marine Corps career successes occurred while his father held that politically influential Congressional seat, controlling the Marine Corps manpower and budget. His father was a lawyer, a judge, and later served in the House of Representatives for 31 years, serving as chairman of the House Naval Affairs Committee during the Harding and Coolidge administrations. Both of his parents were of entirely English ancestry, and their families had been in North America since the 17th century. His parents, Thomas and Maud (née Darlington) Butler, were descended from local Quaker families. Smedley Darlington Butler was born July 30, 1881, in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the eldest of three sons. After retiring from service, he became a popular advocate, speaking at meetings organized by veterans, pacifists, and church groups in the 1930s. foreign policy and wars (such as those in which he had been involved). In 1935, Butler wrote the book War Is a Racket, where he alleged imperialist motivations for U.S.
The individuals involved all denied the existence of a plot, and the media ridiculed the allegations, but a final report by a special House of Representatives Committee confirmed some of Butler's testimony.īutler later became an outspoken critic of American wars and their consequences. Roosevelt, with Butler selected to lead a march of veterans to become dictator, similar to fascist regimes at that time. In 1933, he became involved in a controversy known as the Business Plot, when he told a congressional committee that a group of wealthy industrialists were planning a military coup to overthrow President Franklin D. By the end of his career, Butler had received sixteen medals, including five for heroism he is the only Marine to be awarded the Brevet Medal as well as two Medals of Honor, all for separate actions.
At the time of his death, Butler was the most decorated Marine in U.S. During his 34-year career, he fought in the Philippine–American War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Mexican Revolution, and World War I. Major General Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940), nicknamed the Maverick Marine, was a senior United States Marine Corps officer.
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