Marine Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler's expose of American Corporate Imperialism. Butler said, 'I served in all commissioned ranks from 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 the racket all the time. Now I am sure of it.'
‘War Is a Racket’ is a 1935 book by Smedley D. Butler (1881 –1940), a retired United States Marine Corps Major General and two-time Medal of Honor recipient who became an outspoken critic of American wars and their consequences. During his 34-year career as a Marine, he took part in military actions in the Philippines, China, Central America, the Caribbean and France. After his retirement from the US Marine Corps in 1931, he took his speech 'War is a Racket' on a nationwide tour. Due to its popularity, he wrote a longer version for a booklet published in 1935. Based on his career military experience, Butler exposed the huge scale of war profiteering by business interests. In ‘War is a Racket’, he wrote, “For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it. Now that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are today, I must face it and speak out.'
