General Smedley D. Butler vs. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
"What a dark day for American democracy it was - February 5, 1937," begins left-liberal Robert Naiman's alternative history — The Day They Arrested President Roosevelt. We learn that Mr. Naiman is writing an allegory for the ousted Honduran president when we read that "soldiers under the command of General Smedley Butler arrested President Roosevelt and deported him to Canada, still in his pajamas."
The truth is that while "General Smedley Butler did testify to Congress that he had been recruited by people claiming to represent corporate interests to lead a coup against President Roosevelt," he was "[a]ppalled at the idea of becoming the first U.S. dictator."
But the possibility is tantalizing. The heroic General Smedley Butler, known as "The Fighting Quaker," and "noted for his outspoken anti-interventionist views," probably would have kept us out of the disaster that was WWII. He is the author of the book, War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier, and the famous speech of the same title, reenacted below:
The truth is that while "General Smedley Butler did testify to Congress that he had been recruited by people claiming to represent corporate interests to lead a coup against President Roosevelt," he was "[a]ppalled at the idea of becoming the first U.S. dictator."
But the possibility is tantalizing. The heroic General Smedley Butler, known as "The Fighting Quaker," and "noted for his outspoken anti-interventionist views," probably would have kept us out of the disaster that was WWII. He is the author of the book, War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier, and the famous speech of the same title, reenacted below:
Labels: America the Beautiful, Peace, War and Rumors of War
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