Major General
Smedley Butler
(1881-1940)

US Marine Corps Major General
Anti-War Advocate

birthdate: July 30
birthplace: West Chester, Pennsylvania

QUOTES

War is a racket.

War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.

I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.