Near the end of his career, he began questioning the issue of foreign wars. He began calling war a racket, and became adamant about the imperialist aspect of the U.S.' foreign interventions. He was not a pacifist, and came from a long line of republicans. When he had an opinion, however, he made it known. In 1935, after he retired, he published a slim book titled War is a Racket. Butler campaigned on that theme for the rest of his life.
Butler believed that all U.S. foreign interventions were self-serving acts, which lined the pockets of the rich at the expense of the nations it victimized, sending young boys to do the dirty work, wearing American uniforms. People such as Franklin Roosevelt sidled up to the trough, to "invest" in Haiti after it had been secured for American interests. Roosevelt drafted the Haitian constitution that overturned more than a century of Haitian strategy of not allowing foreign land ownership to gain a foothold in Haiti, which would begin undermining its sovereignty. FDR was an integral part of the neocolonial strategy of pillaging Haiti. Butler provided the muscle to pull it off.
In 1936 Europe was devolving into the prequel to WW2; Hitler was reinvigorating Germany, Mussolini was turning Italy into a fascist state. Meanwhile in the US, William Dodd, the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, wrote a letter to President Roosevelt in which he stated,
"A clique of U.S. industrialists is hell-bent to bring a fascist state to supplant our democratic government and is working closely with the fascist regime in Germany and Italy. I have had plenty of opportunity in my post in Berlin to witness how close some of our American ruling families are to the Nazi regime.... A prominent executive of one of the largest corporations, told me point blank that he would be ready to take definite action to bring fascism into America if President Roosevelt continued his progressive policies. Certain American industrialists had a great deal to do with bringing fascist regimes into being in both Germany and Italy. They extended aid to help Fascism occupy the seat of power, and they are helping to keep it there. Propagandists for fascist groups try to dismiss the fascist scare. We should be aware of the symptoms. When industrialists ignore laws designed for social and economic progress they will seek recourse to a fascist state when the institutions of our government compel them to comply with the provisions."
The proven record of Prescott Bush's involvement in financing the Nazi war machine dovetails with the fact that he was part of a criminal cabal that actively sought to impose a fascist coup in America. Prescott did not succeed but many would argue that two generations down the line the mission has all but been accomplished.
The July 1934 issue of Fortune magazine praised fascism and its quick achievements, accomplishing in mere years what Christendom could not achieve in millennia. The article further stated, "The good journalist must recognize in Fascism certain ancient virtues of the race, whether or not they happen to be momentarily fashionable in his own country. Among these are Discipline, Duty, Courage, Glory, Sacrifice."
A 1937 State Department report stated that:
"Fascism is becoming the soul of Italy." The Fascist experiment was praised because it "brought order out of chaos, discipline out of license, and solvency out of bankruptcy." The report stated that in order to "accomplish so much in a short time severe measures have been necessary."
The State Department in 1937 saw Fascism as compatible with the United States' interests. Just as after World War II, the United States would embrace anybody as long as they were anticommunist. While the Fascists were merely raping their own people and making the country safe for American investment, the U.S. government minimized the suffering of that nation's people, and eagerly participated. With Japan, Germany, and Italy, it was only when they began stepping on imperial toes that it became a matter of war.
Prescott Bush, the Remingtons, du Pont and J.P. Morgan, fomented a Plan for the Old American Century (America for a New Century?), which included assassinating FDR, creating concentration/slave labor camps, and installing a Nazi government after the Hitler model -- a New World Order! Hitler's words for this Nazi bliss were simply, the "New Order." Obviously, Hitler's partners and financiers in war crimes, the Bush crime family, added to Hitler's words the neo-Nazi/neoconservative term: "World."
Neil Smith's version in his "Occupied America" website chronology: "1934 - Coup d'etat attempt (?) by JP Morgan, du Ponts, GM people, American Legion reps., turned to Smedley Butler, former Marine Commandant who allegedly turned over information to Roosevelt. [He] was forced to resign as Commandant after he called Mussolini a Dictator." And later:
"McCormack-Dickstein hearings into coup attempt confirmed it, but the report was not immediately released."
[Think Warren Commission, 9-11 Commission, Commission investigating Pearl Harbor, Abu Ghraib Army investigation, etc., etc., etc.]
So in the end Smedley's story was found to have merit and all parties in the indictment were in collusion, yet once again the wheels of justice grind on but go nowhere. None of the guilty ever saw justice. So then as now: Republicans are willing to implement voter suppression when and were necessary, whistleblowers get burned, Wall Street runs the world, the U S Military is a tool used by corporate interests to further their own goals and agendas. Americans and the peoples of our enemy de jour are a disposable commodity.
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