Hightower’s Heroes in History: Smedley Darlington Butler

Gather ‘round, students, for this week’s history lesson. This week we look at one true American hero, who single-handedly saved our country from a fascist takeover in 1933. That alone should make this hero a household name—and what a name he has.

Smedley Darlington Butler was born on July 30, 1881. A stellar student, he rebelliously quit school just before graduation to join the Marines to fight in the Spanish-American War. Smedley would go on to fight in many battles, but not just in the military—he also ran for Senate, and led a group of veterans seeking payment and medical treatment for their losses in war. 

It was Smedley’s reputation for a stellar general, and his leadership of disaffected veterans that led a bunch of wealthy fat cats to him. Livid with Franklin D. Roosevelt’s efforts to mitigate the effects of the Great Depression on everyday folks, they wanted to storm the White House with an army (led by Smedley) to force FDR out and install their own corporate-friendly fascist puppet. 

Many Americans can’t believe that political coups are part of our country’s history – but this was the Wall Street Putsch of 1933.

Never heard of it? It was a corporate conspiracy to oust Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had just been elected president. With the Great Depression raging and millions of families financially devastated, FDR had launched several economic recovery programs to help people get back on their feet. To pay for this crucial effort, he had the audacity to raise taxes on the wealthy, and this enraged a group of Wall Street multimillionaires.

Wailing that their “liberty” to grab as much wealth as possible was being shackled, they accused the president of mounting a Class War. To pull off their coup, they plotted to enlist a private military force made up of destitute World War I vets who were upset at not receiving promised federal bonus payments. One of the multimillionaires’ lackeys reached out to a well-respected advocate for veterans: Retired Marine general, Smedley Darlington Butler. They wanted him to lead 500,000 veterans in a march on Washington to force FDR from the White House.

They chose the wrong general. Butler was a patriot and lifelong soldier for democracy, who, in his later years, was critical of corporate war profiteering, and he was repulsed by the hubris and treachery of these Wall Street aristocrats. He reached out to a reporter, and together, they gathered proof to to take to Congress. A special congressional committee investigated and found Butler’s story “alarmingly true,” leading to public hearings, with Butler giving detailed testimony.

Nonetheless, officials failed to punish the perpetrators of this outrageous assault on our democracy, and with the help of media, the coup attempt was sealed off from our history books and future generations. Once again, the we-don’t-do-coups myth prevailed.

It’s tempting to a laugh off 1933’s bumbling fat cats–we can just picture them cloistered in their posh private club, smoking $100 cigars, grumping about Roosevelt, and whispering about hiring an army to overthrow the whole damn democratic process. A “cocktail putsch,” as New York City’s Mayor Fiorello La Guardia dubbed it.

But, while their plot was harebrained, their plutocratic intent is no laughing matter. Their presumption of class privilege–the warped idea that their great wealth entitled them to rule over and even impoverish the many–is not unique. The Wall Street Putsch died in 1934, but it is just one manifestation of a deadly serious social disease that has infected the history of democratic struggles.

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