Smedley

Smedley

[Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 - June 21, 1940), nicknamed "Old Gimlet Eye," was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps and, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. Butler was awarded the Medal of Honor twice during his career, one of only 19 people to be so doubly decorated.]

The definition of conspire is, ‘act in unison or agreement and in secret towards a deceitful or illegal purpose’. Of course our history, as far back as we have records, is full of conspiracies. All the way back to Joseph in the Bible, Julius Caesar, the American Revolution, and Abraham Lincoln, to name a few. Despite your view his political orientation, most agree that Franklin D. Roosevelt was a master politician and he said "In politics nothing happens by accident. If it happens, it was planned that way".

Well, here is a little bit of history that never made in to my history book in school. In 1934, many wealthy Americans, including such as Henry Ford, looked with favor on Hitler’s newly established state of fascism. They apparently felt this was good buffer against socialism and communism. Several of they financial controlling interests in the country were a bit upset with the way Roosevelt was running the country. So at this time William S. Knudsen, head of General Motors, Irenee Dupont, and friends at Morgan Bank organized a coup d’etat to overthrow the presidency of the United States. They used $3,000,000 (1934 dollars) to fund an army of terrorists, and modeled it after the Croix de Feu fascist movement in Paris.

The scheme fell apart because they approached Marine Corp commandant General Smedley Butler to head up the new military based government. They felt safe approaching Butler because he had been an open critic of Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. However, Smedley put loyalty to his country above his politics and immediately reported the plot to Roosevelt.

Hey, Smedley
You’re the man
Walking the Ramparts
Guarding the Land

Roosevelt, fearful of the consequences of arresting the leaders of the House of Morgan and Dupont, decided rather than confronting them directly to leak the story to the press. Of course, the press then downplayed it to being a silly rumor, but it seems that many of the plotters left the country for a while, just in case. Regardless, it was taken seriously enough that a Congressional Committee was formed to investigate it. Through pressures and political ties, the Committee drug out the investigation for four years. Even though the findings downplayed its importance, they nonetheless stated "certain persons made an attempt to establish a fascist organization in this country", and also it "was able to verify all pertinent statements made by General Butler". No names were reported.

Yo, Smedley
You’re the Dude
Told the oligarchs
To get Screwed

So why is it such a pooh-pooh concept to have a ‘Conspiracy Theory’ when history is rampant with actual conspiracies. Well Jim Mars, in Alien Agenda points out that the main resistance to Conspiracy Theories comes from first, the government, then the media and academic communities, not from the man in the street. And these are the people who manage the ‘national and global economy of information’.

Oh, and by the way, Smedley wrote a very interesting book before he died called War is a Racket . He explains in it how wars are created for the benefit of the few and to the detriment of the masses.

Certain concepts and ideas are credited to Jim Mars, Alien Agenda