The US is presently involved in 15 ‘shadow wars’: Here’s where and why

[Mushroom]

~S~

Smedley was a great marine, but all admit he had some real mental issues towards the end. And after that "Business Plot" became public and he disgraced himself, he spent what few years he had left under the care of his daughter, seeing nobody. And many now suspect he may have had dementia.

However much people still glom onto what he said, it has to be remembered the guy was a political animal. And very bitter when he was denied being named Commandant. He hoped he would embarrass the military into making that so, but instead fell in with a vacuum cleaner salesman with a fish story that was so insane that only people with mental illness could possibly believe it.

 

[Mushroom]

How very humanitarian of them, anyone would mistake them for the Salvation Army

Uh-huh.

You mean unlike those in Georgia and Ukraine?

 

[the watcher]

Butler was approached by a couple of sketchy people representing $300 million dollars (staggering in 1933) worth of backers to assist in the coup against Roosevelt and the stated "goal" was to help the american veterans, who were all in support if him. The real motives remain unclear. but the group of backers was revealed. ""
A few weeks later, news of a new conservative lobbying group called the American Liberty League broke. Its members included J.P. Morgan Jr., Irénée du Pont and the CEOs of General Motors, Birds Eye and General Foods, among others. Together they held near $40 billion in assets, Denton said — about $778 billion today."" He chose to reveal this plot instead of profiting from it, He didn't make it up and he wasn't having delusions. If it had succeeded it would be a different world here, but we are getting back in the corporate mold again.

 

[Deadstick]

Uh-huh.

You mean unlike those in Georgia and Ukraine?

No.

 

[Mushroom]

Butler was approached by a couple of sketchy people representing $300 million dollars

They were con artists. They claimed they had $300 million, in reality they had nothing. Just as they claimed they had control of the largest Veteran Organization in the country, and a fighting force of over 500,000 men. That was all as fake as the money they claimed they had.

To give an idea, General Butler was one of the top leaders of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). And one has to understand that the situation then is vastly different than it is today.

At that time as today, the American Legion and VFW were bitter enemies. The VFW was founded by those who served in the Spanish-American War, and at that time tried to restrict their membership largely to those that served in that conflict. And Smedley of course was a veteran of that war.

The American Legion however was formed by veterans of WWI, and had much more open requirements for membership. And at that time, you could be a member of one, or the other. But absolutely never both. Membership to both was absolutely prohibited by each organization. And it was not unusual for the groups to actually fight each other, their relationship prior to WWII was very hostile to each other.

Now being one of the top leaders of the VFW, when Gerald MacGuire (who really was a con artist and vacuum cleaner salesman) approached him, one of the things he promised is that General Butler would gain control of the American Legion. And be free to dissolve the VFW and bring it into the enlarged organization that he would control. He promised $300 million, yes. He also promised over half a million fighting men to assist in this coup.

Now just look at it logically, that is completely nonsensical. Half a million men, and the ability to combine the two most powerful Veteran organization in the nation, all under his control. Historians are still questioning what the end game of MacGuire was, but he had none of that. He had no backers, and the investigations into it found absolutely nothing.

And Smedley had been denied being appointed Commandant for several reasons. He was the son of a career politician, and the son of two grandfathers who were also career politicians. He got his commission in the Marines because of his father, and multiple times during his service he would actually leave the Corps to take on political appointments or run business ventures. One of the first was when he was diagnosed with having a "nervous breakdown", and left for over a year to manage a coal mine.

During WWI he requested assigned to combat multiple times, but it was denied as his commanders felt him "unreliable". And towards the end of the war he was finally assigned to France, to command the debarkation point. And afterwards when stationed at Virginia he would often take his division on weeks long field exercises, and conduct reenactments of Civil War battles. That got him a lot of attention, but also had many starting to question his sanity. Like when he led a group to dig up Thomas Stonewall Jackson's arm.

But in 1924, his father was able to secure him a leave of absence from the Marines again, to take charge of the Philadelphia Department of Public Safety. He held that position for two years, and despite him and his father trying to extend it for a third year, that was denied and he was sent to San Diego to resume his duties as a Marine. Where his mouth damned near got him court martialed after an international incident where he would make claims that the leader of Italy had killed a child in a hit and run.

At that time the Commandant died, and he was the senior Marine General so was expected to replace him. However, by then his father had died so he no longer had the political support he once had. And he had made an enemy of Secretary of the Navy Charles Adams III. And not just because of the international scandal, but his frequent sabbaticals for up to 2 years to do other things as well as his erratic behaviors when he was a Division Commander.

Like when he was trying to use political pressure to be named the Commandant of the Marine Corps, he was also requesting another sabbatical to command the Oregon State Police. So needless to say, he did not become Commandant and it was suggested he retire. Where he then started a speaking tour, and tried to run for the Senate as a Prohibition supporter (and campaigned for a Socialist for President).

And most agree, by that time his sanity was likely already slipping. And once the affair became public and was dismissed as a fraud, he exited the public eye completely. Where he died 5 years later of cancer.

 

[sparky]

" He chose to reveal this plot instead of profiting from it, He didn't make it up and he wasn't having delusions. If it had succeeded it would be a different world here, but we are getting back in the corporate mold again.

They were con artists. They claimed they had $300 million, in reality they had nothing.

Both of you have detailed and informed posts

something that's a rarity on the USMB

My point to you is , the powers that be are not always clear on their agenda

Which was Gen Butler's jist, who was all about the factions putting a man in uniform , without targeting those in one

~S~

 

[whitehall]

Granted the CIA hasn't been on top of most important events since WW2 but it's mission has always been "intelligence. For some reason democrat regimes have allowed the freaking clerks in the CIA to dictate policies and strategies to the Generals. How did Vietnam work out? The CIA has a secret freaking budget and structure and nobody knows what mischief they are creating throughout the world. if anyone questions they are labeled traitors. Trump is considered to be the enemy of powerful federal bureaucracies but the fix is in and the CIA may have combined forces with the FBI to crush the republican party.

 

[sparky]

Granted the CIA hasn't been on top of most important events since WW2 but it's mission has always been "intelligence. For some reason democrat regimes have allowed the freaking clerks in the CIA to dictate policies and strategies to the Military. How did Vietnam work out? The CIA has a secret freaking budget and structure and nobody knows what mischief they are creating throughout the world.

Stating the CIA is agenda driven makes one a conspirator theorist these day whitehall ~S~

 

[Mushroom]

Both of you have detailed and informed posts

Actually, I did a rather detailed report on him back in 1986. And most of that was actually the general consensus of the man among Marines. That he was a great Marine, and earned two Medals of Honor.

However, his later career was very questionable, and he was likely suffering from early forms of dementia at the later stages to fall for such a crazy scheme that had absolutely nothing behind it.

After all, there were reasons why he was not selected to be the Commandant. And the general belief of his contemporaries was that he was indeed a great warrior, but something was more than a little bit off with him once he put on his stars. Like the hundred mile forced marches in almost random directions in Virginia, and digging up Stonewall Jackson's arm. And having them conduct Civil War battle recreations, which were tactics that by that time were completely obsolete so therefore of no real military or training value. But I bet that with modern science and knowledge, he probably would have been diagnosed with early stages of dementia.

The very fact that after all that mess happened, he retreated to his home and was cared for by his wife and daughter until his death. And never appeared in public again nor wrote to newspapers which he used to regularly do prior. Families do not do things like that to somebody who after retirement made a living on the speaking circuit and ran for the Senate without a good reason. And this seems to me even more likely, when looking at somebody like Bruce Willis. Who apparently had been suffering from dementia for at least six years before it was diagnosed, but nobody knew it.