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West Chester native Smedley Darlington Butler started as a celebrated war hero and ended it as one of the military-industrial complex’s most outspoken critics.
Along the way, he became a Marine Corps major general, fought in World War I, was awarded 16 medals, and served as Philadelphia’s director of public safety.
Butler was also central to a controversy known as the “Business Plot,” in which a group of fascists allegedly tried to recruit him to lead an army of 150,000 and stage a coup to overthrow then-U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
In the meantime, he found time to speak about…dating. Here’s a recap of some of the high points of the wild ride that was Butler’s time on this planet.
