Smedley Darlington Butler Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Victoria Cross

Butler was one of a handful of soldiers to win TWO Medals of Honor. He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Medal of both the Army and Navy.

Answer: The Marine's Marine

A Quaker from Pennsylvania, Butler join the Marines at the age of 16. The "Old Gimlet Eye" nickname resulted from an illness that discolored his eyes. The nickname "Old Duckboard" came about when he personally helped haul a load of duckboards four miles up a hill to where his troops were camped during WWI to make their living conditions more tolerable. Duckboards were heavy planks that were used to line the bottom of trenches.

Answer: At that time Marine Officers were ineligible for the award

Marine Officers weren't considered for the Medal of Honor until a few years after the Boxer Rebellion, so Butler was awarded the Marine Brevet Medal instead. He remains to this day the only soldier to win the Brevet Medal and two Medals of Honor.

Answer: Tried to return it

When he tried to return the award Smedley Butler was not only ordered to keep it, he was ordered to WEAR it! You gotta love this guy!

Answer: Calvin Coolidge

President Coolidge gave Butler little choice in the matter. Butler's title in Philadelphia was Director of Public Safety.

Answer: Raided the speakeasy at the Ritz-Carlton and arrested several of the mayor's friends

After two years of fighting what he called the toughest battle he'd ever been in, Butler raided the Ritz-Carlton. Two weeks later the mayor quietly terminated the arrangement.

Answer: He was offered 3 million dollars and de facto leadership of America as the head of a military overthrow of Franklin Roosevelt's presidency

After a meeting with a man named Gerald MacGuire, who represented a well financed group called the American Liberty League, Butler asked a journalist to pose as his aide at a subsequent meeting. He brought Paul Comly French along to witness that MacGuire was proposing that, with the League's backing, Butler could rule America with Roosevelt continuing as a mere figurehead. Butler then called a press conference and blew the whistle on the whole plan.

Answer: Died of natural causes at the age of 37

MacGuire denied that he had recruited Butler for the plot but following Butler and French's testimony the Senate panel found that Butler was telling the truth. Within a matter of weeks MacGuire would die, the records of the hearings would be expunged, and the matter would be quietly forgotten. Prior to his untimely death, MacGuire had in fact been the leader of the politically influential Connecticut American Leagion, an employee of the Wall Street firm of Grayson Mallet-Provost Murphy, and had travelled to Europe to study Facism.

Answer: War is a Racket

Butler's "War is a Racket" is a scathing indictment of early 20th century US foreign policy. He wrote, "I spent 33 years and 4 months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high classed muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers.

In short I was a rackteer, a gangster for capitalism." It was Butler's belief that you could all but end wars by making it illegal for anyone to make a profit from them.

Answer: Samuel Prescott Bush

Under the direction of Samuel Prescott Bush the government purchased hundreds of thousands of saddles for a cavalry that was never sent to Europe, 20 million mosquito nets that were never sent to the troops, and 35 million pairs of boots for 4 million soldiers.

At the end of the war 25 million pairs of boots were declared surplus. Bush's grandson and great grandson would become presidents. Smedley Butler, who repeatedly demonstrated unwavering courage and integrity, would fade into obscurity.