aat@pucc-h (Jeff Smith) (10/13/84)
Another fairly famous military quote: Smedley Butler,
a marine commander in France in WWI, allegedly exhorted
his men into battle* once with "Come on you <sob's>! Do
you want to live forever?" (Smedley was the kind of
guy who lead by example.)
Jeff Smith @ Purdue University Computing Center
*I can't remember the details of which battle, but a recent
issue of Smithsonian magazine has this quote, as well as
other details of Butler's colorful career.
UUCP: {decvax, icalqa, ihnp4, inuxc, sequent, uiucdcs}!pur-ee!pucc-h:aatjdb@qubix.UUCP (Jeff Bulf) (10/18/84)
> > Another fairly famous military quote: Smedley Butler, > a marine commander in France in WWI, allegedly exhorted > his men into battle* once with "Come on you <sob's>! Do > you want to live forever?" (Smedley was the kind of > guy who lead by example.) > > Jeff Smith @ Purdue University Computing Center Ah yes, the incomparable Major General Smedley Butler, USMC. Here is another quite famous quote from the man. Please excuse the length dear people, this one is a gem. [from an article in *Common Sense*, 1935, quoted in the book "The Enemy", by Felix Greene, Vintage, 1971]. [start quote] There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to... It may seem odd for me, a military man, to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to do so. I spent thirty-three and four months in active military service... And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the bankers. In short I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. ... Thus I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1902-12. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. In China in 1927 I helped see that the Standard Oil went its way unmolested. During those years, I had as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. I was rewarded with honors, medals and promotion. Looking back on it, I feel I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best *he* could do was to operate his racket in three city districts. I operated on three continents. [end of quote] "The opinions expressed in this quotation are those of Maj Gen Butler. They are not necessarily endorsed by any other person or organization, real or' imaginary" -- Dr Memory ...{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!decwrl!qubix!jdb