The Bogus Business Plot: Part 2: Smedley Butler, The Lying Quaker
The revered general who saved FDR from Wall Street takes a pounding as Josh undresses him in Part Two of his essay. Butler, like John F. Kennedy, John McCain, John Kerry and others who came to prominence via military heroism, turns out to be a paper tiger whose exploits were phony.
Did I say too much? Read and enjoy, report back. Nice work, Josh. I know how much work goes into these essays. Josh has a delightful habit of walking down a hallway, opening some doors, merely peeking through others. Possible future work from this source: demystifying Mao Zedung, Anthony Sutton.
Josh is doing what historians, if they had salt, would be doing: Researching and writing about … history.
Piece of Mindful 
Thanks, Mark!
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Not really sure where to drop this one but I’m sure Mark will be lenient. First of all, nice work Josh! I guess his ( official ) story doesn’t really pass the smell test. Nobody else seems to be able to look at official stories with a discerning eye. So props to ya man!…
But our hero Smedley is not the only one with an amazing story to tell. May I, if you please, go to a contemporary of his, perhaps less well known, at least to non POM readers anyway. A man famous for recommending an even more famous person the coveted Iron Cross.
Hugo Guttman’s rise to Feldwebel , the highest enlisted rank, in 2 years in peacetime Germany was probably no less remarkable. Although I would concede that an imposing physical specimen that could strike fear into the heart of his enemies and command the respect of his men might have pulled it off. ( see wiki photo ). But this was by no means the end of his good fortune.
Stripped of his citizenship, ( not really sure how this works ), he managed to emigrate to Belgium shortly before the start of the invasion of the lower countries. Receiving a visa to travel to France on the 9th of May, 1941, ( I’m guessin rather quickly ), he purchased a ticket to leave Brussels on the 14th. With the invasion starting the day after he received the visa, May 10th He must have considered himself a very lucky man.
On the evening of the 13th, with the German army sweeping south of Brussels, the army ordered a general retreat. At this time, there was heavy fighting on the Meuse crossings, as Rommel was pushing to get his division ( 7th Panzer ) across . But leading elements of about 40 tanks, of Major Von Luck’s 37th recon recon battalion had made the crossing and were heading down the Meuse valley.
Guttman managed to get on the train on schedule on the 14th, I suppose there was no urgent reason to bump a refugee with no papers, and made the trip to Paris. This was quite fortunate for him as Col. Rothenberg’s 25th Panzer regiment ( Rommel’s 7th Panzer ) crossed the tracks near Philippeville early on the morning of the 15th. So to say he caught the last train out of town was no exaggeration.
Details are kind of sketchy from there, but he managed to get to Spain and then Portugal, always staying one jump ahead of the army in which he once so proudly served, he was able to book passage to the United States. He eventually made his way to St. Louis, but was unable to write his wonderful story as he was too busy selling….ummm. typewriters. A pity no doubt, as this must have been one of the greatest stories never told. The man responsible for getting the fuhrer the Iron cross.
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Off-topic, but…
Christine Chubbuck (CC = 33) supposedly committed suicide in the spook-marker year 1974.
She is known for being the first person to commit suicide on a live television broadcast.
Not one, but two films relating to her were released in 2016:
“Christine” and the documentary “Katy Plays Christine”.
Re: the former:
“Craig Shilowich came up with the idea for Christine after coming across articles online that highlighted the most shocking moments in television history. He was instantly fascinated with Chubbuck’s story and what drove her to suicide on television. Shilowich endured his own inexplicable struggles with depression while at New York University in the wake of 9/11”
Note the gratuitous, just-hanging-there reference to 9/11.
Everything seems to be a potential rabbit hole with nothing in the public realm worthy of being taken on trust.
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