The pieces that make up this book were first published about 70 years ago. This was the galvanising motion for US involvement. He also points out that between taxes and bonds many enlisted soldiers effectively received no salary.įar less amusingly, Smedley describes how in 1916, a delegation from the allies visited President Wilson and bluntly told the president that the allies would lose the war, and thus no be able to repay the six billion dollars they owed to the USA. Giving soldiers medals for service was much cheaper than giving money, which was the norm in the US Civil War. Smedley makes the amusing (from a detached perspective) observation that in WW1 the US cleverly replaced recruitment bonuses with medals. He also describes the waste and corruption inherent in military spending. Smedley demonstrates the high public cost and resultant high business profits of war, giving many examples of US companies which greatly increased their profits during WW1. Read moreĪ short condemnation of war by a man who spent his life fighting wars. In short, this book, though small, is an inspirational foundation for all anti-war arguments in our current times, a firsthand account of a story that tragically keeps repeating itself. He noted how proponents of war typically call on God as a supporter of the cause and how they embellish the mission as one of liberation and the spreading of freedom, but that these people tend to shy away from discussing the economic details of military ventures. In War is a Racket Butler “names names” and lays out in wonderfully blunt detail how the American “military machine” was used to the benefit of wealthy American industrialists. He was one of the first Americans to really bring the economic implications of war to the forefront of the public conscience.

The author, through a highly qualified argument supported by facts, thoroughly discounts the moral and ideological justification for war and concentrates on the geopolitical factors that actually motivate the cause for war. A classic exposé of war profiteering written by the most decorated Marine of his time, Major General Smedley Butler.

War is a Racket by Smedley D. Butler