Major General Butler spills the beans.

• Author: Lewis, Sinclair
• Position: 1929 - Smedley D. Butler

December 21, 1929

The allegations about our illegal methods in Nicaragua and Haiti made by the discontented citizens of those happy lands have been openly confirmed now by no less a person than Major General Smedley D. Butler of the Marine Corps.

Speaking in Pittsburgh on the evening of December 5, 1929, General Butler spilled the beans.

"Our candidates always win," he said.

Concerning elections in Nicaragua, he explained: "The fellow we had in there, nobody liked. But he was a useful fellow--to us--so we had to keep him in. How to keep him was the problem."

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In Haiti, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , "General Butler told how the Marine-controlled President had dissolved...