Sunday, August 17, 2025, 2:00 – 4:00 PM
Columbus Metropolitan Library: Hilliard Branch, 4500 Hickory Chase Way, Hilliard, OH 43026.

Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940) was an American whistleblower, antiwar activist and former major general in the Marines. In 1933, Butler became involved in a controversy known as the Business Plot, when he told a United States congressional committee that a group of wealthy American industrialists were planning a coup d'état to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt. After retiring from the Marine Corps, Butler became an outspoken critic of American foreign policy and military interventions, which he saw being driven primarily by U.S. business interests. In 1935, Butler wrote the book War Is a Racket, where he argued that imperialist motivations had been the cause behind several American interventions, many of which he personally participated in. Butler also became an advocate for populist politics, speaking at meetings organized by veterans, pacifists, and church groups until his death in 1940.

Hosted by Veterans for Peace Central Ohio.