Speaking of gasoline:
Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler (USMC, ret.) once ran into some trouble for simply pointing out Mussolini was murderous behind the wheel.
Vanderbilt and Mussolini on a Murderous Joyride:
A Synecdoche for the US Relationship to Fascism
by Ben Norton
US Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler recounted, in a January 1931 speech, an incident in which American entrepreneur and “philanthropist” Cornelius Vanderbilt IV (of the same Vanderbilt family after which Vanderbilt University is named) was riding in a car with Benito Mussolini. In the anecdote, the Italian self-professed “Father of Fascism” (businessmen, as we shall see, tend to favor fascism), murdered a young child.
Historian Hans Schmidt explains, in his leading biography of Butler, Maverick Marine: General Smedley D. Butler and the Contradictions of American Military History:
Butler related an anecdote about Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini while making the point that “mad-dog nations” could not be trusted to honor disarmament agreements. Butler recounted a story told him by an unnamed friend who had been taken by Mussolini for a high-speed automobile ride through the Italian countryside, in the course of which the dictator ran down a child and did not bother even to slow down: “My friend screamed as the child’s body was crushed under the wheels of the machine. Mussolini put a hand on my friend’s knee. ‘It was only one life,’ he told my friend. ‘What is one life in the affairs of a State.’"
The international media exploded in reaction to the story. Schmidt notes the Italian government denied that the incident ever took place; newspapers called Butler’s story “insolent and ridiculous.” Mussolini rejected the accusations (as violent, draconian dictators are wont to do when it benefits their reputation), claiming, “I have never taken an American on a motor-car trip around Italy, neither have I run over a child, man or woman.”
The US government, which, at this time, was rather friendly with the fascist Italian government, issued a formal apology for what it called “discourteous and unwarranted utterances by a commissioned officer of this government on active duty.” It went so far as to place Butler — the highest ranking official in the Marines and the most decorated Marine in his country’s history — under arrest. President Hoover even ordered a court martial for the general — the first time a US general had been court-martialed since 1862. That is how angry he was that Butler had spoken the truth about their iniquitous ally (the US has a long history of siding with inquitous allies).
Butler had stepped on some toes — some fascist-friendly ones.
Per usual, the public was much further to the left than its reactionary government. Butler’s speech “cast a shadow over the dictator’s heretofore almost immaculate image.” While Washington was trying to cover up the accusations, the average American was applauding Butler for his honesty (a most rare attribute for a member of the US government).
CONTINUES...
https://bennorton.com/vanderbilt-and-mussolini-on-a-murderous-joyride-a-synecdoche-for-the-us-relationship-to-fascism/
MORE: https://bennorton.com/vanderbilt-and-mussolini-on-a-murderous-joyride-a-synecdoche-for-the-us-relationship-to-fascism/
Democrats believe every human life is equal under law. Democrats I appreciate most, including you, yonder, also value every human life as of infinite, unexpressible value.
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