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Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosity's, A production of IHeart Radio and grim and mild.

Our world is full of the unexplainable.

And if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales are right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.

Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosity's.

Smedley Butler Witt American hero, one of the greatest military leaders in its history.

Born in 1881, he came from a high-class family in Philadelphia, then joined the Marines at a young age.

From 1898 to 1931, he served with distinction.

Butler fought on multiple continents, too, always furthering America's interests.

He installed new governments in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras. He was awarded multiple medals of honor, and the Marines even

incorporated his name into a song. By 1933, Butler had retired and consigned himself to furthering

the interests of veterans in the United States. He felt the Veterans' Administration was poorly run,

and that the veterans deserved greater compensation for their service.

Well, one day, Butler was contacted by a member of the American Legion, a guy named Gerald

McGuire. The American Legion is an organization of veterans who advocate for themselves,

so Butler was happy to meet with McGuire. But their meeting went differently than Butler

expected. McGuire offered him tens meeting went differently than Butler expected.

McGuire offered him tens of thousands of dollars to recruit more members to the Legion and to give speeches speaking out against the presidency of FDR. Butler was shocked at his

proposal and turned it down right away. He didn't believe in speaking out against the president

like that. He felt he owed

him his loyalty. Butler's goal was to try and work with the government to do right by veterans,

not to cause animosity between them. McGuire accepted that the speech wasn't going to happen,

...