Mussolini Ran Over People, Too
Let's not forget that. U.S. Major General Butler recounted a story about Il Duce in 1931.
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.
And this is what our government did about it.
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).
Our country tolerates fascism better than most. It tolerates Nazis beating people and running them over with cars. It tolerates tRump as fascist dictator. It blames level headed people who are horrified by fascism.
Here is the link to the article: https://bennorton.com/vanderbilt-and-mussolini-on-a-murderous-joyride-a-synecdoche-for-the-us-relationship-to-fascism/
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