Smedley Butler (USMC) was the most celebrated warfighter of his time. Wherever the U.S. flag went, he went in nearly every overseas conflict from 1898 through WWII. Butler blazed a path for an empire: annexing the Philippines and the land of the Panama Canal; leading troops in China; invading and occupying Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Mexico. In retirement, Butler turned against war and the bankers, declaring “I was a racketeer for capitalism.” But the bankers had one more job for Butler: overthrow the new administration of Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. Join us in this journey of American history through the scholarship of Jonathan Katz and Jules Archer.

John Powers, who earned a master’s degree in fine arts, is a writer and director with experience in theater and film. Drawing on recent United States history as source material for several productions, he has also developed this material into provocative classroom engagements, such as “Nixon and the Pentagon Papers,” “1968: The Year That Rocked,” and “Pearl Harbor Reconsidered.” He has been an Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) instructor since 2013.