Assessing the Strategic Impact of Service Culture on ...

Final Draft
write he immediately aspires to join <strong>the</strong> class <strong>of</strong> " do-littles," probably becomes a government
employe (sic) and perhaps, in <strong>the</strong> past, aspired to direct <strong>the</strong> secret affairs <strong>of</strong> some senator or
deputy who could not read or write. 809
Marine disdain <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> elite encouraged <strong>the</strong>m to find opportunity to diminish <strong>the</strong>ir highbrow stature,
sometimes in <strong>the</strong> form <strong>of</strong> “humiliating arrests for petty <strong>of</strong>fenses.” 810 Anti-elite sentiment was made all
<strong>the</strong> more venomous by <strong>the</strong> fact that <strong>the</strong> elite were not white. “Negroes were accepted, sometimes with
fondness, so long as <strong>the</strong>y ‘stayed in <strong>the</strong>ir place,’ while those who exhibited wealth, education, or
ambition were subject to attack as ‘uppity niggers.’” 811 Even those members <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> elite with whom <strong>the</strong>
U.S. occupiers had reasonably good relations were subjected to inferior treatment. Smedley Butler, who
did not exhibit <strong>the</strong> levels <strong>of</strong> vitriolic racism spewed by some, was still no respecter <strong>of</strong> black persons,
even if those were head <strong>of</strong> state. When traveling with <strong>the</strong> Haitian president, Dartiguenave, Butler slept
in <strong>the</strong> bed while <strong>the</strong> president slept on <strong>the</strong> floor. 812
Physical abuse <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> population tended to be more pronounced in kinetic areas. Marines were
frustrated by <strong>the</strong> elusiveness <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir insurgent quarry and tended to take this out on inhabitants that
resided <strong>the</strong> same geographic quarters. 813 The atrocity that seems best documented (much is rumored)
is <strong>the</strong> illegal killing <strong>of</strong> Haitian prisoners “trying to escape.” There are clear indications that Marines
practiced “open season” from time to time—wreaking brutality down on Haitians without discrimination
between bandit and good citizen: burning homes and destroying property. Despite active efforts at <strong>the</strong>
very highest levels <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Corps to keep this in house and out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Congressional eye, reports
continued to leak out until <strong>the</strong> situation became a major national issue. 814
Not every Marine behaved this way, but perhaps <strong>the</strong> exception proves <strong>the</strong> rule. Captain Merritt A.
Edson, who would become famous for his aggressive and successful patrols in Nicaragua, gained <strong>the</strong>
confidence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Miskito Indians in a critical area <strong>of</strong> Sandino influence through patient cultivation <strong>of</strong>
personal relations, adopting <strong>the</strong> local riverine skill set, and providing security assurances to <strong>the</strong>
cooperators.
809 Captain Frank L. Bride, G. d’H., “The Gendarmerie D’Haiti,” Marine Corps Gazette, (December 1918): 296.
810 Michel Gobat, Confronting <strong>the</strong> American Dream: Nicaragua Under U.S. Imperial Rule, (Durham: Duke University
Press, 2005): 219.
811 Hans Schmidt, The United States Occupation <strong>of</strong> Haiti, 1915-1934, (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers
University Press, 1971): 80.
812 Richard Millett with G. Dale Gaddy, “Administering <strong>the</strong> Protectorates: The U.S. Occupation <strong>of</strong> Haiti and <strong>the</strong>
Dominican Republic,” in Col. Stephen S. Evans ed. U.S. Marines and Irregular Warfare, 1898-2007: Anthology and
Selected Bibliography, (Quantico, VA: Marine Corps University Press):105.
813 Of special note is Charles Merkel, <strong>the</strong> “Tiger <strong>of</strong> Seibo” who habitually arrested local people for <strong>the</strong> crime <strong>of</strong>
reserving information. He became notorious for gruesome torture and <strong>the</strong> burning <strong>of</strong> two small villages. Lester D.
Langley, The Banana Wars: United States Intervention in <strong>the</strong> Caribbean, 1898-1934, (Wilmington, DE: Scholarly
Resources Inc., 1985): 146-47. For o<strong>the</strong>r accounts <strong>of</strong> abuse see Bruce J. Calder, “Caudillos and Gavilleros versus <strong>the</strong>
United States Marines: Guerrilla Insurgency during <strong>the</strong> Dominican Intervention, 1916-1924,” in Col. Stephen S.
Evans ed. U.S. Marines and Irregular Warfare, 1898-2007: Anthology and Selected Bibliography, (Quantico, VA:
Marine Corps University Press): 123-25.
814 Hans Schmidt, The United States Occupation <strong>of</strong> Haiti, 1915-1934, (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers
University Press, 1971): 104-107.
170