Happy 250th Birthday, U.S. Marine Corps!

The U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy had big birthdays earlier this year. Now it’s the U.S. Marine Corps’ turn. Today marks 250 years since it was established. On November 10, 1775, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution creating a Marine force composed of two battalions. Since then, the Marines have been “from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli” and many other places as well. 

You probably know that the Marines’ motto is Semper Fidelis, or Semper Fi for short. It means “always faithful” in Latin. It signifies a Marine’s loyalty both to the Corps and to the United States. However, Semper Fi didn’t become the Marines’ motto until 1883. During its first century of existence, the Marines had a few unofficial mottos. These included “to the shores of Tripoli,” which commemorates the Marines’ service in the First Barbary War, Fortitudine (meaning “with courage”), and Per Mare, Per Terram (“by sea and by land”), which the Marines borrowed from the British Royal Marines. 

No Marine has ever become president, but several have gone far in politics. Vice President JD Vance served in the Marines. Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, and Todd Young of Indiana did as well. Eight members of the House of Representatives can say they were Marines. The list of Marines who have made their mark on politics does not stop there. Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis and former White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly were both U.S. Marine Corps generals. U.S. Secretaries of State James A. Baker and George P. Shultz, Senator John Glenn (who first gained fame as an astronaut), and legendary political consultant James Carville also served in the Marines.

Marines have made a name for themselves in other professions. Jim Lehrer, the longtime host of the NewsHour on PBS, served three years in the Marines. Baseball hall-of-famers who served in the Marines include Rod Carew, Roberto Clemente, Eddie Collins, Bill Veeck, and Ted Williams. Marines who made it in Hollywood include Bea Arthur, Adam Driver, Gene Hackman, Harvey Keitel, Lee Marvin, Steve McQueen, and George C. Scott. Comedians Drew Carey and Rob Riggle were Marines, as were late, great Ed McMahon and Jonathan Winters. If you are old enough to remember Captain Kangaroo (Bob Keeshan), he was a Marine. Several famous musicians served in the Marines, including country legend George Jones, hip-hop artist Shaggy, and “The March King,” John Philip Sousa. Marines who made it in the business world include Tom Bell (Taco Bell), Tom Monaghan (Domino’s), Bob Parsons (GoDaddy.com), and Fred Smith (FedEx). 

The Marines are the smallest of the four U.S. armed services in the Department of Defense, with 172,300 active-duty personnel. To put the size of the Marine Corps in perspective, the U.S. Army is around two-and-a-half times larger, with 442,300 troops. But compared to most of the world’s militaries, the Marines are a giant. Countries that have armies smaller than the Marines include Israel, Nigeria, the Philippines, Poland, and the United Kingdom. 

I asked Colonel Zeb Beasley II, a Marine Corps officer spending a year as a visiting military fellow in CFR’s David Rockefeller Studies Program, to recommend readings for those wanting to learn more about the Marines. Here are Col. Beasley’s suggestions: 

Eugene B. Sledge, With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa (1981). Sledge offers a first-hand account of some of the most savage battles in the Pacific theater of World War II and provides what Colonel Beasley calls the “gold standard of combat memoirs.” Sledge was born in Alabama, loved American heroes such as George Washington and Daniel Boone, and served in the 1^st Marine Division. His experiences fighting on the beaches, mountains, and caves of Peleliu and Okinawa brought him to the depths of humanity. Sledge based his memoir on notes he secretly kept in a copy of the New Testament. HBO used With the Old Breed as the primary source material for the ten-part miniseries The Pacific.

Victor H. Krulak, First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps (1984). Half autobiography, half history, General Krulak examines the struggles of the Marine Corps on and off the battlefield and the continuing development of its “esprit de corps.” He shows how a culture of integrity, discipline, and excellence is reinforced and affects the real-time decision-making process in times of crisis. First to Fight also examines how the Corps has managed to survive and flourish despite consistent whiplash in both its political favorability and its battlefield usage, showing how it adapted its structure and purpose as U.S. military commitments changed over the course of the twentieth century.

Jim Mattis and Bing West, Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead (2021). Retired Marine General and former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis recounts his military career and the leadership lessons he learned in war and peace. Drawing on decades of service, from leading Marines in combat to commanding U.S. forces across the Middle East, Mattis explains how effective leadership evolves from the tactical to the strategic level. The book’s three sections—Direct Leadership, Executive Leadership, and Strategic Leadership—trace his progression from knowing every Marine under his command to managing complex coalitions and national strategy. Through this structure, Mattis offers practical insights on discipline, adaptability, and decision-making, arguing that the United States must regain strategic clarity to avoid fighting endless, inconclusive wars.

Philip Caputo, A Rumor of War (1977). Caputo’s memoir describes his experience as a young Marine lieutenant during the early years of the Vietnam War. Arriving in Da Nang in 1965 with one of the first U.S. ground combat units, Caputo sets out with a sense of purpose and idealism that is eroded by the harsh realities of jungle warfare. Over sixteen months, he witnesses the confusion, fear, and moral compromise that came to define the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, as success was measured not by progress but by body counts. Returning to Vietnam as a journalist in 1975, Caputo reflects on the conflict’s human toll and the lasting questions it raised about courage, obedience, and the cost of war itself.

Evan Wright, Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America, and the New Face of American War (2004). Wright, a Rolling Stone journalist, wrote a firsthand account of his time embedded with the U.S. Marine Corps’ 1st Reconnaissance Battalion during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He followed the Marines from Kuwait to Iraq, documenting their experiences as they navigated confusion, violence, and the challenges of modern warfare. With portraits of soldiers such as “Iceman” and “Captain America,” he shows how young men shaped by popular culture and advanced technology confront the realities of combat and leadership. Generation Kill presents a clear, unsentimental look at the human side of the invasion and what it revealed about America’s new generation of warfighters. HBO later used Generation Kill as the source material for a 2008 miniseries by the same name.

Colonel Beasley also recommends several films. Jarhead (2005) follows a Marine sniper during the Gulf War, portraying the boredom, frustration, and psychological strain on soldiers trained for combat that never comes. Full Metal Jacket (1987) depicts the transformation of recruits through brutal Marine Corps training and the moral disintegration of war in Vietnam. Flags of Our Fathers (2006) tells the story of the men who raised the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima during World War II, exploring how their heroism was used for propaganda and how the memory of battle shaped their lives afterward.

Oscar Berry assisted in the preparation of this post.