Afterword to "The Right Man"

In my alternate-history story "The Right Man", I take an historical fact, the eviction of the Bonus Army from the Washington Mall, and an historical figure, Major General Smedley Butler, and see what they might do together.

Historically, the violent eviction of the Bonus Army from Washington was an appalling crime and "worse than a crime -- a blunder". Surely a better solution could have been found than the one imposed by General Douglas MacArthur, perhaps one conceived by some other General?

I learned that another solution had indeed been depicted in the film Gabriel Over the White House, and used a variation on it. It seemed like something Smedley Butler might well have done in that position.

What if he had? How would history have proceeded from my version of July 28th, 1932? How might the country have recovered from the Depression, and how quickly? If the recovery had come faster, how might that have affected the events which preceded the outbreak of the Second World War? I really don't know. I haven't thought about it, nor made any plans for a sequel.

But if I did write a sequel,what role might General Butler play in some divergent version of the Second World War? Leading, perhaps, a League of Nations peacekeeping force in disarming Nazi Germany...?

Maybe I will write a sequel . . . .

http://www.amazon.com/The-Right-Man-ebook/dp/B00AU7INJI
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm203.html
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAbutlerSD.htm
http://www.ecommcode.com/hoover/HooverOnline/LessonWebsites2010/BonusArmy.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Over_the_White_House