To the editor:

A Vietnam veteran recently gave me a book about one of his heroes, Smedley Darlington Butler (1881-1940), a much-decorated major general in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Halfway through his career, Butler realized he was leading his men into battle not to defend American life and liberty, but to make Central America, the Philippines, and China safe for the business interests of rich american corporation.

In 1912 he was assigned to interfere with the elections in Nicaragua. World War I made him even more cynical, and he retired from the U.S. military in 1932.

Because he was highly popular with veterans’ groups, he was approached by some wealthy bankers and businessmen, who wanted him to participate in a plot to undermine Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidency.

FDR's economic policies, such as taking the country off the gold standard, were very unpopular with those who had been successful before the Great Depression.