Bonus Army march on Washington DC in 1932 – nearly America’s 2nd civil war

This is one of the more interesting events from the US’s history that I’d never heard of. Reminds me a lot of January 6th, actually.

The Bonus Army march on Washington in 1932.

In 1932, in the heart of the Great Depression, a group of angry WW1 veterans came together and marched in the streets of Washington DC to demand payment of a bonus they’d been promised for their service in WW1.

Word of this march on Washington started spreading throughout the nation. A couple hundred more traveled from Tennessee to join. Then groups from other cities. Then more, more, more. From all over. Until the group of veterans in DC numbered 60,000 (!) strong.

It turned into a massive, massive movement. Since they were seeking payment of their bonus, they were referred to as the Bonus Army. They held huge marches and demonstrations in the streets and met with senators, demanding their bonus. This group of 60,000 even built a mini-city encampment in DC, full of shacks and tents, and lived there for TWO MONTHS.

But they were constantly denied payment by the Senate.

So things got violent.

President Hoover ordered the evacuation of the veterans and the Army was called in. The veterans fought back. It was the veterans vs. the US Army, and only years earlier they’d been fighting in WW1 alongside each other.

Wasn’t much of a fight, though. The Army soldiers were equipped with tanks and armored vehicles, and they destroyed the Bonus Army encampment, killed a couple veterans, and drove the veterans out.

Pretty wild stuff! Almost turned into America’s second Civil War.

That event would have been better remembered in public recall had World War II not occurred less than a decade later.

McArthur was poorly regarded in some quarters thereafter for crushing the Bonus Marchers.

Cheers

a reply to: Mulder11

I wonder how this influenced the Business Plot in 1933 where a group of elites approached Smedley Butler and attempted to convince him to the tune of $200 million (in those days) to turn the US into a fascist dictatorship.

Interestingly enough, this was the same year 'world jewry' declared war on Adolf Hitler.

The media at the time ridiculed the story (I wonder who they were protecting) even though a final report by a special house of Representatives committee verified 'parts' of Butler's testimony.

Smedley Butler went on to publish War Is A Racket in 1935.

a reply to: Mulder11

It's amazing there's always money to engage in war, but there wasn't enough to pay the promised bonuses to those who fought in war.

originally posted by: F2d5thCavv2
That event would have been better remembered in public recall had World War II not occurred less than a decade later.

McArthur was poorly regarded in some quarters thereafter for crushing the Bonus Marchers.

Cheers

That Event may well have moved the Roosevelt Administration to Pass the G.I. Bill in 1944 .

originally posted by: Mulder11
In 1932, in the heart of the Great Depression, a group of angry WW1 veterans came together and marched in the streets of Washington DC to demand payment of a bonus they’d been promised for their service in WW1.

Didn't they actually demand earlier payment than promised?

originally posted by: nugget1
It's amazing there's always money to engage in war, but there wasn't enough to pay the promised bonuses to those who fought in war.

Wars aren't always conducted for trivial reasons. Would you want the Kaiser to control Europe?

What if Aryan supremacy had started with a lot more farmland and factories?

Besides, according to Wikipedia, "Many of the war veterans had been out of work since the beginning of the Great Depression. The World War Adjusted Compensation Act of 1924 had awarded them bonuses in the form of certificates they could not redeem until 1945."

a reply to: 19Bones79

Yeah, that is interesting that this happened so close to the events Smedley Butler spoke of. Wonder if this did influence the Business plot in some way.

The veterans were promised compensation in the 1920s but it wouldn't be paid until 1945, two decades later. Many of the veterans would've been dead before they ever saw a dime.

The video talks about this, but it's interesting to note how a large number of African Americans were a part of the Bonus Army. They lived with and shared everything with the white veterans in the encampment, and it was shocking to many to see whites and blacks co-existing together in that era.

Seriously ?? You sound just like those neocons in DC. Send yourself or your son and daughter first to die in endless any war you think is a just war over seas. You neocons go first. Do it!. Show the rest of us peasants how important any war is by going to the front lines first. Oh, you won’t do that??? I thought so. a reply to: Solvedit

a reply to: NewTacolo75

You have no idea how little you would have liked it if the Kaiser and the Ottomans controlled shipping and international prices. Or if half the people you need to have banks, courts, police, government, cars, power, water, hospitals, etc. had died in a war protecting those things for you.

You'd be at war internally if those people were gone. There'd be endless gang wars.

a reply to: Mulder11

That reminds me that during apartheid era South Africa many of the South African top specialized units were a mix of blacks and whites working together.

Those bonds were just as strong as anything else and something I was privileged to witness and engaged with at the start of my former career.

A few decades later and there's only one group that keeps thriving in their own little bubble in South Africa at the expense and manipulation of everyone else.