Impoverishment of World War I veterans due to the Great Depression
Resulted in
Demonstrators dispersed, demands rejected, Herbert Hoover loses 1932 presidential election
Parties
Bonus Army
U.S. Army
Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia
Lead figures
Walter W. Waters
Herbert Hoover
Douglas MacArthur
George S. Patton
Number
17,000 veterans 26,000 others
500 infantry
500 cavalry
6 M1917 light tanks
800 policemen
Casualties and losses
First day: 2 dead; 55 injured,[1] total unknown
At least 69 police injured
v
t
e
Aftermath of World War I
Revolutions of 1917–1923
Violence in Finland
Violence in Germany
Conflict in Carinthia
Adriatic question
Occupation of the Rhineland
Polish–Czechoslovak border conflicts
Violence in Italy
Scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow
Occupation of the Ruhr
Klaipėda Revolt
Bonus Army
The Bonus Army was a group of 43,000 demonstrators – 17,000 veterans of U.S. involvement in World War I, their families, and affiliated groups – who gathered in Washington, D.C., in mid-1932 to demand early cash redemption of their service bonus certificates. Organizers called the demonstrators the Bonus Expeditionary Force (B.E.F.), to echo the name of World War I's American Expeditionary Forces, while the media referred to them as the "Bonus Army" or "Bonus Marchers". The demonstrators were led by Walter W. Waters, a former sergeant.
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. Each certificate, issued to a qualified veteran soldier, bore a face value equal to the soldier's promised payment with compound interest. The principal demand of the Bonus Army was the immediate cash payment of their certificates.
On July 28, 1932, U.S. Attorney General William D. Mitchell ordered the veterans removed from all government property. Washington police met with resistance, shot at the protestors, and two veterans were wounded and later died. President Herbert Hoover then ordered the U.S. Army to clear the marchers' campsite. Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur commanded a contingent of infantry and cavalry, supported by six tanks. The Bonus Army marchers with their wives and children were driven out, and their shelters and belongings burned.
A second, smaller Bonus March in 1933 at the start of the Roosevelt administration was defused in May with an offer of jobs with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) at Fort Hunt, Virginia, which most of the group accepted. Those who chose not to work for the CCC by the May 22 deadline were given transportation home.[2] In 1936, Congress overrode President Roosevelt's veto and paid the veterans their bonus nine years early.
^Cite error: The named reference timebattle was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"'Take Job in the Forest or Go Home' Is Alternative Given to Bonus Boys", Middlesboro (Kentucky) Daily News, May 17, 1933, p. 1; "Bonus Marchers Weaken; Accept Jobs in Ax Corps", Milwaukee Journal, May 20, 1933, p. 1
The BonusArmy was a group of 43,000 demonstrators – 17,000 veterans of U.S. involvement in World War I, their families, and affiliated groups – who gathered...
Chandler virtual town hall, Jan 6, 2015". army.mil. Army.mil. Retrieved 2 May 2016. "Army offers up to $90K bonuses to lure troops back". Foxbusiness.com...
during the 1930s were those in: Anacostia in the District of Columbia: The BonusArmy, a group of World War I veterans seeking expedited benefits, established...
D.C. The Bonus Expeditionary Force, also known as the "BonusArmy", marched on Washington to advocate the passage of the "soldier's bonus" for service...
1930, he became Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army. As such, he was involved in the expulsion of the BonusArmy protesters from Washington, D.C., in 1932...
Although offered money by Congress to return home, some members of the "BonusArmy" remained. Washington police attempted to disperse the demonstrators,...
Cross. Prior to joining the U.S. Army, Angelo worked for the Du Pont Powderworks, and was later involved in the BonusArmy movement of the 1930s. Angelo...
and all no later than 1945). Walter W. Waters, a former Army sergeant, led this "BonusArmy".[citation needed] It was encouraged by an appearance from...
which appears on their 1971 album Sunfighter. This song also appears on the bonus tracks version of the Jefferson Airplane album Thirty Seconds Over Winterland...
marchers. A Bonus marcher was killed on the site of the Apex Building. The Federal Triangle site was cleared and these members of the BonusArmy marched to...
marched on Washington to demand payment for their service. Known as the BonusArmy, they set up camp in a Hooverville in Anacostia Park. The marchers remained...
demand immediate payment of a bonus promised to them. The event became known as the BonusArmy Conflict. Most of the BonusArmy camped on Anacostia Flats...
Although offered money by Congress to return home, some members of the "BonusArmy" remained. Washington police attempted to disperse the demonstrators,...
six M1917s were deployed in Washington D.C. during the dispersal of the BonusArmy. George S. Patton Jr. states in his diaries that these vehicles were carried...
Voices. Pine Forge Press (SAGE). US Army Military Police School (2013). Military Police. Department of the Army, U.S. Army Military Police School. p. 9. Sastry...
The World War Adjusted Compensation Act, or Bonus Act, was a United States federal law passed on May 19, 1924, that granted a benefit to veterans of American...
instability. They could quickly organize, had links to the army and often had arms themselves. The BonusArmy of unemployed veterans was one of the most important...
New York City portal New York (state) portal United States portal 1932 Bonusarmy 1968 Poor People's Campaign 15 October 2011 global protests 2011 protests...
Gary (1992). FDR and the Bonus Marchers, 1933–1935. Praeger. ISBN 978-0275937157. Dickson and Allen (2006-03-27). The BonusArmy: An American Epic. Walker...
Kahlo's paintings to Washington DC where he witnesses the shootings of the BonusArmy. He then moves to Asheville, North Carolina, where he writes successful...
mass execution there during the Dakota War of 1862. Odie gets lost in a BonusArmy riot. Following harmonica music to a local Hooverville, he joins the Schofields...
Global Information
