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{{short description|1930s US veterans protest movement}}
{{use mdy dates |date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox civil conflict
| partof = 
| image = Bonus marchers 05510 2004 001 a.gif
| image_size = 300px
| caption = Bonus Army marchers (left) clash with the police
| date = {{start date and age|1932|07|28}}
| place = [[Washington, D.C.]], [[United States]]
| causes = Impoverishment of [[World War I]] veterans due to the [[Great Depression]]
| result = Demonstrators dispersed, demands rejected, Herbert Hoover loses [[1932 United States presidential election|1932 presidential election]] in a landslide
| side1 = Bonus Army
| side2 = {{flagicon|United States|1912}} [[United States Army|U.S. Army]]
[[Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia]]
| leadfigures1 = Walter W. Waters
| leadfigures2 = {{ubl|[[Herbert Hoover]]|[[Douglas MacArthur]]|[[George S. Patton]]}}
| howmany1 = 17,000 veterans<br />26,000 others
| howmany2 = {{ubl|500 infantry|500 cavalry|6 [[M1917 light tank]]s|800 policemen}}
| casualties1 = First day: 2 dead; 55 injured,<ref name=timebattle /> total unknown
| casualties2 = At least 69 police injured
}}
{{Campaignbox Aftermath of World War I}}

The '''Bonus Army''' was a group of 43,000 [[demonstration (protest)|demonstrators]]—17,000 veterans of [[United States in World War I|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. [[Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia|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 [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|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.<ref>"'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</ref> In 1936, Congress overrode President Roosevelt's veto and paid the veterans their bonus nine years early.

==Origin of military bonuses==
[[File:Bonus army on Capitol lawn cph.3a00515.jpg|thumb|Members of the Bonus Army camped out on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol building]]

The practice of war-time military bonuses began in 1776, as payment for the difference between what a soldier earned and what he could have earned had he not enlisted. The practice derived from English legislation passed in the 1592–93 session of Parliament to provide medical care and maintenance for disabled veterans and bonuses for serving soldiers.

In August 1776, Congress adopted the first national pension law providing half pay for life for disabled veterans. Considerable pressure was applied to expand benefits to match the British system for serving soldiers and sailors but had little support from the colonial government until mass desertions at [[Valley Forge]] that threatened the existence of the [[Continental Army]] led [[George Washington]] to become a strong advocate.

In 1781, most of the [[Continental Army]] was [[Demobilization|demobilized]]. Two years later, hundreds of [[Pennsylvania]] war veterans [[Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783|marched on Philadelphia]], then the nation's capital, surrounded the State House, where the [[U.S. Congress]] was in session, and demanded back pay. Congress fled to [[Princeton, New Jersey]], and several weeks later, the [[U.S. Army]] expelled the war veterans from Philadelphia.{{citation needed|date = February 2018}} Congress progressively passed legislation from 1788 covering pensions and bonuses, eventually extending eligibility to widows in 1836.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Graves|first1=Will|title=Pension Acts An Overview of Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Legislation and the Southern Campaigns Pension Transcription Project|url=http://revwarapps.org/revwar-pension-acts.htm|website=Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements & Rosters|access-date=29 November 2017}}</ref>

Before World War I, the soldiers' military service bonus (adjusted for rank) was land and money; a Continental Army private received {{convert|100|acre|ha}} and $80.00 (2017: $1,968.51) at war's end, while a major general received {{convert|1100|acre|ha}}. In 1855, Congress increased the land-grant minimum to {{convert|160|acre|ha}}, and reduced the eligibility requirements to fourteen days of military service or one battle; moreover, the bonus also applied to veterans of any Indian war. The provision of land eventually became a major political issue, particularly in Tennessee where almost 40% of arable land had been given to veterans as part of their bonus. By 1860, {{convert|73500000|acre|ha}} had been issued and lack of available arable land led to the program's abandonment and replacement with a cash-only system.{{citation needed|date = July 2017}} Breaking with tradition, the veterans of the [[Spanish–American War]] did not receive a bonus and after [[World War I]], that became a political matter when they received only a $60 bonus (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|60|1919|r=-1}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}).<ref>{{cite web | title=Education and Training | website=History and Timeline | date=November 21, 2013 | url=https://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/history.asp | access-date=March 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327042711/https://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/history.asp |archive-date=March 27, 2014}}</ref> The [[American Legion]], created in 1919, led a political movement for an additional bonus.<ref name="greenberg">David Greenberg, ''Calvin Coolidge'' (NY: Henry Holt, 2006), 78–79</ref>

[[File:USA-Cinderella-Stamp-1932 Pay the Bonus.jpg|thumb|left|[[Cinderella stamp]] (US, 1932) a privately published sticker (not a postage stamp) supporting the Bonus Army]]
On May 15, 1924, President [[Calvin Coolidge]] vetoed a bill granting bonuses to veterans of World War I, saying: "patriotism... bought and paid for is not patriotism." However, the Bonus Bill was endorsed by [[Henry Cabot Lodge]] and [[Charles Curtis]]. Congress overrode Coolidge's veto of the Bonus Bill, enacting the [[World War Adjusted Compensation Act]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Greenberg |first=David |title=Calvin Coolidge: The American Presidents Series |publisher=Times Books |year=2006 |isbn=978-0805069570 |pages=77–79}}</ref> Each veteran was to receive a dollar for each day of domestic service, up to a maximum of $500 ({{Inflation|US|500|1924|r=-2|fmt=eq}}), and $1.25 for each day of overseas service, up to a maximum of $625 (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|625|1924|r=-1}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}).{{Inflation/fn|US}} Deducted from this was $60, for the $60 they received upon discharge. Amounts of $50 or less were immediately paid. All other amounts were issued as Certificates of Service maturing in 20 years.<ref>Dickson and Allen, 29</ref>

There were 3,662,374 Adjusted Service Certificates issued, with a combined face value of $3.64 billion (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|3.64|1924|r=0}}&nbsp;billion in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}).{{Inflation/fn|US-GDP}} Congress established a trust fund to receive 20 annual payments of $112 million that, with interest, would finance the 1945 disbursement of the $3.638 billion for the veterans. Meanwhile, veterans could borrow up to 22.5% of the certificate's face value from the fund; but in 1931, because of the [[Great Depression]], Congress increased the maximum value of such loans to 50% of the certificate's face value.<ref>Dickson and Allen, 37–38</ref> Although there was congressional support for the immediate redemption of the military service certificates, Hoover and Republican congressmen opposed such action and reasoned that the government would have to increase taxes to cover the costs of the payout and so any potential economic recovery would be slowed.<ref>Dickson and Allen, 34</ref>

The [[Veterans of Foreign Wars]] continued to press the federal government to allow the early redemption of military service certificates.<ref>Stephen R. Ortiz, "The 'New Deal' for Veterans: The Economy Act, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Origins of the New Deal," ''Journal of Military History'', vol. 70 (2006), 434–45</ref>

In January 1932, a march of 25,000 unemployed Pennsylvanians, dubbed "[[James Renshaw Cox|Cox's Army]]", had marched on Washington, D.C., the largest demonstration to date in the nation's capital, setting a precedent for future marches by the unemployed.<ref>Dickson and Allen, 49–50.</ref>

==Campsite==
[[File:Bonus Army camp.jpg|thumb|Bonus Army Camp]]
Most of the Bonus Army (Bonus Expeditionary Force or BEF) camped in a form of a "[[Hooverville]]" on the [[Anacostia|Anacostia Flats]] (now Section C of [[Anacostia Park]]), a swampy, muddy area away from the federal core of Washington. Other veterans lived much closer, in partially demolished buildings on [[Pennsylvania Avenue]] near the Third Street SW.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Last Time the U.S. Army Cleared Demonstrators From Pennsylvania Avenue |url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/07/us-army-demonstrations-washington-305913 |access-date=8 December 2021 |website=Politico.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=8 August 1932 |title=HEROES: Battle of Washington |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,744107,00.html |access-date=8 December 2021 |website=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref> Although occupation of Anacostia Flats was against federal law, D.C. police Superintendent 
[[Pelham D. Glassford]] obtained permission off the record from his friend Major General [[Ulysses S. Grant III]], Director of Public Buildings and Public Parks in the Capital, who promised to make no objection.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Daniels |first=Roger |title=The Bonus March: An Episode of the Great Depression |publisher=Praeger |year=1971 |isbn=0837151740 |pages=106}}</ref> The chosen site was located in the historically African American side of Anacostia; nearby were tennis courts and a baseball diamond, the latter of which was used by children of the camp.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dickson |first=Paul |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1201836137 |title=The Bonus Army: An American Epic |date=2020 |publisher=Dover Publications |others=Thomas B. Allen |isbn=978-0486848358 |location=[S.l.] |pages=95–96 |oclc=1201836137}}</ref> The War Department had refused a request by Senator [[J. Hamilton Lewis|James Hamilton Lewis]] to set up billets, so veterans, women and children lived in the shelters they built from materials dragged out of a junk pile nearby, which included old lumber, packing boxes, and scrap tin covered with roofs of thatched straw.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Bonus Army |url=http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snprelief4.htm |access-date=8 December 2021 |website=Eyewitnesstohistory.com}}</ref> The shack city was nicknamed Camp Marks, after the friendly Police Captain S.J. Marks.

Camp Marks was tightly controlled by the veterans, who laid out streets, built sanitation facilities, set up an internal police force and held daily parades. A vibrant community arose revolving around several key sections, including the religious tent, where marchers could be heard expressing forbearance, trust in God and gratitude for what they had compared to other victims of the Depression. Also popular was the [[The Salvation Army|Salvation Army]] lending library, where marchers wrote letters home in its makeshift post office (postage stamps were more prized than cigarettes, it was said).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bartlett |first=John H.|author-link=John Henry Bartlett |title=The Bonus March and the New Deal |publisher=M.A. Donohue & Company |year=1937 |oclc=477820 |location=Chicago |pages=105}}</ref> To live in the camps, veterans were required to register and to prove they had been honorably discharged or provided a bonus certificate, at which point a membership card would be issued.<ref name=":0" /> The Superintendent of the D.C. Police, [[Pelham D. Glassford]], worked with camp leaders to supply the camp with food and supplies.

On June 15, 1932, the [[US House of Representatives]] passed the [[Wright Patman]] Bonus Bill (by a vote of 211–176) to move forward the date for World War I veterans to receive their cash bonus.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23722.html|author=Glass, Andrew|date=2009|title=House passes bonus bill for WWI veterans, June 15, 1932|work=Politico|access-date=2013-12-20}}</ref> Over 6,000 bonus marchers massed at the [[U.S. Capitol]] on June 17 as the [[U.S. Senate]] voted on the Bonus Bill. The bill was defeated by a vote of 62–18.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Staff Correspondent |title=Senate Defeats Bonus Despite 10,000 Veterans Massed Around Capitol |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1932/06/18/100764065.html?pageNumber=1 |access-date=December 26, 2018 |work=The New York Times |issue=27,174|date=June 18, 1932 |ref=New York Times Historical Archive}}</ref>

== Police shooting ==
[[File:We want the bonus t.tif|thumb]]
On July 28, under prodding from President [[Herbert Hoover]], the D.C. Commissioners ordered [[Pelham D. Glassford]] to clear their buildings, rather than letting the protesters drift away as he had previously recommended. When the veterans rioted, an officer (George Shinault) drew his revolver and shot at the veterans, two of whom, William Hushka and Eric Carlson, died later.<ref>{{cite news |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1932/08/02/archives/veteran-dies-of-wounds-eric-carison-is-second-victim-of-thursdays.html |title=Veteran dies of wounds |date=August 2, 1932 |access-date=August 30, 2011 }}</ref><ref name="timebattle" />
* William Hushka (1895–1932) was an immigrant to the United States from [[Lithuania]]. When the US entered World War I in 1917, he sold his butcher shop in [[St. Louis]], and joined the army. After the war, he lived in [[Chicago]].<ref name=timebattle>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,744107,00.html |title=Heroes: Battle of Washington |date=August 8, 1932 |access-date=August 30, 2011 |quote=Last week William Hushka's Bonus for $528 suddenly became payable in full when a police bullet drilled him dead in the worst public disorder the capital has known in years. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081025065911/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,744107,00.html |archive-date=2008-10-25 |url-status=live }}</ref> He was buried in [[Arlington National Cemetery]] a week after being shot and killed by police.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hushka|first=William|title=William Hushka|url=http://mallhistory.org/items/show/407|access-date=2020-10-20|website=Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. View original photograph.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Hushka|first=William|title=William Hushka|url=http://mallhistory.org/items/browse|access-date=2020-10-20|website=Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. View original photograph.}}</ref>
* Eric Carlson (1894–1932) was a veteran from [[Oakland, California]], who fought in the trenches of France in World War I.<ref name=timebattle /><ref>Mentioned in [http://www.answers.com/topic/the-march-of-the-bonus-army "The March of the Bonus Army" video], 30 min. Retrieved from answer.com 2011-2-4.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.semp.us/publications/biot_reader.php?BiotID=635 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090730180546/http://www.semp.us/publications/biot_reader.php?BiotID=635 |archive-date=2009-07-30 |title=Bonus Army Spectacle, U.S. Capital, 1932: What Really Happened. Section VI. Two Shootings at Glassford Camp |work=Suburban Emergency Management Project (SEMP), Biot Report #635 |date=July 18, 2009 |access-date=2011-02-08 }}</ref> He was interred in Arlington National Cemetery.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.communitywalk.com/location/bonus_expeditionary_force_martyrs_hushka__carlson_1932/info/2942468 |title=Bonus Expeditionary Force Martyrs Hushka & Carlson (1932) |work=DC Labor Map |access-date=February 8, 2011 |archive-date=August 22, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110822062853/http://www.communitywalk.com/location/bonus_expeditionary_force_martyrs_hushka__carlson_1932/info/2942468 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

During a previous riot, the Commissioners asked the White House for federal troops. Hoover passed the request to Secretary of War [[Patrick J. Hurley]], who told MacArthur to take action to disperse the protesters. Towards the late afternoon, cavalry, infantry, tanks and machine guns pushed the "Bonusers" out of Washington.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/politics/legal-and-political-magazines/bonus-army |title=The Bonus Army |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com }}</ref>

===Reports on communist elements===
An Army intelligence report claimed that the BEF intended to occupy the Capitol permanently and instigate fighting, as a signal for communist uprisings in all major cities. It also conjectured that at least part of the Marine Corps garrison in Washington would side with the revolutionaries, hence Marine units eight blocks from the Capitol were never called upon. The report of July 5, 1932, by Conrad H. Lanza in upstate New York was not declassified until 1991.<ref>Lisio, Donald J. “A Blunder Becomes Catastrophe: Hoover, the Legion, and the Bonus Army.” ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History'', vol. 51, no. 1, 1967, p. 40 {{JSTOR|4634286}}</ref>

The Department of Justice released an investigative report on the Bonus Army in September 1932, noting that communists had attempted to involve themselves with the Bonus Army from the start, and had been arrested for various offenses during protests:
<blockquote>As soon as the bonus march was initiated, and as early as May, 1932, the Communist party undertook an organized campaign to foment the movement, and induced radicals to join the marchers to Washington. As early as the edition of May 31, 1932, the [[Daily Worker]], a publication which is the central organ of the Communist party in the United States, urged worker veteran delegations to go to Washington on June 8th.<ref name=DOJ1932>[https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/statement-the-justice-department-investigation-the-bonus-army Statement on the Justice Department Investigation of the Bonus Army] (September 10, 1932). The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara</ref></blockquote>

In 1932, Hoover stated that the bulk of Bonus Army members behaved reasonably and a minority of what he described as communists and career criminals were responsible for most of the unrest associated with the events: "I wish to state emphatically that the extraordinary proportion of criminal, Communist, and nonveteran elements amongst the marchers as shown by this report, should not be taken to reflect upon the many thousands of honest, law-abiding men who came to Washington with full right of presentation of their views to the Congress. This better element and their leaders acted at all times to restrain crime and violence, but after the adjournment of Congress a large portion of them returned to their homes and gradually these better elements lost control."<ref name=DOJ1932/> In his 1952 memoir, Hoover stated that at least 900 of the Bonus Army were "ex-convicts and Communists."<ref>Hoover, Herbert (1952, 2011). The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Great Depression, 1929–1941. Read Books, {{ISBN|1447402472}}, pp. 225–226</ref>

In his memoir ''The Whole of Their Lives'' (1948) Benjamin Gitlow of the [[Communist Party USA]] reported that a number of communists had joined the Bonus Army during their trek across the nation, with the goal of recruiting people to the communist cause.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Benjamin |last1=Gitlow |title=The Whole of Their Lives: Communism in America—A Personal History and Intimate Portrayal of Its Leaders |date=1948 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |location=New York |isbn=0836980948 |pages=226–230 |url=https://archive.org/details/wholeoftheirlive0000unse/page/226/mode/2up |url-access=registration |access-date=2022-10-30}}</ref>

A 2009 ''[[Encyclopedia Britannica]]'' blog post asserted these would-be communist organizers were largely rejected by the Bonus Army marchers: "[T]here were communists present in the camps, led by John T. Pace from Michigan. But if Pace believed that Bonus Army was a ready-made revolutionary cadre, he was mistaken. The marchers routinely expelled avowed communists from the camps. They destroyed communist leaflets and other literature. And among their other slogans the veterans adopted a motto directed at the communists, 'Eyes front—not left!'"<ref>{{cite web |last1=Craughwell |first1=Thomas |title=#6: Hoover's Attack on the Bonus Army (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents) |url=http://blogs.britannica.com/2009/01/6-hoovers-attack-on-the-bonus-army-top-10-mistakes-by-us-presidents/ |website=Encyclopedia Britannica Blog |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |access-date=2022-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150104061047/http://blogs.britannica.com/2009/01/6-hoovers-attack-on-the-bonus-army-top-10-mistakes-by-us-presidents/ |archive-date=2015-01-04 |date=2009-01-16 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Army intervention==
At 1:40 pm, General [[Douglas MacArthur]] ordered General [[Perry L. Miles]] to assemble troops on the Ellipse immediately south of the White House. Within the hour the 3rd Cavalry led by [[George S. Patton]], then a Major, crossed the Memorial Bridge, with the 12th Infantry arriving by steamer about an hour later. At 4 pm, Miles told MacArthur that the troops were ready, and MacArthur (like Eisenhower, by now in service uniform) said that Hoover wanted him to "be on hand as things progressed, so that he could issue necessary instructions on the ground" and "take the rap if there should be any unfavorable or critical repercussions."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Jean Edward |title=Eisenhower in War and Peace |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |year=2012 |isbn=978-0679644293 |pages=110–113}}</ref>

At 4:45&nbsp;pm, commanded by MacArthur, the [[12th Infantry Regiment (United States)|12th Infantry Regiment]], [[Fort Howard (Maryland)|Fort Howard, Maryland]], and the [[3d Armored Cavalry Regiment (United States)|3rd Cavalry Regiment]], supported by five [[M1917 light tank]]s commanded by Patton, formed in Pennsylvania Avenue while thousands of civil service employees left work to line the street and watch. The Bonus Marchers, believing the troops were marching in their honor, cheered the troops until Patton ordered the cavalry to charge them.<ref>Dickson and Allen, 176.</ref>

[[File:Evictbonusarmy.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Shacks that members of the Bonus Army erected on the Anacostia Flats burning after attack by the regular army.]]

After the cavalry charged, the infantry, with fixed [[bayonets]] and [[tear gas]] ([[adamsite]], an arsenical vomiting agent) entered the camps, evicting veterans, families, and camp followers. No shots were fired.  The veterans fled across the Anacostia River to their largest camp, and Hoover ordered the assault stopped. MacArthur chose to ignore the president and ordered a new attack, claiming that the Bonus March was an attempt to overthrow the US government. 55 veterans were injured and 135 arrested.<ref name=timebattle /> A veteran's wife miscarried. When 12-week-old Bernard Meyer died in the hospital after being caught in the tear gas attack, a government investigation reported he died of [[enteritis]], and a hospital spokesman said the tear gas "didn't do it any good."<ref>Dickson and Allen, 182–83</ref>

During the military operation, Major [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], served as one of MacArthur's junior aides.<ref>Dickson and Allen, 170–74, 180</ref> Believing it wrong for the Army's highest-ranking officer to lead an action against fellow American war veterans, he strongly advised MacArthur against taking any public role: "I told that dumb son-of-a-bitch not to go down there," he said later. "I told him it was no place for the Chief of Staff."<ref name=Wukovits43>{{Cite book |title=Eisenhower |last=Wukovits |first=John F. |year=2006 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=New York |isbn=0230613942 |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=om5ZykQFGrwC&pg=PA43 |access-date=15 June 2011 }}</ref> Despite his misgivings, Eisenhower wrote the Army's official incident report that endorsed MacArthur's conduct.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life |last=D'Este |first=Carlo |author-link=Carlo D'Este |year=2002 |publisher=Henry Holt & Co. |location=New York |isbn=0805056874 |page=223 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RCeteK7LEiYC&pg=PA223 |access-date=15 June 2011}}</ref>

Although the troops were ready, Hoover twice sent instructions to MacArthur not to cross the Anacostia bridge that night, both of which were received. Shortly after 9 pm, MacArthur ordered Miles to cross the bridge and evict the Bonus Army from its encampment in Anacostia.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Jean Edward |author-link=Jean Edward Smith |title=Eisenhower in War and Peace |publisher=Random House |date=2012 |location=New York |pages=109–113 |isbn=978-0679644293}}</ref> This refusal to follow orders was claimed by MacArthur's assistant chief of staff [[George Van Horn Moseley]]. However, MacArthur's aide [[Dwight Eisenhower]], [[United States Secretary of War|Assistant Secretary of War for Air]] [[F. Trubee Davison]], and Brigadier General Perry Miles, who commanded the ground forces, all disputed Moseley's claim. They said the two orders were never delivered to MacArthur and they blamed Moseley for refusing to deliver the orders to MacArthur for unknown reasons.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1996/02/01/for-the-record/84ea42a2-b0eb-40a2-9742-161edceb1b99/|title=FOR THE RECORD : From "My Search for Douglas MacArthur" by Geoffrey Perret in the February/March issue of American Heritage|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=8 December 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.americanheritage.com/my-search-douglas-macarthur|title=My Search For Douglas MacArthur|website=Americanheritage.com|access-date=8 December 2021}}</ref> The shacks in the Anacostia Camp were then set on fire, although who set them on fire is somewhat unclear.

==Aftermath==
[[Joe Angelo]], a decorated hero from the war who had saved Patton's life during the [[Meuse-Argonne offensive]] on September 26, 1918, approached him the day after to sway him. Patton, however, dismissed him quickly. This episode was said to represent the proverbial essence of the Bonus Army, each man the face of each side: Angelo the dejected loyal soldier; Patton the unmoved government official unconcerned with past loyalties.<ref>Hirshson, Stanley P. ''General Patton''. Harper Collins Publishers 2002. New York.{{page needed|date=June 2020}}</ref>

Though the Bonus Army incident did not derail the careers of the military officers involved, it proved politically disastrous for Hoover, and it was a contributing factor to his losing the [[1932 United States presidential election|1932 election]] in a landslide to [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historynet.com/the-bonus-army-war-in-washington.htm |via=Historynet.com |title=The 'Bonus Army' War in Washington |first=Wyatt |last=Kingseed |work=American History magazine |date=June 2004 |access-date=31 Jan 2018 }}</ref>

Police Superintendent Glassford was not pleased with the decision to have the Army intervene, believing that the police could have handled the situation. He soon resigned as superintendent.

[[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]] released the movie ''[[Gabriel Over the White House]]'' in March 1933, the month Roosevelt was sworn in as president. Produced by [[William Randolph Hearst]]'s Cosmopolitan Pictures, it depicted a fictitious President Hammond who, in the film's opening scenes, refuses to deploy the military against a march of the unemployed and instead creates an "Army of Construction" to work on public works projects until the economy recovers.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}} First Lady [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] judged the movie's treatment of veterans superior to Hoover's.<ref name=cook>[[Blanche Wiesen Cook]], ''Eleanor Roosevelt'' (NY: Viking, 1999), vol. 2, 44–46</ref>

During the presidential campaign of 1932, Roosevelt had opposed the veterans' bonus demands.<ref>{{cite news |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1932/10/17/archives/governor-lays-plans-for-trip-governor-to-state-antibonus-stand.html |title=Governor Lays Plans for Trip |date=October 17, 1932 |access-date=December 18, 2010 }}</ref> He became President in March, 1933, and soon a second bonus march was planned for May by the "National Liaison Committee of Washington."  It demanded that the Federal government provide marchers housing and food during their stay in the capital.<ref>{{cite news |title=New Bonus March Starts Tomorrow|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1933/05/09/105132790.pdf |access-date=December 26, 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 9, 1933 |ref=New York Times Archive}}</ref> Despite his opposition to the marchers' demand for immediate payment of the bonus, Roosevelt greeted them quite differently than Hoover had done.  The Roosevelt administration set up a special camp for the marchers at [[Fort Hunt, Virginia|Fort Hunt]], [[Virginia]], providing forty field kitchens serving three meals a day, bus transportation to and from the capital, and entertainment in the form of military bands.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Staff Correspondent |title=Bonus Army Row Finally Adjusted |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1933/05/15/issue.html |access-date=December 26, 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]] |issue=LXXXII 27,505 |date=May 15, 1933 |ref=The New York Times Historical Archives}}</ref>

Administration officials, led by presidential confidant [[Louis Howe]], tried to negotiate an end to the protest. Roosevelt arranged for his wife, [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], to visit the site unaccompanied. She lunched with the veterans and listened to them perform songs. She reminisced about her memories of seeing troops off to World War I and welcoming them home. The most that she could offer was a promise of positions in the newly created [[Civilian Conservation Corps]].<ref name=cook/> One veteran commented, "Hoover sent the army, Roosevelt sent his wife."{{sfn|Jenkins|2003|page=63}} In a press conference following her visit, the First Lady described her reception as courteous and praised the marchers, highlighting how comfortable she felt despite critics of the marchers who described them as communists and criminals.<ref name=cook/>

On May 11, 1933,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Salmond |first=John A. |url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/ccc/salmond/index.htm |title=The Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933–1942 |publisher=Duke University Press |year=1967 |chapter=The CCC Is Mobilized}}</ref> Roosevelt issued an executive order allowing the enrollment of 25,000 veterans in the CCC, exempting them from the normal requirement that applicants be unmarried and under the age of 25.<ref>{{cite book |isbn=978-0307277947 |page=391 |title=Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt |last1=Brands |first1=H. W. |year=2009 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing }}</ref> Congress, with Democrats holding majorities in both houses, passed the [[Adjusted Compensation Payment Act#Bonus Bills of 1930s|Adjusted Compensation Payment Act]] in 1936, authorizing the immediate payment of the $2 billion in World War I bonuses, and then overrode Roosevelt's veto of the measure.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/01/28/archives/bonus-bill-becomes-law-repassed-in-senate-7619-payment-will-be.html |title=Bonus Bill Becomes Law |date=January 28, 1936 |access-date=December 20, 2010 }}</ref> The House vote was 324 to 61,<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/01/25/archives/house-swiftly-overrides-bonus-veto-by-roosevelt-senate-to-act-on.html |title=House Swiftly Overrides Bonus Veto by Roosevelt |date=January 25, 1936 |access-date=September 3, 2011 }}</ref> and the Senate vote was 76 to 19.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/01/28/archives/bonus-bill-becomes-law-repassed-in-senate-7619-payment-will-be.html |title=Bonus Bill Becomes Law |date=January 28, 1936 |access-date=September 3, 2011 }}</ref>

==In literature==
The shootings are depicted in [[Barbara Kingsolver]]'s novel ''[[The Lacuna]]''.<ref>{{cite web | last=Pohrt | first=Karl | title=Barbara Kingsolver's | website=AnnArbor.com | date=November 12, 2009 | url=http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/barbara-kingsolvers-the-lacuna/ | access-date=May 29, 2022}}</ref>

The Bonus Marchers are detailed in John Ross's novel ''[[Unintended Consequences (novel)|Unintended Consequences]].''

A fictionalized version of the Bonus March is depicted in the opening scenes of the 1995 movie ''[[In Pursuit of Honor]].''

The main character of [[Neal Stephenson]]'s 2024 novel, ''[[Polostan (novel)|Polostan]]'' travels with a group of communists within the bonus army to Washington, and is embroiled in the army's intervention.

==See also==
* [[Coxey's Army]], 1894 march of unemployed (not veterans)
* [[List of rallies and protest marches in Washington, D.C.]]
* [[List of incidents of political violence in Washington, D.C.]]
* [[On-to-Ottawa Trek]] by Canadian veterans, 1935
* [[Social history of soldiers and veterans in the United States]]
* [[World War Adjusted Compensation Act]], or Bonus Act; passed by Congress in 1924 but delayed payout until 1945.

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
* Bennett, Michael J. (1999). ''When Dreams Come True: The GI Bill and the Making of Modern America'' {{ISBN|157488218X}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=7OvtAAAAMAAJ&q=%27%27When+Dreams+Come+True:+The+GI+Bill+and+the+Making+of+Modern+America%27%27&dq=%27%27When+Dreams+Come+True:+The+GI+Bill+and+the+Making+of+Modern+America%27%27&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiExdDtuuqJAxUng4kEHYdYCEAQ6AF6BAgEEAI online]
* Burner, David. (1979). ''Herbert Hoover: A Public Life''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. {{ISBN|0394461347}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=aC13AAAAMAAJ&q=.+Herbert+Hoover:+A+Public+Life.&dq=.+Herbert+Hoover:+A+Public+Life.&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjv39XauuqJAxUTkokEHbkjIa0Q6AF6BAgJEAI online]
* Daniels, Roger. (1971). ''The Bonus March: An Episode of the Great Depression''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing. {{ISBN|0837151740}}, a major scholarly study; [https://books.google.com/books?id=KMULAAAAYAAJ&q=%27%27The+Bonus+March:+An+Episode+of+the+Great+Depression%27%27.&dq=%27%27The+Bonus+March:+An+Episode+of+the+Great+Depression%27%27.&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjc5-KDu-qJAxUyjIkEHV6-O3MQ6AF6BAgEEAI online]
* Dickson, Paul, and Thomas B. Allen. (2004). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=g5CEg9oOn4MC The Bonus Army: An American Epic]''. New York: Walker and Company. {{ISBN|0802714404}}.
* Dickson, Paul, and Thomas B. Allen. "Marching On History," in ''Smithsonian'', February 2003
* James, D. Clayton. (1970). ''The Years of MacArthur, Volume I, 1880–1941''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. {{OCLC|36211265}}
* {{cite book|last=Jenkins|first=Roy|title=Franklin Delano Roosevelt|location=New York|publisher=Times Books|date=2003|isbn=978-0805069594|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=USAUy_-KeH0C}}
* Laurie, Clayton D. and Ronald H. Cole. (1997). ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20150412143350/http://www.history.army.mil//html/books/030/30-15-1/CMH_Pub_30-15-1.pdf The Role of Federal Military Forces in Domestic Disorders, 1877–1945]''. Washington, DC: [[United States Army Center of Military History|Center of Military History]]
* Liebovich, Louis W. (1994). ''Bylines in Despair: Herbert Hoover, the Great Depression, and the U.S. News Media'' {{ISBN|0275948439}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=AurEEAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%27%27Bylines+in+Despair:+Herbert+Hoover,+the+Great+Depression,+and+the+U.S.+News+Media%27%27&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiR2eOuu-qJAxVtpokEHQtHCacQ6AF6BAgEEAI online]
* Lisio, Donald J. (1974). ''The President and Protest: Hoover, Conspiracy, and the Bonus Riot''. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press. {{ISBN|082620158X}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=tSwSAAAAYAAJ&q=%27%27The+President+and+Protest:+Hoover,+Conspiracy,+and+the+Bonus+Riot%27%27.&dq=%27%27The+President+and+Protest:+Hoover,+Conspiracy,+and+the+Bonus+Riot%27%27.&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiG3vDCu-qJAxVJkIkEHSb_AvcQ6AF6BAgEEAI online]
* Perret, Geoffrey (1996). "MacArthur and the Marchers" in ''MHQ: the Quarterly Journal of Military History''. Vol 8, No 2
* Smith, Richard Norton. (1984). ''An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover''. New York: Simon & Schuster. {{ISBN|067146034X}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=6RGuAAAAIAAJ&q=%27%27An+Uncommon+Man:+The+Triumph+of+Herbert+Hoover%27%27&dq=%27%27An+Uncommon+Man:+The+Triumph+of+Herbert+Hoover%27%27&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjVn5zYu-qJAxWmpIkEHfD3I8YQ6AF6BAgFEAI online]

==Further reading==
* Keene, Jennifer D.  (2003) ''Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America'' (Johns Hopkins University Press)) [https://archive.org/details/doughboysgreatwa0000keen online]. A major scholarly history; see pp.&nbsp;171–204 on Bonus issue.
* Morrow, Felix. (1932). ''The Bonus March.'' International Pamphlets No. 31. New York: International Publishers. {{OCLC|12546840}}, a far-left perspective.
* Ortiz, Stephen R. 2006. "Rethinking the Bonus March: Federal Bonus Policy, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Origins of a Protest Movement". ''Journal of Policy History''. 18, no. 3: 275–303. [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stephen-Ortiz/publication/300624089_Rethinking_the_Bonus_March/links/595d093045851524687a5619/Rethinking-the-Bonus-March.pdf online]
* Parker, Robert V. (1974) "The Bonus March of 1932: A Unique Experience in North Carolina Political and Social Life." ''North Carolina Historical Review'' 51.1 (1974): 64-89. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23529930 ONLINE]
* Rawl, Michael J. (2006). ''Anacostia Flats''. Baltimore: Publish America. {{ISBN|978-1413797787}}.
* Smith, Gene. (1970). ''The Shattered Dream: Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression''. New York: William Morrow and Company. {{OCLC|76078}}
* Tugwell, Rexford G. "Roosevelt and the Bonus Marchers of 1932." ''Political Science Quarterly'' 87.3 (1972): 363-376. Tugwell was a top FDR aide. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2149206 online]
* Vivian, James F., and Jean H. Vivian. "The Bonus March of 1932: The Role of General George Van Horn Moseley." '' Wisconsin Magazine of History'' (1967): 26-36. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4634285 online]
* Watkins, T.H. "The Great Depression: America in the 1930s", Little, Brown and Company, 1993, pages 98–106,111.

==External links==
{{commons category|Bonus Army}}
* {{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4494446 |title=Soldier Against Soldier: The Story of the Bonus Army |author=Sheilah Kast |date=February 13, 2005 |work=NPR: Weekend Edition Sunday}}
* [http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snprelief4.htm The Bonus Army] (EyeWitness to History)
* [http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,111104_BonusArmy,00.html Vets Owe Debt to WWI's "Bonus Army] from [http://military.com military.com]
* [http://vault.fbi.gov/Bonus%20March FBI file on the Bonus Army]
* [http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/bonusm.htm The Sad Tale of the Bonus Marchers]
* [https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm203.html Memory: The Bonus Army March], Library of Congress
* [http://www.pritzkermilitary.org/whats_on/pritzker-military-presents/paul-dickinson-thomas-b-allen-bonus-army/ Paul Dickson & Thomas B. Allen on '' The Bonus Army: An American Epic''], a lecture recorded at the [[Pritzker Military Museum & Library]]

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{{Herbert Hoover}}
{{American conflicts|state=expanded}}

[[Category:1932 protests]]
[[Category:1932 in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Aftermath of World War I in the United States]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1932]]
[[Category:Great Depression in the United States]]
[[Category:History of veterans' affairs in the United States]]
[[Category:Police brutality in the United States]]
[[Category:Protest marches in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Presidency of Herbert Hoover]]
[[Category:Military history of Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Douglas MacArthur]]
[[Category:George S. Patton]]
[[Category:July 1932 in the United States]]
[[Category:1932 United States presidential election]]
[[Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in the 1930s]]
[[Category:United States military scandals]]