The Bonus Army was a group of 43,000 demonstrators – made up of 17,000 U.S. World War I veterans, together with their families and affiliated groups – who gathered in Washington, D.C. in mid-1932 to demand early cash redemption of their service certificates. While it's not clear which side started the blaze, the sight of the great fire became the signature image of the greatest unrest our nation's capital has ever known. Also on July 29, General Glassford denied that he had wanted the troops to clear out the camps, or that his police couldn’t have handled the situation peacefully, before violence broke out. Within weeks, there were 20,000 veterans in town. 400 veterans had gathered there by May 17, 1932, under the leadership of a fellow veteran, Walter M. Waters. The government also did its part, as Washington Police Superintendent Pelham D. Glassford treated his fellow veterans with considerable respect and care. fbq('track', 'ViewContent'); The Bonus marchers celebrated. On July 21, with the Army preparing to step in at any moment, Glassford was ordered to begin evacuating several buildings on Pennsylvania Avenue, using force if necessary. ... How many Bonus Marchers were there? The bonus army went to Washington in 1932 to demand immediate payment on their military bonus certificates which not due and payable until 1945. Out of work, destitute, and with families to feed, the veterans organized a march on Washington in May of 1932 to force Congress to immediately pay their bonus. A week later, on the steamy morning of July 28, several Marchers rushed Glassford's police and began throwing bricks. After a Senate bill to grant the bonuses failed on June 17, many of the marchers went home. Secretary of War Hurley twice sent orders to MacArthur indicating that the President, worried that the government reaction might look overly harsh, did not wish the Army to pursue the Bonus Marchers across the bridge into their main encampment on the other side of the Anacostia River. By nightfall, hundreds had been injured by gas (including a baby who died), bricks, clubs, bayonets, and sabers. Jaylin57dx +7 e3radg8 and 7 others learned from this answer They went there to demand cash payment redemption of their service certificates. Bill, to assist veterans in receiving a higher education. After it was all over, the authorities involved gave their reactions. At the time the bonus marchers arrived in Washington, Anacostia Park also was segregated, and police directed the veterans to set up camp in the “black” section of the park. Still the Marchers did not disburse. In March, a riot at Ford's River Rouge plant in Michigan left four dead and over fifty wounded. They demanded passage of a bill introduced by Representative Wright Patman providing for immediate payment of their World But that was simply not the case. The public called them the Bonus Army. The numbers dropped, but the hard core among them stayed. Along the way the “Bonus March” picked up recruits and arrived in Washington numbering between 8,000 and 25,000 men. By 1932, the Depression was still dragging on, with no end in sight. 5.0 4 votes 4 votes Rate! In late May 1932, in the third year of the Great Depression, desperate World War I veterans began arriving in Washington to demonstrate for a bonus. The bonus veterans were in no mood to leave, so the army began using tear gas and bayonets to drive them away, and employing torches to set fire to the shanty towns. But then the Senate turned it down and adjourned. The action was peaceful until someone threw a brick, the police reacted with force, and two bonus marchers were shot. And the percentage within the rank and file was likely even smaller; several commanders reported to MacArthur that most of the men seemed to be vehemently anti-Communist, if anything. The movement was extraordinary in many ways, not least because this army, unlike the U.S. military, was integrated. President Herbert Hoover had promised the veto the bill. Bonus Army, gathering of some 10,000 to 25,000 World War I veterans who, with their wives and children, converged on Washington, D.C., in 1932, demanding immediate bonus payment for wartime services to alleviate the economic hardship of the Great Depression. Bonus Army marching to the Capitol; Washington, D.C. 5 July 1932,. Walters, organizing the various encampments along military lines, announced that there would be "no panhandling, no drinking, no radicalism," and that the marchers were simply "going to stay until the veterans' bill is passed." A: Yes. One of the exceptions was the Bonus army in March of 1932. But then the Senate turned it down and adjourned. Patton now said, “Undoubtedly this man saved my life, but his several accounts of the incident vary from the true facts.”. var googletag = googletag || {}; Out of work and overwhelmed by the Depression, they had decided to go to Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress for early payment of a soldier’s bonus that was scheduled to be paid in 1945. The bonus was also known as the “Tombstone Bonus.” Then, the Great Depression hit, beginning with the stock market collapse of 1929. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) The number of Bonus Army marchers in Washington at the time of the adjournment of Congress on July 16th has been variously estimated at from 8000 to 15,000. On June 15, the House of Representatives passed a bill to pay out the bonus. On July 28, officials sent in the Washington police to evict the marchers. After World War I, the U.S. Congress voted to give veteran soldiers who fought in the war a bonus. Thanks Comments (1) Report thanks Log in to add a comment The Anacostia site was given the name Camp Bartlett, after its owner John H. Bartlett, former Assistant Postmaster General and former Governor of New Hampshire who let the veterans camp there. Enlarge this image s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script', At first, it seemed as though order might be maintained. The Bonus March Even though the protesters who marched into Washington in May 1932 were veterans of World War I, Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur insisted that the demonstration was actually a communist conspiracy against the U.S. government. What were the bonus marchers demanding through their demonstrations? What is the reason that the bonus marchers went to washington? From the start, 1932 promised to be a difficult year for the country, as the Depression deepened and frustrations mounted. After victory in World War I, the US government promised in 1924 that servicemen would receive a bonus for their service, in 1945. By 1932, the Depression was still dragging on, with no end in sight. Click to see full answer. The Bonus Army was a group of 43,000 demonstrators – made up of 17,000 U.S. World War I veterans, together with their families and affiliated groups – who gathered in Washington, D.C. in mid-1932 to demand early cash redemption of their service certificates. They occupied abandoned shacks, shanties, and tents. They began a long trek to Washington aboard a freight train, loaned to them for free by the rail authorities. Finally, in 1936, Congress overrode Roosevelt’s symbolic veto, and the Bonus Bill passed through the house. Library of Congress, Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! It still has the power to shock decades later. ' The Bonus Army March took place in the summer of 1932 as over 40,000 WW1 veterans marched to Washington to lobby Congress to pass legislation authorizing the early payment of veterans bonuses. In 1944, while World War II was still raging, Congress passed the G.I. Estimated 12,000 (up to 40,000 depending on source) How did Hoover respond to the Bonus Marchers? In his biography of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, “FDR,” Jean Edward Smith wrote: “Washington officials coped the best they could. t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; For four years after their forced expulsion from the city, the veterans continued to return to Washington – though never in the same numbers as they had in the summer of 1932. How did the army troops feel about doing this? The Bonus Army was the name applied a group over 17,000 U.S. World War I veterans who marched on Washington, D.C. during the summer of 1932 demanding immediate cash payment of the service bonuses promised to them by Congress eight years earlier. The first Bonus Marchers arrived in Washington, D.C., on May 25, demanding payment of their bonuses. This march, and the government's reaction, was a major event that occurred during the Great Depression. But MacArthur, according to his aide Dwight Eisenhower, "said he was too busy," did not want to be "bothered by people coming down and pretending to bring orders," and sent his men across the bridge anyway, after pausing several hours to allow as many people as possible to evacuate. When the nation’s economy worsened, the half-bonus loans were not enough, and the unemployed veterans now sought the balance in cash. The major sites included 12th Street and B Street, NW (the latter is now Constitution Avenue), 3rd Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, and the largest, 30 acre site on the Anacostia Flats. fbq('init', '271837786641409'); Two months before, the so-called Bonus Expeditionary Force, a group of some 1,000 World War I After two months of non-action by Congress, many frustrated veterans and non-veteran supporters began to defy police attempts to … Another World War II name, George O. Patton, was also taking part. } Army Attacks The Camp. Bonus Marchers, in U.S. history, more than 20,000 veterans, most of them unemployed and in desperate financial straits, who, in the spring of 1932, spontaneously made their way to Washington, D.C. It didn’t help, the army had orders to clear Camp Bartlett too. // cutting the mustard The next day, a silent “Death March” began in front of the Capitol and continued until July 17, when Congress adjourned. After exiting the train in Iowa on May 18 they hitched rides and walked the rest of the way to Washington. $2.3 billion. One claimed, “We hate this more than they do, but they brought it on themselves.”. Smaller splinter groups reached the capital on their own. Army Chief of Staff MacArthur was convinced that the march was a communist conspiracy to undermine the government of the United States, and that "the movement was actually far deeper and more dangerous than an effort to secure funds from a nearly depleted federal treasury." MacArthur's own General Staff intelligence division reported in June that only three of the twenty-six leaders of the Bonus March were communists. The camp at 3rd Street and Pennsylvania Avenue also saw something new in American history: five tanks, armed with machine guns, rumbling about the streets of Washington. Although many Americans applauded the government's action as an unfortunate but necessary move to maintain law and order, most of the press was less sympathetic. Curtis shouted back, “You cowards, I’m not afraid of any of you.”. They camped out in homemade shanty towns. These were simply veterans from World War I who were out of luck, out of money, and wanted to get their bonus -- and they needed the money at that moment." A fire soon erupted in the camp. Out of sheer desperation, some of the veterans decided to march on Washington to ask for the bonus right away. Thus, when a band of jobless veterans, led by a former cannery worker named Walter W. Waters, began arriving in the capital in May, tensions were high. But by the end of June, the movement had swelled to more than 20,000 tired, hungry and frustrated men. The troops were led by General Douglas MacArthur, who would later serve in World War II and in the Korean War. It was also on June 1 that DC police superintendent, Brigadier General Pelham D. Glassford, first entered the picture. Then, on July 28, the Hoover administration sent in the army and police to expel the marchers from Washington. Explore the life and times of L. Frank Baum, creator of the beloved The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. if ( 'querySelector' in document && 'addEventListener' in window ) { Wherever they were, however, those in the resistance did all they could to survive and prepare for MacArthur's promised return. The numbers dropped, but the hard core among them stayed. In May 1932, jobless WWI veterans organized a group called the “Bonus Expeditionary Forces” (BEF) to march on Washington, DC. Why did bonus marchers go to Washington? Get the latest on new films and digital content, learn about events in your area, and get your weekly fix of American history. Conspicuously led by MacArthur, Army troops (including Major George S. Patton, Jr.) formed infantry cordons and began pushing the veterans out, destroying their makeshift camps as they went. Many others, without any prospects to go home to, stayed. What did they want? Although no weapons were fired, cavalry advanced with swords drawn, and some blood was shed. Officials in Washington expected that the Bonus Marchers would all go home. By June 1, some 1,500 men, some with their families, were in Washington. Eleanor Roosevelt and the Bonus Marchers 9/8/2014 in DC , Virginia by Patrick Kiger In 1932, as the nation lingered in the desperate depths of the Great Depression, thousands of World War I veterans and their families marched on Washington to demand immediate lump-sum payment of their military pensions. "For some days police authorities and Treasury officials have been endeavoring to persuade the so-called bonus marchers to evacuate certain buildings which they were occupying without permission. President Hoover ordered the Secretary of War to "surround the affected area and clear it without delay." Bonus Marchers on the Capitol Steps Following World War I, the U.S. federal government anticipated that its war-risk insurance plan would adequately protect American soldiers and sailors who had served during the war, and that there would be no demand for compensation to those who had suffered no injury during their service in the army or navy. They came to the nation’s capital to demonstrate for immediate payment of their military bonus certificates that weren’t redeemable until 1945. The Bonus Army was a group of World War I veterans who marched to Washington D.C. in an effort to get their bonus pay. n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)}; MacArthur added, “It was animated by the essence of revolution.” He added that only about 10% of the men driven away from the camps were actually genuine veterans. Calling themselves the "Bonus Expeditionary Forces," they demanded early payment of a bonus Congress had promised them for their service in World War I. In this manner, what caused the Bonus March? {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? Two weeks later the US House of Representatives did in fact vote to provide the bonus, but the US Senate rejected it. Walter Waters had the marchers sing “America” as they walked back to their camp. President Hoover released a statement on July 28, in which he twice referred to “so-called bonus marchers,” and added, “An examination of a large number of names discloses the fact that a considerable part of those remaining are not veterans; many are Communists and persons with criminal records.”. When did the Bonus Marchers march on Washington? A riveting account of the event that helped give rise to the modern American militia movement. At the time, the sight of the federal government turning on its own citizens -- veterans, no less -- raised doubts about the fate of the republic. Congress to failed to pass legislation for early payment to the veterans. Mr. Tornado is the remarkable story of the man whose groundbreaking work in research and applied science saved thousands of lives and helped Americans prepare for and respond to dangerous weather phenomena. On July 28, officials sent in the Washington police to evict the marchers. Out of sheer desperation, some of the veterans decided to march on Washington to … 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); In the summer of 1932, World War I veterans, like the rest of the citizenry, were suffering from the ravages of the Great Depression. Rate! googletag.cmd = googletag.cmd || []; Few images from the Great Depression are more indelible than the rout of the Bonus Marchers. In December of 1931, there was a small, communist-led hunger march on Washington; a few weeks later, a Pittsburgh priest led an army of 12,000 jobless men there to agitate for unemployment legislation. The Bonus Army. Bonus Army WWWI – The Bonus Army was the popular name for an assemblage of some 43,000 marchers—17,000 U.S. World War I veterans, their families, and affiliated groups—who gathered in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 1932 to demand … But on June 17 the bill was defeated in the Senate, and tempers began to flare on both sides. An estimated 15,000 made their way to the nation's capital and dubbed themselves the "Bonus Expeditionary Force." Bonus Army marching to the Capitol; Washington, D.C. 5 July 1932,. Throughout its history, Washington, DC has been the destination of demonstrators seeking to promote a wide variety of causes. Despite fighting courageously against an enemy with superior firepower, MacArthur's forces were pushed steadily back and grew weaker by the day. But they didn't. Officials in Washington expected that the Bonus Marchers would all go home. Suffering and desperate, the BEF’s goal was to get the bonus payment now, when they really needed the money. The Bonus Army was a group of 43,000 demonstrators – made up of 17,000 U.S. World War I veterans, together with their families and affiliated groups – who gathered in Washington, D.C. in mid-1932 to demand early cash redemption of their service certificates. Things stayed in an unsettled condition for the next few weeks, with some veterans leaving but even more arriving, until their number reached somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000. Four years later, in 1936, the veterans did get their bonus, when Congress voted the money over President Franklin Roosevelt’s veto. document.documentElement.className += 'js'; In the coming weeks, he was to prove more sympathetic to the men than the other authorities, and they appreciated it. On July 29, Vice President Charles Curtis was making a speech in Las Vegas, when hecklers raised the events in Washington. - Refused to pay the bonus - Fired on them, 11 month old baby killed. His troops included infantry and cavalry and numbered 800, though an additional 2,700 were kept in reserve nearby, in case they were needed. The Bonus marchers celebrated. The marchers were encouraged when the House of Representatives passed the Patman veterans bill on June 15, despite President Hoover's vow to veto it. However, the Marchers weren’t giving up. Sadly enough, one of the people he routed was a Joe Angelo, who had saved Patton’s life in World War I, by dragging the wounded Patton into a nearby shell hole and staying with him through the night.