Chaos And Revolt In The Streets
John Atwood
April 25, 2011
You can't help but have read and observed the news reports of the last several weeks regarding the upheaval and turmoil in many of the Mid East nations. Large crowds demonstrating and calling for their rights as they see them and for their version of democracy, whatever that may be. Mostly those demonstrations have occurred in capital cities and gave the impression that the outcome was uncertain and that potential violence was always hovering in the air. Often the governments reacted cautiously at first and did not confront the demonstrators but clashes happened in every case sooner or later.
After all the wars of the US the soldiers had always received a pension or bonus for their service to the country. This tradition went back to the Revolutionary War and all subsequent wars. The only exception was the Spanish-American War when no bonus was paid to the servicemen. Even after the War Between the States the North granted bonuses and the downtrodden South even managed to scrounge up some funds. Most of the money in the South went to widows of the soldiers of the Confederacy because the Southern economy was devastated by the war and remained so for generations.
After WWI there as a push for a bonus to the servicemen. As always there is a big lag time from politicians but they did finally pass a bill granting a bonus to the 3.6 men who served during the war in Europe. They got certificates that would be paid with interest in 20 years--1945. They were allowed to borrow a small portion of the money early. That more or less satisfied everyone at the time. The payments were small by today's standards but it was a decent sum in those days. But then came the Depression and everyone needed all the money they could get and many of the Veterans like everyone else was having a hard time finding any work.
In 1932 matters reached a boiling point and the "Bonus Army" was created from the disgruntled Vets. There was many Socialist and even outright Communists involved in the movement. There was also just lots of men who had time on their hands, no work and wanted whatever money they could get sooner. Their basic demand was that the bonuses be paid immediately rather than having to wait until '45. Tens of thousands of them came to Washington and ended up making a permanent camp not far from the Capitol. They marched and demonstrated daily and the police were mostly observers. As is so often the case the matter escalated. Finally the police moved to remove the camp. The crowd reacted and cornered two of them. They fired on the crowd and two Vets died as a result of the wounds. Hoover then called out the army.
The leader of the army forces was none other than Douglas MacArthur. One of his subordinates was George Patton with a small contingent of tanks and the liaison officer with the D. C. police was Dwight Eisenhower. The troops moved in with gas and fixed bayonets. The camp was cleared briefly and Hoover ordered a halt but MacArthur either didn't get the order or ignored it and completed the mission. The camp was demolished and the make-shift sheds and cabins were burned. You can see the old photos of the conflict and the destruction of the camp. Congress passed an adjustment to the bonus act but it was vetoed by Hoover. The matter quieted down for a while.
The next spring Roosevelt was President and the Bonus Army decided to renew their campaign and returned. They were provided with a camp site in Virginia and even provided some meals. The bargaining renewed. Congress passed another adjustment to the bonus act and allowed the immediate payment of the bonuses but this action was also vetoed by Roosevelt. He and Hoover agreed on that policy. He did offer some of them work in the CCC agency created at the beginning of his presidency in lieu. But that didn't meet their demands. Congress overrode the veto of Roosevelt and the bonus date was moved forward.
Most of the veterans received their bonus payments by 1936. Both left and right were greatly agitated by the march on Washington. To the right they were all communist and to the left it was the poor working man against the Wall Street and capitalists. These were all vets and there was much concern about them using violence to achieve their goals and even worse attempting a seizure of the government. Of the 3.6 million only a few hundred thousand ever heard a shot fired in anger because we were so late entering the fighting. We didn't really get involved until late spring of 1918 and the war ended on Nov. 11th. The majority of them never were even shipped overseas although if the war had continued they would have made it there.
Some of the vets later received a small pension for disability for injuries during the war. I knew one of those men who had his lungs damaged from a mustard gas attack. All demonstrations and revolts in the streets are not created equal, some end up not so bad but then there are the ones that turn into a Tiamenaman Square.
Hopefully, there is some comfort in the thought that the individual is mortal the species is immortal. www.olcranky.wordpress.com
After all the wars of the US the soldiers had always received a pension or bonus for their service to the country. This tradition went back to the Revolutionary War and all subsequent wars. The only exception was the Spanish-American War when no bonus was paid to the servicemen. Even after the War Between the States the North granted bonuses and the downtrodden South even managed to scrounge up some funds. Most of the money in the South went to widows of the soldiers of the Confederacy because the Southern economy was devastated by the war and remained so for generations.
After WWI there as a push for a bonus to the servicemen. As always there is a big lag time from politicians but they did finally pass a bill granting a bonus to the 3.6 men who served during the war in Europe. They got certificates that would be paid with interest in 20 years--1945. They were allowed to borrow a small portion of the money early. That more or less satisfied everyone at the time. The payments were small by today's standards but it was a decent sum in those days. But then came the Depression and everyone needed all the money they could get and many of the Veterans like everyone else was having a hard time finding any work.
In 1932 matters reached a boiling point and the "Bonus Army" was created from the disgruntled Vets. There was many Socialist and even outright Communists involved in the movement. There was also just lots of men who had time on their hands, no work and wanted whatever money they could get sooner. Their basic demand was that the bonuses be paid immediately rather than having to wait until '45. Tens of thousands of them came to Washington and ended up making a permanent camp not far from the Capitol. They marched and demonstrated daily and the police were mostly observers. As is so often the case the matter escalated. Finally the police moved to remove the camp. The crowd reacted and cornered two of them. They fired on the crowd and two Vets died as a result of the wounds. Hoover then called out the army.
The leader of the army forces was none other than Douglas MacArthur. One of his subordinates was George Patton with a small contingent of tanks and the liaison officer with the D. C. police was Dwight Eisenhower. The troops moved in with gas and fixed bayonets. The camp was cleared briefly and Hoover ordered a halt but MacArthur either didn't get the order or ignored it and completed the mission. The camp was demolished and the make-shift sheds and cabins were burned. You can see the old photos of the conflict and the destruction of the camp. Congress passed an adjustment to the bonus act but it was vetoed by Hoover. The matter quieted down for a while.
The next spring Roosevelt was President and the Bonus Army decided to renew their campaign and returned. They were provided with a camp site in Virginia and even provided some meals. The bargaining renewed. Congress passed another adjustment to the bonus act and allowed the immediate payment of the bonuses but this action was also vetoed by Roosevelt. He and Hoover agreed on that policy. He did offer some of them work in the CCC agency created at the beginning of his presidency in lieu. But that didn't meet their demands. Congress overrode the veto of Roosevelt and the bonus date was moved forward.
Most of the veterans received their bonus payments by 1936. Both left and right were greatly agitated by the march on Washington. To the right they were all communist and to the left it was the poor working man against the Wall Street and capitalists. These were all vets and there was much concern about them using violence to achieve their goals and even worse attempting a seizure of the government. Of the 3.6 million only a few hundred thousand ever heard a shot fired in anger because we were so late entering the fighting. We didn't really get involved until late spring of 1918 and the war ended on Nov. 11th. The majority of them never were even shipped overseas although if the war had continued they would have made it there.
Some of the vets later received a small pension for disability for injuries during the war. I knew one of those men who had his lungs damaged from a mustard gas attack. All demonstrations and revolts in the streets are not created equal, some end up not so bad but then there are the ones that turn into a Tiamenaman Square.
Hopefully, there is some comfort in the thought that the individual is mortal the species is immortal. www.olcranky.wordpress.com
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