"The president sent against these men, emaciated from hunger, scantily clad, unarmed, the troops of the United States army. Tanks, tear-bombs, all of the weapons of modern warfare were directed against those who had borne the arms of the republic."
On May 25, 1932, thousands of unemployed WWI veterans arrived in Washington, D.C. to demand early payment of a bonus they had been told would get, but not until 1945. They built a shantytown near the U.S. Capitol but were burned out by U.S. troops after two months. California Senator Hiram Johnson called the 1932 attack on the Bonus Army ‘one of the blackest pages in our history,’ noting that the veterans had been hailed as heroes and saviors only a decade earlier.
On May 25, 1932, thousands of unemployed WWI veterans arrived in Washington, D.C. to demand early payment of a bonus they had been told would get, but not until 1945. They built a shantytown near the U.S. Capitol but were burned out by U.S. troops after two months. California Senator Hiram Johnson called the 1932 attack on the Bonus Army ‘one of the blackest pages in our history,’ noting that the veterans had been hailed as heroes and saviors only a decade earlier.