1932 Bonus March

Some 20,000 veterans from all over the country came to Washington in 1932 to demand payment of a bonus Congress promised former GIs for their service in World War I. At the time, the nation was crippled by the Great Depression and millions were out of work, but President Herbert Hoover said the nation couldn't afford to move up the bonuses 1945 due date. Veterans felt they had stood up when the U.S. needed them, now it was the governments turn.



The Bonus Army, as newspapers dubbed it, lived in a shanty town in Washington until the government decided to clear out the camp, on the news that the Senate had voted the bonus bill down. Several people, including veterans, were killed in the fighting. The bonuses were finally paid in 1936.