Saturday, November 18, 2017
Bonus Army
The Bonus Army was a group of 43,000 people whom marched in the capital, Washington D.C.. The 17,000 World War I veterans and their families demanded for their cash payment redemption from their services in the army. Led by Walter W. Waters, they called themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force. They gained these certificates from the World War Adjusted Compensation Act which was supposed to pay for their military service, and wanted their money to be payed back. This lead to the Congress to move out of the building for a few weeks in order to protect them from these veterans who protested the capital. The government did not have this money at the time due to the Great Depression, and they were struggling to gain the money needed to pay, so they increased taxes. The police were ordered to remove them from the capital, and with the great march, shots were fired and two veterans were killed. After president Hoover ordered more an army to drive them out, more were inured. There were hundreds injured during this incident. The US Army then drove out the Bonus Army's families and burned their shelters and belongings down. The Bonus Army's lived in Hoovervilles at the time, which were small towns built by homeless and unemployed people. In the end, many of the veterans in the Bonus Army had gone to their past commanders asking for help, but the commanders dismissed them. Even though they were loyal soldiers who saved their commanders lives in the past, on this day the commanding officers were not moved and followed Hoovers orders. Hoover was then disliked by the public after this incident.
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This is saddening example of the way that we treat our veterans. I didn't know that they burned down the Hoovervilles, and I find that disturbing because it seems to go against many of the principles that America stands for. It also shows to what extent the Great Depression had on the country: event the government didn't have money to pay for soldiers. Was Hoover in the wrong for forcing them off the capital? What is the government supposed to do in these situations to resolve these situations but still protect the rights of people?
ReplyDeleteIt's unfortunate that the veterans of WWII were treated so disrespectfully even after all their time in service, being forced into situations that many could not handle. The Great Depression caused the entirety of America to sort of turn on its head and I'm sure that Hoover was doing his best in this unprecedented situation. I do not believe that he handled this situation correctly, but there was not much he could do, he was being pulled in so many directions between the economy plummeting and trying to figure out how to keep the American economy afloat. It's hard to say what Hoover should have done, but what he ended up doing definitely only added fuel to the fire and was a very bad move on his part.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of those unfortunate events in US history that affected brave people after WW1. I agree that the situation could have been handled more better. But due to Great Depression happening at that moment in history. Even though the economy was affected and the government turned it's focus to the economic crisis, they shouldn't forget about the veteran's that served in the US army during WW1.
ReplyDeleteI think it was unfair how the "Bonus Army" didn't get paid even though the US was going through a financial crisis. Theses veterans put their lives at risk and when they get back from war, they don't even get the money they were promised. Although there was not much money going around, this should have been one of the first places the government's money went.
ReplyDeleteTo add on to the blog post above, in 1924 Congress had voted to compensate former soldiers one dollar for each day they served during the war and an additional 25 cents for each day spent overseas; however, the government wouldn't pay the veterans until 1945, as the money was supposed to be a retirement benefit. Because the veterans needed the money sooner to help them through the hard times, Congress members formed a bill that would pay the money immediately.
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