Bonus March

In 1932, during the Great Depression, World War I veterans marched in Washington, D.C., to demand early payment of their military bonus. The march demonstrated the importance of planning for soldiers’ return home, the political clout of veterans, and the lingering importance of World War I for American society. The march ended in a physical showdown between World War I veterans and U.S. Army troops, raising additional questions about the proper use of the military within the country's borders.

In May 1932, a group of impoverished veterans from Portland, Oregon, decided to make a personal trek across the country to lobby Pres. Herbert Hoover and Congress for payment of their bonus—the name given to the adjusted compensation bond certificates that World War I veterans had received in 1924. The press picked up the story and thousands of veterans across the nation resolved to join the Oregon group in the nation's capital. Within a few short weeks, this grassroots protest turned into a full-fledged mass movement. Eventually more than 40,000 veterans descended on Washington, D.C.

The federal government gave veterans the adjusted compensation bonds to settle a simmering political dispute over excessive wartime profiteering. World War I veterans came home in 1919 to a depressed postwar economy that offered them few job prospects. The government was unprepared to demobilize the nation's first mass army and made little effort to help veterans find jobs. Frustrated over missing out on the high wages paid during the war, veterans soon denounced the government for allowing civilians to profit from war while paying soldiers only $1 a day. The draft, veterans argued, gave the government the power to determine who served in the Army and who stayed at home. The government, they concluded, had the moral responsibility to evenly distribute the financial burdens of war throughout the entire population. The American Legion, founded in 1919, proposed granting veterans a retroactive bonus payment that nearly doubled their wartime pay. In addition to helping redistribute some war profits, a bonus would partly relieve veterans’ financial distress. World War I veterans initially wanted a cash settlement, but they eventually accepted [Page 81]a bond (worth approximately $1,000) that was to mature in 1945. With the economy improving, World War I veterans agreed with the government that the money would serve them well in their old age.

The economic hardships of the Great Depression caused veterans to reconsider the wisdom of waiting for this money. Veterans now demanded immediate payment of their bonus to prevent foreclosures on homes and farms and to put food on the table. At first, veterans sent letters and telegrams to urge action from Congress. The campaign for immediate payment took a decidedly new direction with the Oregon group's decision to seek a personal meeting with the president.

As veterans poured into Washington, D.C., they set up a large, makeshift camp on the Anacostia Flats in sight of the Capitol and created smaller camps throughout the city. In the main camp, the veterans elected leaders, organized daily fatigue duties, and set a daily schedule for lobbying congressmen. Camp commanders also registered new arrivals to ensure that only genuine veterans lived in the camp.

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