The Great Depression began in 1929, eleven years after the end of WWI. At the conclusion of WWI veterans came home to flourishing economy. As their future seemed much brighter than their past, veterans of WWI supported a bill in 1924 which would postpone delivery of their much deserved wartime bonus pay until 1945. The pay was then to be issued with interest. There seemed to be no reason to defeat the bill, until 5 years later. As the stock market came crashing down fear built up. The Depression waged a war of its own and many people became homeless. They lived in camps on the edge of towns. These camps were known as “Hoovervilles”. Many of these homeless were veterans and their families.
Towards the end of 1931, infrequent rallies, and even riots, began to occur throughout the nation. Frustration and fear permeated the country. WWI Veterans began to see their wartime bonus pay as the only way to keep their families from starving to death. Representative John Wright Patman, of Texas, penned a bill calling for the early release of the bonus pay. In May of 1932 300 Veterans, organized by Walter W. Walters, set out from Oregon to Washington DC to lobby for the bill. Many Veterans joined them as they traveled. They called themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force.
Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur was concerned that the group was a communist attempt to undermine the government. In actuality, it was merely hungry veterans, many of them accompanied by their families.
As these were military families order was easily maintained. Walters organized them in camps. He also organized a military police force of 300 men, to keep peace within his “ranks” and to keep the communists out.
In order to keep peace in his district, chief of police Pelham D. Glassford, a WWI veteran himself, offered the group four abandoned buildings on Pennsylvania Avenue. The buildings would only be available until October, however, as they were scheduled for demolition. Despite the use of the building the growing number of veterans, approximately 22,000, needed more space. “Hoovervilles” were set up throughout the city including on Washington Mall. Homes were built out of tin cans or crates; many decorated with American flags.
The residents of Washington were sympathetic to the Veterans; baker’s, meat distributors and others, donated food for the Bonus Army, as they were know. The area’s doctor’s and dentist’s provided care for all.
The House of Representatives passed Patman’s veteran’s bill on June 15, 1932. However, the bill was defeated in the Senate on June 17. The Veterans did not riot. They simply sang “America the Beautiful” on the Capitol steps and returned to their “homes” even more determined to stay until the help they felt they deserved was delivered.
President Herbert Hoover was uncomfortable with the attention the veterans were drawing to his administration and city officials worried about riots. Glassford was ordered to evict the veterans by July 28. Glassford persuaded some veterans to leave the city but he would not use force against the national heroes. Thus, the President ordered General Douglas MacArthur to clear the area, immediately. MacArthur gathered cavalry, infantry, a machine gun squadron, and tanks and proceeded up Pennsylvania Avenue. MacArthur was joined by Maj. Dwight D. Eisenhower and George S. Patton Jr. The cavalry advanced with swords drawn. The militia destroyed the make shift homes of the veterans, often with fire. The veterans were driven across the bridge to the opposite side of the Anacostia River, where another encampment was destroyed by fire. No one was certain how that fire started.
The Veterans bill was finally passed in 1936. The bill required an override of a Presidential veto. This time the President was Franklin Delano Roosevelt.