The Bonus Army: How Thousands of WWI Veterans Were Forced Out of D.C. by the U.S. Army

During the summer of 1932, over 20,000 World War I veterans, along with their families, gathered in Washington, D.C. 

They were known as the Bonus Army, and they came to advocate for the early payment of a promised bonus of $625 that was not due until 1945. As unemployment approached 24%, a sense of desperation gripped many, who viewed the deferred payment as a crucial lifeline.

The improvised settlements lining the Anacostia River were structured, diverse in their racial composition, and predominantly harmonious. In the wake of the Senate's decision to turn down a bill aimed at speeding up the payments, countless veterans found themselves in a dire situation, unable to reclaim jobs or homes that had slipped away from them.

On July 28, facing the insistence of President Herbert Hoover, the police moved to dismantle the camps in the wake of tragic events that claimed the lives of two veterans amid confrontations—the U.S. Army, under the command of Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur, and supported by Maj. George S. Patton and aide Dwight D. Eisenhower received orders to disperse the gathering of veterans. MacArthur defied Hoover’s explicit command to refrain from crossing the Anacostia River, intensifying the operation.

With tanks rumbling, cavalry charging, and tear gas swirling, the troops forcefully expelled the veterans from their grounds. Camps lay in ruins, children bore the scars of injury, and a nation shuddered in disbelief. The fervent discontent of the public propelled Democratic challenger Franklin D. Roosevelt to victory in the presidential race that autumn. In the year 1936, the long-awaited bonuses were finally bestowed upon the veterans.

The Bonus Army episode stands as a poignant illustration of the clash between economic despair and governmental power in American history, revealing a time when those in uniform were pitted against their citizens.