Choices and Consequences:
THE BONUS MARCHERS
How should the government respond to popular protest? Throughout American history various groups have
launched protest movements to compel the government to change a policy or come to their aid. Some of these
protests, such as The Whiskey Rebellion in the 1790s, led to violence. But most were peaceful like Coxey’s
Army in the 1890s or the March on Washington in 1963. When faced with such protest movements, political
leaders have had to consider several factors when deciding how to respond:
Political – democratic tradition argues that political leaders are the servants of “the people” and therefore
they need to respond to the demands of the populace. Few politicians in American history have succeeded
by seeming to show contempt for the citizenry.
Ideological – on the other hand, there’s a conservative aspect to the American political tradition that
rejects popular protests as radical and dangerous to civil order. People who hold this view also argue that
popular protest is inappropriate in a democracy. The citizens of a democracy, they assert, have the power
to change public policy by voting for political leaders who share their views.
Precedent – one final consideration for politicians facing popular protest movements is the fear of setting
a precedent. The thinking goes like this: if we grant this set of demands on this occasion, won’t that
encourage more groups to launch popular protest movements? Won’t that undermine the ability of
political leaders to rationally consider public policy and to make wise but unpopular decisions?
In 1924 World War I veterans had received a federal bond certificate worth about $1,500. But they had to
wait until 1945 before cashing it in. Then the Great Depression came, putting huge numbers of Americans,
including many veterans, out of work. Many soon faced the loss of their homes, businesses, and farms. In
desperation, groups of veterans organized to demand that the federal government allow them to cash in their
bonuses immediately, rather than having to wait until 1945. In May, 1932, tens of thousands of veterans
arrived en masse in Washington, DC to demand immediate payment of the bonuses. They setup a huge
“Hooverville” of makeshift shacks and tents and staged continuous demonstrations on the Capitol steps.
President Herbert Hoover faced several choices about how to deal with the demonstration, depending on what
interpretation of the protest he embraced.
What options did President Hoover have to choose from when considering how to respond the Bonus
Marchers?
1. ___________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
4. ___________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
Choices and Consequences:
THE BONUS MARCHERS
The Rest of the Story …
Choices
1. Accept the veterans’ argument that the government should pay the bonus immediately to alleviate
their Depression- caused suffering.
2. Accept his advisers’ view that the Bonus March was a communist-inspired plot to incite
revolution and use force to thwart it.
3. Reject the veterans’ claim, but treat them as essentially harmless, if misguided, citizens in desperate
financial straits.
Decision
While many in the
general public and press
viewed the Bonus
Marchers as down-ontheir-luck citizens,
Hoover grew convinced
that they were a
dangerous, radical force.
After a skirmish between
veterans and the local
police in August 1932,
Hoover opted to send in
troops with instructions
to restore order.
Consequences
Once the troops were deployed, Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur exceeded Hoover’s orders and
decided to drive the veterans out of the city using tear gas and bayonets. Hoover never publicly revealed
MacArthur’s insubordination. When Democratic presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt heard of the
violent eviction, he reportedly told an adviser, “Well, Felix, this will elect me.”
Continuing Controversies
Was the government right to use force to evict the Bonus Marchers?
To justify the eviction the White House mounted a furious public relations campaign that included false
accusations of discovering dynamite in the main veterans’ encampment. Some upper-class Americans
applauded the government’s actions, hoping to dampen any revolutionary impulse brewing among the poor.
Many working-class and middle-class Americans saw their own destroyed lives in the smoldering ruins of the
veterans’ shantytown and turned against Hoover for refusing to aid men who had served the nation loyally.